String gauges for a J45?

Fuengi · February 2019

Have decided to take up Peach's very kind offer of having a new nut made for my new Eastman E10ss.

It's currently wearing 12s which feel the minimum gauge you'd want. I don't think I've ever played thicker gauge strings, what difference would 13s or 14s make?

If I get a new nut cut it might be worth upping the gauge.

ICBM · February 2019

My experience is that they - or at least actual Gibson ones - generally prefer lighter gauges, and don't need to be 'driven hard', like a Martin dreadnought does for example. They're more lightly braced and can suffer from top bellying if they're over-strung - I would definitely not put anything heavier than 13s on one, and would be careful about even that.

It's hard to say how the Eastman might differ from a Gibson though.

crunchman · February 2019

I used to use 13s. I ended up somewhere where I was playing for an hour or two every day for 3 weeks. Very sore fingers. Went down to 10s after that.

I have used 12s on occasion, but I use 11s these days. I'd never go back to 13s. If you need 13s on a guitar, or even 12s, for it to sound good, then it's probably got bracing that is too heavy. On a good guitar with a responsive top, 11s are fine. I can understand someone wanting heavier strings on the old style D28, but they should have bought an HD28V and saved their fingers.

WindmillGuitars · February 2019

I've 12's on my J45

brojangles · February 2019

Yeah I'd stick with 12s unless you like really light strings. I don't think you need anything heavier, the Eastmans are pretty lightly built and responsive. (I have 12s on my Eastman HD28-a-like and they work well - I put 13s on it to start with on the theory that that's what proper men do, but they only really improved the sound under very heavy strumming, and then only marginally, and sounded actively worse for fingerstyle, so I went back to 12s.)

brucegill · February 2019

Tried an Atkin j45 when I bought my LG and that had 12s and was spot on.

earwighoney · February 2019

Is it short scale? Do you use alternate tunings? I have a E10-00, short scale double 00 model which I have downtuned to CCGGCD with 13's. If I played in standard or DADGAD I'd stick to 12's.

Fuengi · February 2019

12s it is then, they sound good.

Lewy · February 2019

12s are great on a J45.crunchman said:

I used to use 13s. I ended up somewhere where I was playing for an hour or two every day for 3 weeks. Very sore fingers. Went down to 10s after that.
I have used 12s on occasion, but I use 11s these days. I'd never go back to 13s. If you need 13s on a guitar, or even 12s, for it to sound good, then it's probably got bracing that is too heavy. On a good guitar with a responsive top, 11s are fine. I can understand someone wanting heavier strings on the old style D28, but they should have bought an HD28V and saved their fingers.

It’s about volume/projection though, isn’t it. If you don’t need it because you’re recording or because you plug in then lighter strings can sound great. I find lights sometimes have nicer sustain characteristics than mediums. But if you play acoustically with others - either solely acoustically or into mics live - then mediums win the day. That’s why militantly acoustic bluegrassers only use mediums.

I think most guitars can be set up to play very nicely with mediums. Trouble is there are very few people who know how to do it, and even very highly thought of techs get it wrong a lot of the time. Too much relief is a common feature.

ICBM · February 2019

Lewy said:

It’s about volume/projection though, isn’t it. If you don’t need it because you’re recording or because you plug in then lighter strings can sound great. I find lights sometimes have nicer sustain characteristics than mediums. But if you play acoustically with others - either solely acoustically or into mics live - then mediums win the day. That’s why militantly acoustic bluegrassers only use mediums.

I think it's a bit of a 'done thing' with bluegrass players because it's a 'done thing', not necessarily because it works. There are some guitars which actually sound louder and better with 12s than 13s - too much tension can overtighten the top and stops it resonating as well, if the guitar is not designed to be strung that heavily. I've come across it with quite a few smaller-bodied guitars, but I think J45s also fall into that category. Of course most of those bluegrass players use Martin-style dreadnoughts, which are intended to be strung more heavily.

terada · March 2019

What is the standard size that Gibson ship them with?

ICBM · March 2019

terada said:

What is the standard size that Gibson ship them with?

Pretty sure it's 12s.

Andy79 · March 2019

terada said:

What is the standard size that Gibson ship them with?

Definitely 12s

terada · March 2019

Thanks. I think I might try 11s on mine next

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String gauges for a J45?

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