Improving playability

UnclePsychosis · April 2020

Hey guys

I've got a battered old Tanglewood dreadnought that I've been playing a bit more recently (thanks, lockdown). I'm mainly a plectrum strumalong kinda player.

Its strung with Martin 80/20 Bronze 11-52 strings.

Now, on my electrics I'm perfectly happy with 11s, but I find on my acoustic playing down at the first few frets is really hard - I feel like I need perfect technique and a death grip with my left hand and perfect picking with the right hand to get it to play nice.

If I put a capo at the 3rd or 4th fret then things get a lot nicer. The tone mellows out a bit and playing is much more straightforward.

Any tips? Will changing to lighter strings help (I play D'addario NYXL on my electrics so D'addario recommendations in particular welcome)?

Also, just say a "friend" of mine had stuck a sticker on the top of his acoustic guitar 20 years ago. Would my "friend" expect the guitar to sound a bit nicer if he was able to take it off? :-)

Andy79 · April 2020

To the sticker I say no. No difference at all.

Check the nut height. Fret the third and check the gap between first fret and string. Any more gap than around half a strings worth the nut slots can be cut deeper. That could ease things a bit

lighter than 11s not a good plan. Tone will be lost, won’t drive the top hard enough. I’d say go to 12s to improve tone.

Andy79 · April 2020

Oh and D’Addario phosphor bronze are great strings

ICBM · April 2020

UnclePsychosis said:

Now, on my electrics I'm perfectly happy with 11s, but I find on my acoustic playing down at the first few frets is really hard - I feel like I need perfect technique and a death grip with my left hand and perfect picking with the right hand to get it to play nice.

If I put a capo at the 3rd or 4th fret then things get a lot nicer. The tone mellows out a bit and playing is much more straightforward.

The nut is too high. It's also possible there's a bit too much relief, or that the neck/fingerboard has a bit of a turn-up at the end, but it's unlikely to make as much difference.

UnclePsychosis said:

Any tips? Will changing to lighter strings help (I play D'addario NYXL on my electrics so D'addario recommendations in particular welcome)?

Not much, and it might cause worse intonation problems - which I suspect is why you're finding it hard to make it sound good, as well as hard to play physically. As you bend the strings down to the frets they will go sharp.

UnclePsychosis said:

Also, just say a "friend" of mine had stuck a sticker on the top of his acoustic guitar 20 years ago. Would my "friend" expect the guitar to sound a bit nicer if he was able to take it off? :-)

No

.

prlgmnr · April 2020

I was going to say "put a capo on" but you're already ahead of me there so that's my usefulness used up.

UnclePsychosis · April 2020

Thanks guys. I'm not convinced the nut is too high, it doesn't play sharp and the usual check for a high nut suggests if it is too high its only very slightly.

I think part of it might be the dimensions - because of the size of the body the first fret feels quite far away.

I think I may try tuning it down a tone and putting a capo on the second fret. Failing that I may invest in a parlor type, I've always fancied a Gretsch Jim Dandy anyway...

UnclePsychosis · April 2020

down a tone and capo at the second fret is absolutely miles easier to play. Interesting...

MagicPigDetective · April 2020

I have a 20 odd year old Tanglewood. The body warped and the neck angle raised up, increasing relief and making it horrible to play. It was a good excuse to buy a Taylor.

Saying that..... it’s got to be the nut. I even had to sort the nut and get the bridge lowered on a brand new Taylor.

elkay · April 2020

I don't necessarily subscribe to the view that lighter strings lose tone. The tone you get with lighter strings isn't better or worse, just different. I actually like the tinkle and added sparkle that lighter strings give, and have used 10s on all my acoustics since I discovered their merits. I would definitely recommend that you give lighter strings a try, as you might well find that you like them.

Winny_Pooh · April 2020

Check the relief, as a guideline the gap at the 8th fret (between the bottom of the string and top of fret) should be around the thickness of your B string or a teeny bit more, if it's bigger then tighten the rod.

paulnb57 · April 2020

I have a Messer Resonator, low nut, correct neck relief. lowish action, I hated the bloody thing, after Strats it felt like a bastard to play, then I tried Newtone low tension strings, what a transformation! It still sounds great, but is now a joy to play, it doesn’t feel like its fighting back all the time...

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/strings-c1/string-sets-c865/acoustic-guitar-c33/newtone-strings-heritage-phosphor-bronze-low-tension-acoustic-guitar-strings-12-52-dadgad-p14378

UnclePsychosis · April 2020

Thanks guys. The relief seems OK, its maybe fractionally too much but not obviously wrong.

I think I might try lower tension strings, tuning it down a tone makes it so much easier for me to play and now that I think about it it does feel like the strings are much more "tense" than I'm used to. Worth trying!

UnclePsychosis · May 2020

Bit of a bump but I sometimes think it's good to post the resolution for the benefit of future Googlers...

Bought a set of Newtone Heritage strings (the 11-47 ones) and installed them this morning. Has made an absolutely huge difference, so much easier to play than the Martin ones were.

Tonally the Martins had a lot going for them (they were loud and very well rounded) but a guitar you can actually play is obviously the priority :-)

wrinkleygit · May 2020

The great thing about Newtone is they will make whatever gauge set you require, I’m currently using the 11-47 set but with a 12 & 51 for the E’s, balances up the tension slightly but gives a bit more bottom end to the low E.

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Improving playability

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