Putting electric strings on acoustic guitar

[Mortimor]

My first acoustic guitar came with a free set of strings. It turns out the free set of strings they gave me was a set of electric strings. I guess they figured I wouldn't know the difference, and they were right!

I have been tempted to try them on an acoustic, but I guess I will wait until I find someone who needs a set of 11-49 electric strings.

[Arteur LeDart]

Originally Posted by mot

Any concerns at all?

Electric guitar string gauges are usually a lot thinner and sometimes the wire wrap is smoother. As for the material...well Martin Retro strings are nickel alloy and used on acoustics. I found out about them from the love shown for them right here, so ... nickel itself can't be all that bad.

Niche aside:
I like very light electrics on a 12-string tuned to concert. Recently found a set with solid 3rd courses and they are very nice on a Taylor 12 with a mag PU

[jwing]

Don't believe most of the advice you read on this forum.

Nickel strings are favored by many, many bluegrass and old-time guitarists, including Tony Rice. My favorite strings for my Martin D18GE are D'Addario EJ22. They sound great fresh out of the package and stay sounding great longer than other strings.

From D'Addario:

"EJ22, D'Addario's heaviest gauge "jazz" set, is preferred for its wound 3rd/G string, dense tone and tight feel. Can also be used for down tuning.

"XL Nickel Wound, D'Addario's most popular electric guitar strings, are precision wound with nickelplated steel onto a carefully drawn, hexagonally shaped, high carbon steel core. The result, strings with long lasting, distinctive bright tone and excellent intonation, is ideal for the widest variety of guitars and musical styles.

"- Features a wound 3rd/G string, optimal for "jazz" style playing and some drop tunings
- Round wound with nickelplated steel for distinctive bright tone
- Environmentally friendly, corrosion resistant packaging for strings that are always fresh
- Made in the U.S.A. for the highest quality and performance
- String Gauges: Plain Steel .013, .017, Nickel Wound .026, .036, .046, .056"

[mr. beaumont]

Really depends on what your definition of "electric" strings is? Super Slinky .09's? Probably sound like garbage. But I'm a big fan of nickel wound or monel strings, in gauges similar to what I'd use in bronze... Definitely worth a look.

[Sonics]

I must confess that I do like the tone...but that's probably because it's 'different', but I digress.

I think these are, probably, the strings you're looking for:

https://www.amazon.com/Rotosound-Pho...nd+jk9+strings

[Christian Reno]

No surprise you would get generalized comments on this. Ask Bresh about his dad's Martin (it was sold for a large sum, so it's not actually Thom's any longer.) Travis, evidently was not one to fuss over issues such as this. He simply didn't discriminate between electric and acoustic strings, so he put the same on all of his guitars - "electric" strings. By the time Bresh inherited the guitar, he naturally put acoustic strings on it only to find it didn't sound "right."
Don't pay any attention to anyone telling you that a certain string is never good to use for any reason or application.

BTW - my favorite Merle Travis story is the one where a kid asks him after a show "what kind of strings do you use?" Travis responds with "guitar strings" and turns to Thom after the kid walks away and says "what kind of question is that?"

[121]

I've used D'Addario Chrome Extra Lights on my acoustic guitars.
I like the Extra Light Gauge best, because of the bright clean tone.
I also like the slicky smooth feel of the flat wound strings.

[jaybones]

Yeah, won't work. Likely you'll get a thin sound without as much volume.

[jessupe]

All I know is there was this guy "Bob" we'll call him,he had this same idea, he changed his acoustic strings over to electrics, next morning,Bob was dead!

So ever since then I've never really thought that it was worth the risk of wasting 15 minutes and 10 bucks to find out for myself, cause well, you know, Bob

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by mot

Any concerns at all?

My concern is why?

go for it!
the only valid argument I've read in this thread is not to put bronze strings on an electric.

[Twitch]

None of the previous 26 posts matter. Even putting acoustics on an electric. Heck, put fishing line on it if you want. Try it and no matter how it sounds if YOU like it, that's cool!

[curbucci]

Are not the Pearse Pure Nickel Acoustic Strings and GHS White Bronze Acoustic Electric essentially electric strings gauged as acoustic strings?

I think they sound great as an acoustic string on their own btw.

[mot]

Originally Posted by curbucci

Are not the Pearse Pure Nickel Acoustic Strings and GHS White Bronze Acoustic Electric essentially electric strings gauged as acoustic strings?

I think they sound great as an acoustic string on their own btw.

That's my question. If the gauge is the about the same, then wouldn't any nickel strings do regardless of the branding?

I have never tried nickel on an acoustic, and I like the current twangy-ness of the Lucky 13 so I may not bother. I figured someone out there has done something similar to this instead of just grandstanding about why it's a bad idea or good idea.

[curbucci]

Originally Posted by mot

That's my question. If the gauge is the about the same, then wouldn't any nickel strings do regardless of the branding?

I have never tried nickel on an acoustic, and I like the current twangy-ness of the Lucky 13 so I may not bother. I figured someone out there has done something similar to this instead of just grandstanding about why it's a bad idea or good idea.

Most common electric string sets have an unwound 3rd (G) string. There might be some variance in gauges with pure nickel wound electric strings with a wound 3rd. I know Pearse makes a pure nickel wound jazz string set that is 12 -52 which are the same composition as the pure nickel wound acoustic just a different gauges.