Alternate stringing on Virtuo?

[DethWshBkr]

Going to be playing second acoustic the next six months at church. By myself some times, and other times as #2.

I was thinking of re-stringing my Virtuo as a high string/Nashville variant.

I tested this out on my RainSong jumbo.....but of course the bass it completely wrecked as a result. Being a jumbo, that's a really bad choice I think.
The Virtuo, has such a minimal bass output anyway. I'm thinking it would really shine as a HS variant.

What I did on my RainSong with a bunch of leftover mixed strings, and what I was thinking to do on the Virtuo is -

e- unchanged - 12 gauge
B - unchanged - 16 gauge
G - +1 octave - 8 gauge
D - +1 octave - 12 gauge
A - +1 octave - 16 gauge
E - + 2 octave - 12 gauge


I had tested the "low" E as a +1 octave with a 24w, but it gave a strange blumpy sound if I accidentally hit it. +2, even if I accidentally struck the string, it didn't sound bad (obviously since the high e string is the exact same....)

I'm hopeful that the Virtuo's thin body will allow the tone to be nice and glassy or sparkly.


Any thoughts or recommendations for strings or other methods? I will be strictly using it as an accompanying guitar for this, and "possibly" using it in electric mode occasionally during the accompaniment.

[JackDaniel]

I have no idea what you said there but would love to hear a sound clip. Intrigued…

[David Eastwood]

Take a look at a string set for an electric 12-string. These are the gauges from an Ernie Ball set:

.011/.011, .015/.015, .024w/.010, .030/.014, .042/.022w, .052/.028

Overall it would suggest that you’re going rather too light on the A and bottom E.

[DethWshBkr]

Originally Posted by David Eastwood

Take a look at a string set for an electric 12-string. These are the gauges from an Ernie Ball set:

.011/.011, .015/.015, .024w/.010, .030/.014, .042/.022w, .052/.028

Overall it would suggest that you’re going rather too light on the A and bottom E.

That's why I had initially tested a 24w in the RainSong in the 6th string E position. For what I heard though, it just sounded odd. Even an E or Em chord, where you'd of course have it in, it just sounded odd to have that octave on the bottom. On a chord that does not use the 6th string, I usually thumb mute just to be safe. That made an even odder sound if I did tag the 6th !

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by DethWshBkr

That's why I had initially tested a 24w in the RainSong in the 6th string E position. For what I heard though, it just sounded odd. Even an E or Em chord, where you'd of course have it in, it just sounded odd to have that octave on the bottom. On a chord that does not use the 6th string, I usually thumb mute just to be safe. That made an even odder sound if I did tag the 6th !

Got it. I used to have a Takamine parlor guitar which I used this string setup on, and I got used to the sound fairly quickly. What was always odd was the feeling of lighter strings where I was used to something much heavier. Hitting that 24w 6th always felt strange compared with the more normal 53w or so that my thumb was expecting.

[DethWshBkr]

Originally Posted by David Eastwood

Got it. I used to have a Takamine parlor guitar which I used this string setup on, and I got used to the sound fairly quickly. What was always odd was the feeling of lighter strings where I was used to something much heavier. Hitting that 24w 6th always felt strange compared with the more normal 53w or so that my thumb was expecting.

We'll see how it plays out then. So far just strumming it acoustically, it seems good. It's interesting to hear the normal chords being "correct" but different. Not even capo like. I can see why it's a great accompanying style.

[Captain Jim]

I haven't tried it with any of my CF guitars, but I did put Nashville tuning strings on a GSmini... and enjoyed it a bunch. The strings are still tuned E, A, D, G, B, and E. The difference is that the four lower strings are tuned up an octave from standard tuning, while the highest two—the B and high E—are left unchanged.

Played as a second guitar, it gave a 12 string sound when recording (and easier to keep in tune).

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by Captain Jim

I haven't tried it with any of my CF guitars, but I did put Nashville tuning strings on a GSmini... and enjoyed it a bunch. The strings are still tuned E, A, D, G, B, and E. The difference is that the four lower strings are tuned up an octave from standard tuning, while the highest two—the B and high E—are left unchanged.

Played as a second guitar, it gave a 12 string sound when recording (and easier to keep in tune).

I think an X7 in Nashville tuning might be a very attractive prospect.

I suspect my wife might disagree, though