Newbie What strings for a semi hollow

[TiffanyGuitar]

Strings are really a big experiment to see what you like and sometimes to your ear what your guitar likes best. However, know that if you radically change gauges, you likely will have to change the guitars setup. So relax and try some different things. I personally don’t like flat wounds although the first time I tried them I thought that I did. If you plan on learning to string bend, flat wounds won’t let you try that.

Over the years I have tried round wound 11s and 10s and even some 9s. I keep round wound 10s on all my guitars - except the 335 the last change I put 11s on it. I have found that my 335 sounds better with 11s - I think it is just this particular 335. So, next string change I plan to try 10.5s to split the difference. It is currently having its pickups changed to lollar imperials so will report back when it is finished.

My Sheraton plays and sounds great with 10s.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Bain

...I struggle to understand this semi-hollow thing...

Not hard at all: a semi-hollow guitar (like a Gibson ES-335/345/355/Lucille) has a solid block of wood running down the center of the body, into which the bridge and stop tailpiece are (usually, except for those with a Bigsby tremolo, or certain older Gibson ES guitars with an archtop-style trapeze tailpiece) mounted, while the sides remain hollow; introduced by Gibson in 1958 and arguably based on earlier experiments by Les Paul, it was intended to provide the sustain, even response, softer attack, and feedback resistance of a solisbody with the warmth and woodiness of a full hollowbody electric jazzbox. While their degree of success in this department has been debated for over a half-century, if you're a serious electric player you need at least one guitar of this type in your tone arsenal...

Originally Posted by TiffanyGuitar

Strings are really a big experiment to see what you like and sometimes to your ear what your guitar likes best...I keep roundwound 10s on all my guitars - except the 335, the last change I put 11s on it. I have found that my 335 sounds better with 11s - I think it is just this particular 335...My Sheraton plays and sounds great with 10s.

Exactly what I was telling the OP, and a perfect example of your guitar telling you what it likes best . Had a similar experience when I bought my double-cut White Falcon which, in its Brooklyn days, shipped from the factory with flatwound 12's but as a MIJ Professional Series model came with plain-G roundwound 11's, which sounded harsh and edgy (not to mention the strange harmonics coming from the plain G - you really need that wound third on a Gretsch): after trying flatwound 12's (dull-sounding and lacking sustain) and 11's (more sustain but lackluster tone), contrary to the conventional wisdom it really came into its own with flatwound 10's - plenty of sustain, notes just pop out when you play, and with just a minor shift of the Space Control bridge's position it plays in tune in all positions (near-impossible with the old Brooklyn Space Control)...

[ras1500]

" If you plan on learning to string bend, flat wounds won’t let you try that."

I must be doing something wrong. I can easily bend a half tone or more on my guitars with Chrome 11's. I don't need more than that.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by ras1500

"If you plan on learning to string bend, flat wounds won’t let you try that."

I must be doing something wrong. I can easily bend a half tone or more on my guitars with Chrome 11's. I don't need more than that.

Same here, and the '50s guys were bending 12's (as I did back in the '60s) and sometimes 13's - made easier by the fact that flatwounds will, with a good pro setup, allow you to set the action almost unthinkably low compared to roundwounds...

[Glennwillow]

I use D'Addario XL110 sets on my electric guitars except for my Eastman archtop, where I use heavier jazz strings.

The only thing I ever notice with strings on most electric guitars are changes in stiffness and tension between various gauges. Sometimes I like to use 11s rather than 10s. I don't hear a lot of difference in tonal characteristics, but by using 11s the feel of the strings is more like my acoustics (where I use 12s).

- Glenn

[phydaux]

"maybe it’s the cheap amp I bought"

Any guitar when played through a cheap amp will sound cheap. Most guitars when played through a good amp sound decent. "Most."

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Same here, and the '50s guys were bending 12's (as I did back in the '60s) and sometimes 13's - made easier by the fact that flatwounds will, with a good pro setup, allow you to set the action almost unthinkably low compared to roundwounds...

Yeah. And I used to bend a lot on flat top acoustics strung with mediums, but that was when I was younger. But there's string vibrato and then there's string vibrato. Fauxpedal steel (sometimes with lesser fingers inside a chord ala Roy Buchanan) and full-step and more bends with multiple step-stops can be hard with higher tension strings.

On the other hand (pun intended?) when I hear today those Eisenhowers making like a pianist with nice thick strings and on-the-button intonation I'm envious. But back then I was looking at the cool guy with a crewcut behind Ozzie Nelson's boy playing with his banjo string hack Tele.