Guitar players love to talk about strings.  While I can't really imagine that my strings are an interesting topic, it's one of the more common questions that I am asked.

On my classical guitar, a Ramirez, I use D'Addario Pro-Arte Hard Tension strings.  I change the basses 4 or 5 times for every time that I change the trebles.  The trebles simply last much longer.

I have an unusual string setup for my archtop guitar, a Gibson L5. I have to buy individual strings to create the set. Fortunately, my local music store is very cooperative about getting individual strings in bulk.

A traditional set of .13 gauge strings uses fairly thick bass strings. The very thick bass strings sometimes fatigue my hand. Also, they often sound boomy through an amp because the 12 inch speaker is ideally sized to produce those frequencies. I used to have trouble controlling the balance between treble and bass strings. When I bought lighter gauge strings to compensate for the bass, the trebles sounded thin.

I also play a great deal of classical guitar, so I wanted the two sets of strings to feel similar. I bought a variety of strings at a local music store, and tried them in many variations.

I settled on using heavier gauge trebles, with an unwound 3rd, and lighter gauge bass strings. The brand is D'Addario.  The gauges are:

E= .13
B= .16
G= .18 (unwound)
D= .26
A= .36
E= .46

These strings give me 3 strings on top that all sing melodies well, and 3 strings on the bottom that are easily controlled.

The bass strings are round wound.  I like the brightness of round wound strings.  They seem to allow the pitches of the lower strings to sound more clearly.

There is little about guitar playing that is more personal than string setup. Many people would not like this setup, but it works well for me.

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