I know this topic has been covered and commented on a million times, but I just had to share that I tried light guage strings on my Rosewood 12 Str. Grand (tuned MR) for the first time last night and what an amazing difference.

Fairly new to Stick, I've played guitar since the dawn of time, and ALWAYS got much better tone from med/heavy stings (11 to 49 for you guitarists out there). So I thought I needed something other than lights on my new Stick. Tried Med, Heavy, and a mix of both. Liked the tone but did not love it and found myself fidgeting with preamps and reverbs, etc. to get the instrument to sound the way I wanted.

Then I tried (just for curiosity) a full set of light guage strings. Honestly, it's like a different instrument. The thing now just breathes. Sustain is better, tone is sweeter, easier to get good tone higher up the neck, better dynamics,etc. My Stick is now alive and has soul in it's voice. I am truly amazed.

Guess you learn something new every day, huh?

That's it. Peace!
Karma

Wow. You are pretty convincing Mr Karma. Maybe, I'll just try a set o' lights!

Karma, what pickup do you have on that Stick? I started with light strings on my PASV-4 12 string grand and recently tried out a set of medium strings. I like the medium better because they give a more consistent tone all over the entire fret board. With the light strings some frets close to the nut sounded pretty dull.

I've got a Stickup on it. Interestingly enough I was considering going to a PASV-4 if I remained unhappy with the tone I was getting from the Stickup and the heavier strings. But now, I'm good.... Rosewood Stick with Stickup into a Rane SP13. Pretty classic sound.

Not sure, Karma, how much precise control you have over your Stick's setup. The four adjustments that "grow together" are at the bridge, the nut, the truss rod, and the pickups. Adjusting one of these will affect the rest, thus, they have to grow together.

Add to these a fifth element, string tension, which also affects all other settings, and of course the gauges of your string set will noticeably change overall tension (or pull) from the top of the fretboard.

If your heavier gauges might have been pulling your fretboard into a slight bow, the "magic" of easy, fast and expressive playing would gradually disappear proportionately to the degree of curvature. My idea of "magic" includes many of the words from your post - sweeter tone, ringing sustain, finger volume dynamics, and overall expressiveness.

My guess is, your new light gauge set relaxed your neck/fretboard into a straighter profile. If so, you could have gotten the same improvement by tightening your truss rod (counter-tension from the rear). New strings always help, of course, but IMO, the setup makes a huge difference in the playing, whereas the gauges make more of a difference in tone and timbre.

If I "missed the mark", shoot me (a reply). Best, Emmett.

I like hearing about how different stickist try new things to suit their style better. Keep doing what works for you, but I found the exact opposite to be true for myself. I actually use thicker gauge strings than what came standard on my 12 string grand with pasv-4 pickups.

Hi,

I'm considering switching from heavy gauge to medium. At the moment, I notice that the string are pulling the fretboard into an arch, I loosened the truss a couple of times already (must have something to do with the changing weather, more humid and getting colder).
BTW, with the strings buzzing of the frets, I noticed that string 9 and 10 (10-string) had an extreme buzz when fretting the 4th fret and no buzz when fretting the 5th fret, when fretting the 1st, 2nd or 3rd, there was only ver little buzz. Does that mean that the 5th fret could use a little sanding down beneath string 9 and 10 ?

Cheers,
Bas.

Hi Bas,

The strings always pull in the direction of bowing, not arching. Just keep loosening until it's straight. As far as individual fretwork goes. If your instrument has Rails, then the chances of it needing individual fret work are pretty minimal. If the truss is adjusted and you still have one fret where there's buzzing it's most likely a damaged string (look for little kinks in the string over the 5th fret.

Having switched from Heavy to Medium in the bass, I like the extra flexibility of the strings, especially for bending bass notes.

Also, I had the same reaction to this thread Emmett did. If you're finding it hard to play your heavy or medium strings, check your truss!

Hi Greg,

Just practiced a bit. I looked over the frets (into a light) and saw the fretboard seems straight to me (probably having the tendency to arch).
Ah, the strings...yes, they're very old (well over a year). The solid steel strings are completely black.
My reason for wanting medium instead of heavy is like you mentioned, to be able to bend the bass strings more. As a bassplayer, i've always used heavy (hey, that's what bass is about, right ?). And then, I won an Epiphone Rivoli bass at an auction. This one has medium/light strings and i've come to love the ease with which i can add expression by vibrating and bending. So, I recently also ordered medium strings for my 5-string P-bass and also want medium strings on the stick.
I think playability on the heavy's is good (be it that bending and vibrating is a bit hard to do), so, again, that's not the reason for me to change.

Cheers,
Bas

Hi,

my reasons for using light strings on the bass side are:
- lower mass on the lowest string, which makes it easier for me to play fast patterns
- a better balance between, say, an A played on the 9th fret of the (lowest) C string and an A on the G string. With heavy strings I found the sound difference bigger. I changed to light after a mail discussion with Fergus Marsh, who also uses light gauge on the bass side. I really like his bass sound (see below for an example)
Regards,
Jaap
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYxI__6FTK4[/youtube]