What Is The Best String Gauge For Acoustic Guitar? Options

[Bogdan Radovic]

Hey guys - I was wondering, what is the best string gauge for the acoustic guitar?
A western style guitar, not the classical one.

I think I'll be restringing mine soon so I was wondering what is usually considered as standard gauge?

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[Sensible Jones]

Personally i use these Bogdan, 12-54 Martin Light.

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

I put a string set starting at 011 and it was ok for me. I think that you can get a deeper tone if you use the ones that SJ suggested. Also you can use lower tuning with them.

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[Darius Wave]

I consider 12-54 as a most stabe in tuning, best fat tone and good resistance for pressure, which also affects tuning in positions in the good way. But...much of this depends of Your playing style. Me and many of my guitar playing friends uses 11's gauge - mostly those who play electric as a main guitar and acoustic only as an addition. Some of our "electric habbits" are pretty hard to play on 12-54. Also the tolerance for fret buzzing in acoustic is way different than eletric guitars have. So when You have "sport setup" for electric and a "non-buzz" setup for acoustic than using 10's (electric) and 11's (acoustic) can still make You feel like a difference of 2 gauge levels on the same guitar. I really like 12-54 tone and tuning stability but I'm not always able to make a good warm-up and sometimes it's a bit too tough live

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[Bogdan Radovic]

Thanks guys for input. I once put on 13s by mistake on the acoustic guitar and it was killer. I could note get the nice chords sound out of it and the strings were way too hard on the fingers. I was thinking along 11's gauge as a compromise as I mostly need it for nice chord strumming.

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[Headbanger]

Personally i use these Bogdan, 12-54 Martin Light.

I use these as well...Nice tone, although not able to bend as i would on electric but then again, I don't usually try and play the same things on acoustic and electric...each has its own territory.

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[Bogdan Radovic]

Personally i use these Bogdan, 12-54 Martin Light.

BTW - I think I have found these in the local store so I think I'll give them a go

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[pdf64]

I once put on 13s by mistake on the acoustic guitar and it was killer. I could note get the nice chords sound out of it and the strings were way too hard on the fingers

Bear in mind that thicker strings will alter the tension on the neck and pull it to a more 'bowed' profile, thereby raising the action, possibly making the guitar too hard to play.

A change in neck tension, caused by different string gauge, different tuning, or even just the season, can necessitate a tweak of the truss rod to compensate.
Be careful, don't adjust the truss rod unless the strings are slack. Don't make excessive changes, 1/8th of a turn is generally sufficient to compensate for above.
After adjusting, tune up, leave to settle in for an hour and assess.
Pete

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This post has been edited by pdf64: Oct 16 2013, 10:01 PM

[PosterBoy]

It does depend on the guitar constuction too, the bracing etc.

A repair guy told me I should use 12s on my Bourgeois because of the bracing pattern and not the 13s I had on it, he said it wouldn't be healthy for the guitar. But Dana Bourgeois said the braces are made from adirondack and so are stiffer and 13s are the recommended gauge.

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[Todd Simpson]

There's that word again "Best" is a tricky thing on guitar. It looks like some good responses though already!! 13 is a tad thick as you seem to have found out the hard way. I"m sure some folks would say 13 is best But generally speaking, I would suggest a lighter gauge for your non electric instruments simply due to my personal pref for the tone they generate on acoustic instruments and for the ease of play.

11's are a good place to start. If you like them, maybe try 12s but 12s may seem a bit much. It's always a bit of experimentation with strings on a given instrument but you may find (as I did) that combining gauge sets (E.G. 11 gauge set for high 3 strings, 12 for lower 3 strings) can work very well as it combines what often works best from each gauge in each range. But then again, you may just adore the 11 set and call it a day

Todd

Thanks guys for input. I once put on 13s by mistake on the acoustic guitar and it was killer. I could note get the nice chords sound out of it and the strings were way too hard on the fingers. I was thinking along 11's gauge as a compromise as I mostly need it for nice chord strumming.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Very good topic here as I am in the same position as you Bogdan

I used 11s so far, but for my voice, I need to tune the guitar somewhere in C standard or drop Bb even, so I think that 12s would go well with this So far, I've been keeping the guitar in C# standard or Drop C and it stayed there nicely.

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