Are "light" and "medium" really the right terms for strings anymore?

[lt20dbl]

I'm fine with lights and mediums. I remember the o.d. of both E strings of each. Heavy gauge strings are guitar wreckers. No need for them on my guitars. Changing the designation will make the same unending confusion of the term, "Parlor Guitar". It's use as a marketing ploy has obscured the original definition and there is no hope of ever fixing it. A Martin sze 0 or larger, is not a parlor guitar and .012 is not Medium gauge.

[musicman1951]

If you would agree, I would agree.

Originally Posted by AndrewG

Sorry Andy, but I don't agree with this. A guitar's bracing and overall build will determine how well it responds to any given gauge of string. Some very lightly braced dreads can be strangled by 'medium' gauge strings, preferring a lighter gauge; conversely something heavily braced might work better with the same set, and may sound feeble and anaemic with a lighter set. There is no rule carved in stone, and generalizations don't apply, irrespective of what the builder 'recommends'. I use whatever sounds and feels best for me, and that is invariably 12-53.

You're saying two different things. First it is the guitar's structure that determines the best string, but then you say your choice for sound and feel is always 12-53. I agree with the latter point on sound and feel. Assuming we keep string tension within a range that will not damage the guitar, the "right" string choice is far more dependent on the player's style and preference than how the guitar is built.

I have a friend who plays with a light finger style technique. He's a far better musician than I will ever be, but my guitars sound dead when he plays them and very lively and strong when I play them. His guitars sound great when he's on them, but flabby and flat when I play them. We've had occasion to play the same guitar alternating between his string choice and mine. The results are predictable. He sounds better on the lighter strings and I sound better with the mediums...even on the same guitar.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by flaggerphil

Most of my guitars are set up for 13s (mediums), including my GS Mini M I'm giving to my granddaughter, so I really don't consider lights the "norm".

Time for a poll.

[ChrisE]

It seems strange to me that acoustic strings are "lights" and "mediums" and electric strings are "11's" and "12's."

[beninma]

Originally Posted by DenverSteve

Every brand has their designation for their strings. For me, what's far more important is knowing what the string gauges are for each of the 6-10 different brand/model strings I use on guitars. I don't really care what they call them.

That says it all right there.

There is a lot of great information out there about all this stuff now, you can usually even find tension ratings.

[mattbn73]

Originally Posted by dwasifar

I'll take these replies to mostly mean that the descriptive terms have ceased to have any relevance, if they ever did. We all have to select by number because the names don't correspond to the product. But I feel like they could again, if the manufacturers standardized the terms.

I guess what bugs me is that they don't make any logical sense. The generally used terms are: Extra Light (10s), Custom Light (11s), Light (12s), and Medium (13s). This is like if 7-11 called their drink sizes Extra Tiny Gulp, Tiny Gulp, Small Gulp, and Medium Gulp, where Medium turns out to be the cup big enough to fit your head into.

D'Addario alone sells sets of 14s called Heavy, but every review says they'll pull your neck apart in open tuning.

If the terms were logical, they'd be Extra Light 10s, Light 11s, Medium 12s, Heavy 13s, and Extra Heavy 14s for masochists and special detunings. But I guess we can't get there from here.

I agree with this. I don't think it's something that's ever going to change, but it's always bothered me too. Basically I ask for 10's, 11's or "what are the blue ones again? ....yeah, those..."

I hate meaningless terminology or things that are pointlessly nonstandardized between brands etc. Like the order of the stupid questions that the credit card machine asks you, unique to each store and type of machine. Life is too short for that kind of crap honestly.

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by Todd Yates

You're saying two different things. First it is the guitar's structure that determines the best string, but then you say your choice for sound and feel is always 12-53. I agree with the latter point on sound and feel. Assuming we keep string tension within a range that will not damage the guitar, the "right" string choice is far more dependent on the player's style and preference than how the guitar is built.

I have a friend who plays with a light finger style technique. He's a far better musician than I will ever be, but my guitars sound dead when he plays them and very lively and strong when I play them. His guitars sound great when he's on them, but flabby and flat when I play them. We've had occasion to play the same guitar alternating between his string choice and mine. The results are predictable. He sounds better on the lighter strings and I sound better with the mediums...even on the same guitar.

Yes, because that's my experience. I've owned many, many dreads in my time including a very lightly braced SCGC Tony Rice, which was absolutely hopeless with the supplied 13 set. It came to life with lights and could actually then function without the top being stifled. A couple of 28s, a 42 and a Bourgeois Slope D (hog/Adi), also sounded and felt best with lights. I guess Martin, and others, are marketing for the Bluegrass fraternity who, apparently, absolutely must have 13s on their dreads. To employ a pun, I guess 12s are a happy medium...

[zhunter]

The current use of light and medium works fine for me. You can change it when I'm dead. I'll let you know.

hunter

[SongwriterFan]

I propose these names:

Short
Tall
Grande
Venti
Trenta

[dwasifar]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

I don't accept your assumption, so I'm afraid I think your wrong.

Dreads and jumbos (AJ, J-45 etc) and archtops need mediums (13-56) to properly move the larger tops.

OM, 000,00, L-00 etc are fine with lights (12-53).

Some like heavy gauge on Resonators and archtops - but I've found then unnecessary - but they are still out there.

I think you're missing the point. It's not about what kind of guitar needs what gauge of strings; it's about what we call those gauges.

There are four widely available acoustic string set gauges - 10s, 11s, 12s, 13s. It doesn't make sense that we would call three of them some variant of "light" and call the heaviest "medium."

I'm not saying people should switch to 12s on their dreads. I will continue to use 13s on mine. What I am saying is if that's the heaviest common gauge, it should be CALLED "heavy," not "medium."

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by jmg257

All Martin Dreads (used to be but 1) are speced for mediums.

Originally Posted by Todd Yates

First it is the guitar's structure that determines the best string,...

If we are conceding that 13's are medium, then I contend the "specs" may just have to do with the prescribed maxim gauge, assuming a given tension that the manufacturer recommends.

In the case of my '73 D35. I've been using DR Sunbeam 12's on it successfully. Some might even say that the tension of the 12's is more like an 11 with a hex core. The thing roars with the Sunbeam 12's but Sunbeam13's just suck the life out of it.

In the case of my Taylor 614ce, I'm enjoying the balance more with the Elixir Nano 12-56's, medium lights. With the Elixir strings I'm finding that the gauge changes the projection, not so much the tone and the feel, surprisingly, isn't much different between lights (12-53), HD lights (13-53) and medium light (12-56). I'm going to test straight 13's later in the week, but I suspect I might find no difference in sound, a minor difference in balance and just overall harder on the hands.

And it has been my experience that each guitar has a string brand/model/gauge which best bring out the sound that the individual player wants to hear and how the player's technique works with all of the above.

[zmf]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

And it has been my experience that each guitar has a string brand/model/gauge which best bring out the sound that the individual player wants to hear and how the player's technique works with all of the above.

If you're going to be that outrageously reasonable and universal in application, then it doesn't leave us much to post about.

Please take a difference stance.

Originally Posted by AndrewG

Yes, because that's my experience. I've owned many, many dreads in my time including a very lightly braced SCGC Tony Rice, which was absolutely hopeless with the supplied 13 set. It came to life with lights and could actually then function without the top being stifled. A couple of 28s, a 42 and a Bourgeois Slope D (hog/Adi), also sounded and felt best with lights. I guess Martin, and others, are marketing for the Bluegrass fraternity who, apparently, absolutely must have 13s on their dreads. To employ a pun, I guess 12s are a happy medium...

And yet I have never played a SCGC Tony Rice, standard or pro or any other model, that didn't sound better with mediums. They're certainly not built any lighter than my prewar Martins, which also wear mediums.

It's the playing style, not the guitar.

I was a strictly medium guy, but a quote from BB King resonated with me - "Why are you working so hard?" I don't have to dig in to fight with banjos and I play amplified, so why indeed?

You can call them what you like, I know I use 12s.