String Sizes

[Huskyman]

If I was using .11's on my acoustic and I wanted to string it with electric strings for a test, what electric size would be comparable to the 11's?

Thanks.

[Brucebubs]

String gauges are measurements in inches.
A .011" acoustic string is the exact same gauge as a .011" electric guitar string.
Both are .011"

[Huskyman]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

String gauges are measurements in inches.
A .011" acoustic string is the exact same gauge as a .011" electric guitar string.
Both are .011"

So they would be the same thickness?

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by Cobalt

So they would be the same thickness?

Yes, they are both .011" thick.

[Huskyman]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Yes, they are both .011" thick.

I guess where i am confused is why a light string on electric might be listed at 9 but a light string on acoustic is a 12. Is it just the way they decided to do it?

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by Cobalt

I guess where i am confused is why a light string on electric might be listed at 9 but a light string on acoustic is a 12. Is it just the way they decided to do it?

That's why it's best to kinda ignore the descriptions of string sets as 'extra lights, custom lights and mediums' and use the gauge of the 1st string as your reference guide ... like 11's, 12's and 13's.

Electric guitars by their nature tend to use very light gauge strings but no matter what they call them, a .011" electric string is the same thickness as a .011" acoustic string.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Cobalt

If I was using .11's on my acoustic and I wanted to string it with electric strings for a test, what electric size would be comparable to the 11's?

Thanks.

Hi Cobalt

Electric strings are different than acoustic strings. There is no harm in trying a set of .011 electric strings, and you will discover differences we can only describe.

Electric strings are built from different composition (nickel versus bronze or phosphor bronze), and the third string of electric strings is a plain string (not wound).

Also Custom light acoustic strings are generally .011 - .053 whereas their electric cousins are often .011 - .048.

The style of electric playing is different than acoustic, and the tension on the electric sets is far lighter (and the action closer), making them easier to play, and especially easier to bend. Electric strings are not depending on the acoustic resonance of the guitar to project their sound. The pickups and amps cover those.

A lot of electric players I know think of .008 or .009 like acoustic players think of light or medium strings. And they have discussions/arguments over string gauge just like acoustic players (and bass players).

Hope this adds to the discussion…

[Huskyman]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi Cobalt

Electric strings are different than acoustic strings. There is no harm in trying a set of .011 electric strings, and you will discover differences we can only describe.

Electric strings are built from different composition (nickel versus bronze or phosphor bronze), and the third string of electric strings is a plain string (not wound).

Also Custom light acoustic strings are generally .011 - .053 whereas their electric cousins are often .011 - .048.

The style of electric playing is different than acoustic, and the tension on the electric sets is far lighter (and the action closer), making them easier to play, and especially easier to bend. Electric strings are not depending on the acoustic resonance of the guitar to project their sound. The pickups and amps cover those.

A lot of electric players I know think of .008 or .009 like acoustic players think of light or medium strings. And they have discussions/arguments over string gauge just like acoustic players (and bass players).

Hope this adds to the discussion…

Thanks. The reason I am asking this question is that i have a Godin A6 and i am trying to get a decent tone with the easiest wear on my fingers as one fingers has a bit of a issue. Ive tried some electric and some Veritas acoustic and some GHS Boomer acoustic which i believe are nickle. So far as long as im using both outputs and two amps the sound for both acoustic and electric has been nice no matter what strings. With the exception of the GHS Boomers. They just seemed to loud for me. Im still experimenting but i may probably end up with the Veritas phosphorus acoustic 11's and maybe 10's. In a perfect world i would be playing my wooden acoustic but its time to make a change for my finger. And the A6 is actually quite nice.

[Huskyman]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

That's why it's best to kinda ignore the descriptions of string sets as 'extra lights, custom lights and mediums' and use the gauge of the 1st string as your reference guide ... like 11's, 12's and 13's.

Electric guitars by their nature tend to use very light gauge strings but no matter what they call them, a .011" electric string is the same thickness as a .011" acoustic string.

Thanks Bruce. I appreciate your input.

[DesertTwang]

11-gauge strings ARE electric strings in my book.

Originally Posted by Cobalt

If I was using .11's on my acoustic and I wanted to string it with electric strings for a test, what electric size would be comparable to the 11's?

Thanks.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Cobalt

I guess where i am confused is why a light string on electric might be listed at 9 but a light string on acoustic is a 12. Is it just the way they decided to do it?

It's because of the different ways that the sound is generated on an acoustic guitar and on an electric. With acoustic guitars the only thing creating the vibrations that drive the guitar's top is the string energy generated by the strings themselves - it's a completely mechanical process.

On an electric guitar, of course, you've got the magnetic pickups picking up those vibrations and amplifying their energy and sending an electrical signal to an amplifier.

So it's completely different process when you have an acoustic guitar being played without any pickups on it.

Because there has to be enough energy to get the entire top vibrating, acoustic guitars traditionally get strung with heavier strings than electric guitars do. There's a direct correlation between how heavy the strings are and how much energy gets transmitted to the top.

So with some acoustic guitars like Martin-style dreadnoughts, it can really take some .013 to .056 strings to get the best tone out of them. That's what they're designed for and that's what they're braced for. If you put .011's on, you won't be able to drive that particular guitar's top as efficiently because you won't be putting in as much string energy as it requires to sound its best.

Naturally, there are playing considerations to take into account and an increasingly high percentage of acoustic guitarists are using lighter strings as their default setting. So the construction and bracing of many acoustic guitars these days has been lightened to cater to that change in taste and playing styles.

Another crucial difference between acoustic and electric guitar strings are the different alloys the wound strings can come in. On an electric guitar you need strings with nickel or some other magnetic alloy to be able to get the pickups to work. On an acoustic guitar there generally isn't that same limitation, so you will find different bronze alloys that give you different tone colors that you might find musically richer-sounding.

So while it's tempting to assume that acoustic and electric guitars are just different examples of the same instrument, in a lot of ways they're NOT. The comparison I usually make is it's like comparing a piano to an electric organ: yes, the same notes are in the same places, but the attack and sustain characteristics are considerably different.

I don't consider myself an electric guitarist. I can find my way around one easily enough, but it's really not my instrument. The right hand attack required on an electric is different, the resistance that the strings offer are usually quite different, and even if you use the identical string gauges on both electric and acoustic, it still won't feel exactly the same when you're playing the acoustic guitar.

So my best advice is that you go into this realizing all this, and start accommodating yourself to the different challenges that the acoustic guitar presents. I'm not saying that you have to start using big ol honkin' heavy gauge strings, but you do need to understand that some aspects of playing an acoustic guitar are inevitably going to be somewhat different from playing an electric.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

...the third string of electric strings is a plain string (not wound)...

Not necessarily; you can get 10-gauge electric sets with a wound third - FYI I use wound-G flatwound 10's on both my P-90 LP and Gretsch White Falcon - and at every gauge up from there; in addition, the heavier-gauge wound third strings come in a broad variety of wrappings/materials: nickel-plated steel (the most common), pure nickel, monel (the original electric guitar string from the 1930's), stainless steel, flatwound, pressure-wound, half-round, compound wound, nylon tapewound, hex-core, round-core - in virtually any combination. IMO if you're fighting finger issues and you're playing plugged-in all the time, you might want to check out a 10-gauge flatwound set like the D'Addario ECG23: as easy on the fingers as it gets (lowest pressure of any flatwound string I've used in the last 55 years and, as most jazzcats know, flats allow you to drop the action lower without buzzing), and you'll reap the twin fringe benefits of taking some of the "quack and sizzle" out of the UST and getting a nice mainstream jazz tone (that can be blended with the bridge transducer) from that neck humbucker - only thing is if your guitar came with a plain G you'll need to get a new saddle for proper intonation...

[musicman1951]

Originally Posted by Cobalt

I guess where i am confused is why a light string on electric might be listed at 9 but a light string on acoustic is a 12. Is it just the way they decided to do it?

Because most humans don't use 11's and 12's on electric guitars, at least not the players who routinely bend the notes up a step.

You might want to check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGXj_NQONYM

[121]

I looked up the specs on a Godin A6 Ultra and the specs state it's shipped with
Godin E-10 Nickel electric strings (.010, .013, .017, .026, .036, .046).
.010s would be easier on your fingers than .011s.

[Huskyman]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Not necessarily; you can get 10-gauge electric sets with a wound third - FYI I use wound-G flatwound 10's on both my P-90 LP and Gretsch White Falcon - and at every gauge up from there; in addition, the heavier-gauge wound third strings come in a broad variety of wrappings/materials: nickel-plated steel (the most common), pure nickel, monel (the original electric guitar string from the 1930's), stainless steel, flatwound, pressure-wound, half-round, compound wound, nylon tapewound, hex-core, round-core - in virtually any combination. IMO if you're fighting finger issues and you're playing plugged-in all the time, you might want to check out a 10-gauge flatwound set like the D'Addario ECG23: as easy on the fingers as it gets (lowest pressure of any flatwound string I've used in the last 55 years and, as most jazzcats know, flats allow you to drop the action lower without buzzing), and you'll reap the twin fringe benefits of taking some of the "quack and sizzle" out of the UST and getting a nice mainstream jazz tone (that can be blended with the bridge transducer) from that neck humbucker - only thing is if your guitar came with a plain G you'll need to get a new saddle for proper intonation...

Do they D'Addario ECG23 have a wound G string? The A6 comes with a wound G and everyone says I need to have that.