Favorite medium-light strings for a resonator?

[Leo MacIntosh]

Hello, I just bought a Recording King Swamp Dog Style-O Resonator (L I N K to it).

It came with medium-gauge D'Addario .013-.056 strings that sound good, but are giving me trouble bending notes. (My hands have always been bony; hand-grip strengtheners didn't help.)

Could you please recommend a set of medium/lights that would sound good on a bell brass body resonator?

[Sgt. Pepper]

I recently tried to go down to .12's from my normal .013 - .056 D'Addario EJ17's for the same reason you mention, but I really didn't like the tone anymore......it became very thin and plinky.

I tried the Nickel Bronze strings from D'Addario in .013 - .056 and found that the lower tension allowed me to play and bend much more easily than the EJ17s, and the tone is pretty good to boot.
Not as warm sounding as the phosphor bronze, but they lend themselves well to the metallic tone of a resonator IME.

YMMV.

[Jim Comeaux]

I personally have not tried these, but I did put a set of 12’s (lights) on my LL-16 and they sound so good I ordered six more sets.
Martin MA545 Authentic Acoustic Superior Performance 92/8 Phosphor Bronze Guitar Strings - .0125-.055 Light/Medium

I think that Sweetwater may still have these on sale.

[Leo MacIntosh]

Thanks for your replies. I will try both of your suggestions.

[Villamarzia]

12s on a resonator might not sound too good, especially if you play with a slide. Try out some round core strings. I had very good results with Adamas dadgad ones..

[Leo MacIntosh]

Originally Posted by Villamarzia

12s on a resonator might not sound too good, especially if you play with a slide. Try out some round core strings. I had very good results with Adamas dadgad ones..

Thanks for the tip. I've heard of round core strings but have never tried them or made an effort to understand what they are. On another website, I just read, "Round core guitar strings are the vintage original guitar string and have an awesome low-end heavy sound and flexibility." I'll have to try them out.

Perhaps I should've mentioned at the start of this thread that I don't play slide. My resonator is tuned to open G, and I'm learning to play John Fahey's fingerstyle arrangement of "Special Rider Blues."

[Guitars44me]

I am sold on elixir HD Lights. I love the medium small strings and the light big strings.

Nice for slide, as the increased resistance on the top is good for avoiding fret bonk.

Have fun with the reso!

Paul

[SCVJ]

I'm no expert, but I think the use of heavier strings on a resonator (wood or metal body) presumes that the guitar is being used for slide, at least part (or most) of the time.

On a non-resonator the strings need to drive the top, and heavier strings are usually recommended if you're playing in a style where you need to drive the top more. Bluegrass rhythm and flatpicking on guitars with large bodies come to mind.

On a resonator you're just driving the cone, which seems to be much more easily driven, and they're so dang loud that volume isn't an issue, at least in most cases these days.

Reso's were invented to make guitars loud before amplifiers were available. They fell out of use when amps came in, except for blues players who could buy them cheap and still needed to be loud unamplified. They're popular today just because they sound so cool. At least that's what I've read, and it seems to make sense.

So, I would definitely try 12s and 11s; as they say, strings are cheap! If it sounds good and feels good it IS good! Especially if you're just playing for your own amazement, not being required to accomplish something specific in a band or live performance setting.

I only have a little experience with resonators, so if anyone thinks the above isn't good advice, don't hesitate to correct me.

[Robin, Wales]

I only have a little experience with resonators, so if anyone thinks the above isn't good advice, don't hesitate to correct me.

There is an issue with swapping to lighter gauge strings on a biscuit bridge reso like the one that Leo has. The cone "floats" in the soundwell. It is only held in place by the downpressure of the strings passing over the bridge. Too little pressure and the cone/bridge can move during play. Also the cone compresses under string tension. The bridge may be 3mm or more lower when a cone is under full tension. So you can end up with a higher action with lighter strings; which may negate the reason you fitted them in the first place. Finally the tone changes with the tension. There is an optimum amount of downpressure to get the cone singing sweetly. So, overall, the whole set up is a balancing act, made more complex by the inconsistencies of neck set angles and variations in Chinese cover plate dome radius.

You can certainly try a lighter set of strings on a reso - it's just that the results will be a little unpredictable.

[Ceabeceabe]

Originally Posted by Jim Comeaux

Martin MA545 Authentic Acoustic Superior Performance 92/8 Phosphor Bronze Guitar Strings - .0125-.055 Light/Medium

+1 for these. I use them on my National.

[Leo MacIntosh]

Originally Posted by Ceabeceabe

+1 for these. I use them on my National.

Thanks, they just arrived in the mail today.

[rockabilly69]

There is a lot of different opinions on this.

Resonator is one of my favorite instruments, I play live and record with one a lot. I NEVER use any strings over 12's.

I finger-pick and play slide on all of them (National Western D Spider Cone, National Polychrome Tricone, National Triolian Steel Body Biscuit, and National M2 Artist). Three of the four of them left National set up for 12's. The last two were artist models specifically made for me and set up with 12's and both have compensated saddles. I have never had a problems with light strings.

One of the tricks to playing slide with lighter strings is to use a lighter slide piece. I like glass for live work.

I find fingerpicking with anything more than 12's too much of a chore to deal with, and my songs feature more picking than slide.

[Mycroft]

I use John Pearse "New Mediums" on my round-neck, although I usually bump the 1st string from a 13 to a 14 or 15, if I am going to be playing in open tuning mostly and/or using a slide a lot.