Had guitar setup for 13s

[OrgnkrOOts]

Had my new guitar pleked and setup for 13s. Can I change to 12s without issues? Do I need to get a new nut installed?

[1Charlie]

You should be fine.

You might need just a slight tweak of the truss rod to add a little bit more relief, but only if you are getting string buzz with the Lights.

It all depends on how low your action is set with the Mediums.

[EZYPIKINS]

It still boggles my mind that people call 13's medium's.
I was mainly an electric player from 74-90 Didn't start playing acoustic on stage till around 94. Now acoustic is may main gig. Anything over .011's will shred my fingers. My acoustics are set up so that I can play them as easy as my electric's. But when ever I've tried .012's Get out the cutters, .012's go straight to the trash. Last time I tried .012's about a month ago. Bought 6 sets. Tried 'em, cut 'em off went back to my .011's Gave the .012's away.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by EZYPIKINS

It still boggles my mind that people call 13's medium's.
I was mainly an electric player from 74-90 Didn't start playing acoustic on stage till around 94. Now acoustic is may main gig. Anything over .011's will shred my fingers. My acoustics are set up so that I can play them as easy as my electric's. But when ever I've tried .012's Get out the cutters, .012's go straight to the trash. Last time I tried .012's about a month ago. Bought 6 sets. Tried 'em, cut 'em off went back to my .011's Gave the .012's away.

I was mainly an electric player. So when I really got into acoustics I wanted volume! The way I get that is 13s on a dreadnought. I've come to really appreciate the feel of them and when I go back to electric they feel so slinky and use 10s or 11s on those.

[OrgnkrOOts]

I had 13s on my Taylor but it was a full step down on all strings. I guess I didn't really think it would be that big of a difference. I can play most chords ok and love the tone but yeah bends are insanely difficult so I'll probably go with 12s on this guitar

[Scott of the Sa]

My Martin D-28 needs mediums (13's) to get the sound I am used to.
I tried 12's and did not like them.
Right now I am experimenting with 14's but they are tuned down 2 half steps.
On my electric Archtop I am using 13's, on my Tele copy I use 11's
always with a wound G string

[PaulVA]

Originally Posted by OrgnkrOOts

Had my new guitar pleked and setup for 13s. Can I change to 12s without issues? Do I need to get a new nut installed?

The nut slots should work fine for the 12's as long as they were cut properly originally. If you experience any issues they can usually be addressed by cleaning up the slots with a nut file, should not need a new nut in any case.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by EZYPIKINS

It still boggles my mind that people call 13's medium's.
I was mainly an electric player from 74-90 Didn't start playing acoustic on stage till around 94. Now acoustic is may main gig. Anything over .011's will shred my fingers. My acoustics are set up so that I can play them as easy as my electric's. But when ever I've tried .012's Get out the cutters, .012's go straight to the trash. Last time I tried .012's about a month ago. Bought 6 sets. Tried 'em, cut 'em off went back to my .011's Gave the .012's away.

When you play in a bluegrass band, you need 13s, and possibly with the action a little higher than most strummers prefer. Ah the power!

You get used to them.

[douglasfan1]

I now setting my guitar with 013 gauge in Eb tunning (1/2 step down), I've tried 012 gauge in standard tunning without any adjustment, still got similar action. I think the tension are very close in such situation.

[Cibby]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

When you play in a bluegrass band, you need 13s, and possibly with the action a little higher than most strummers prefer. Ah the power!

You get used to them.

Amen to that!

[bobster7]

You should be fine. I sometimes use Thomastik 13-59 gauge on my H&D DS 12 fret and I only play it fingerstyle (not a strumming guitar really). It sounds so big, round and warm! Like others have said you get used to it. It makes swopping back to 11’s feel so floppy you have to be careful fretting the treble strings because you can find yourself bending them unknowingly.

[muskegman]

Originally Posted by Scott of the Sa

My Martin D-28 needs mediums (13's) to get the sound I am used to.
I tried 12's and did not like them.
Right now I am experimenting with 14's but they are tuned down 2 half steps.
On my electric Archtop I am using 13's, on my Tele copy I use 11's
always with a wound G string

How do you like the 14's? My jumbo requires 13's or the top doesn't move. I might give 14's a go. I'm tuned down a whole step.

[OrgnkrOOts]

Originally Posted by bobster7

You should be fine. I sometimes use Thomastik 13-59 gauge on my H&D DS 12 fret and I only play it fingerstyle (not a strumming guitar really). It sounds so big, round and warm! Like others have said you get used to it. It makes swopping back to 11’s feel so floppy you have to be careful fretting the treble strings because you can find yourself bending them unknowingly.

Ok thats good to know. I wasn't sure if I should get a new setup after I swaped out the 13s for 12s. It needs to sound as perfect as it can. I flat pick and strum for the most part and I just can't do bends with the 13s. My Taylors dropped down a full step on all strings and the tension is good with 13s on it. Thanks

[Mark Stone]

I use medium (13-56) or medium/light (12-56). In my view, playing mediums is just as easy as playing lights, even using bends and barre chords, and age (I'm 68 next month) hasn't made a difference. Switching from lights to mediums (or mediums to lights) never harms guitars, and rarely requires a quarter-turn of the truss. If you switch from lights to mediums, and it's difficult, leave the mediums on and watch your hand strength increase - like Silly said in a post above, you get used to them.

The advantage of using mediums is an increase of volume, and depth of tone/bass and has made any guitar I've ever played more pleasing to the ear, and more powerful in a band setting.

I understand that some folks will have difficulty with heavier gauge strings because of arthritis or some other issue, so I'm not ragging on everyone to go to mediums - but there is definitely a reward in volume and tone if you can.

[mpaul73]

I just put 13s on my 000-28ec and I am really liking the sound of them, TONE AND VOLUME (John Pearse). I did adjust the truss rod a bit but not much. No buzz. So my experience with a 000 is no issues at all!