Whats the thickest Steel string available (non wound)

[jaskofall]

Hi Guys,

I am using a magnetic pickup on a 12 string and all the high octave strings are steel except for the lowest e string octave. This, as you can prob guess leads to a balance issue as the plain steel strings ring out through the pickup much louder than the wound strings.
What is the heaviest string that is available in plain steel and who makes it?
The string that i am trying to replace is 0.030, can you get anything close to this guage in plain steel

Thanks heaps

[jalbert]

I've had the same problem, too. Consider using nickel-wound strings (normally for electrics).

[jaskofall]

I was trying to find GHS white bronze strings but can not find them in a 12 string gauge to fit the guitar as i tune to "D"

[L20A]

http://hotworship.com/euphonon/acoustic.html

Hope this helps.

[jaskofall]

So reading that the thickest guage they do is .020.
Would this be thick enough to replace a 0.030?
im not sure it would be, it would be really lax

[michaelw]

juststrings has .026" plain steels
http://www.juststrings.com/jsb-026p.html
a quick search only came up a >2.5 yr old thread with
someone who was trying to find a plain .030" for a bass
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=244938
hopefully on a standard scale guitar, the .026 will be feasible

[JTC111]

Originally Posted by jaskofall

So reading that the thickest guage they do is .020.
Would this be thick enough to replace a 0.030?
im not sure it would be, it would be really lax

no, that wouldn't work well

[runamuck]

If you can't find the string you're looking for sold for guitars, check into piano wire.

[Bryan T]

Originally Posted by michaelw

juststrings has .026" plain steels
http://www.juststrings.com/jsb-026p.html
a quick search only came up a >2.5 yr old thread with
someone who was trying to find a plain .030" for a bass
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=244938
hopefully on a standard scale guitar, the .026 will be feasible

A .026" is the thickest plain string I remember seeing. I looked at a string tension calculator and a .030" wound string tuned to E will have 34 pounds of tension. A .026" string at the same pitch will have 27.4 pounds of tension.

Stiff strings (like a .026" plain string) can start running into tuning issues, as the harmonics become out of tune with the fundamental. This is because the string vibrates less like a string and more like a beam.

Bryan

[jaskofall]

I think the .026 would work OK.
it would make such a difference to the guitar sound on stage to have it just as loud as all the other plain strings

Thanks heaps

[Brackett Instruments]

Check string for a pedal steel guitar. I believe you might be able to find a string the guage you're looking for.

[SongwriterFan]

Originally Posted by woody b

Check string for a pedal steel guitar. I believe you might be able to find a string the guage you're looking for.

The larger gauge strings for pedal steel are also wound.

Check out some pedal steel strings here:

http://www.juststrings.com/pedalsteelguitar.html

0.022 seem to be the largest non-sound strings.