string recommendations Gibson L5 archtop acoustic

[LouisB]

Hi there.

I've recently acquired a 1930s acoustic L5 (a big 17 inch beast) and I'm
wondering about the best type of string to use with this guitar. On my
acoustics I have pretty much settled on Elixir Nanoweb light gauge,
.12-.53s. Will these sound good on the L5 as well?

I mainly play chord based jazz, if that helps.

TIA for anyone who can spare the time to give me some advice.

LouisB
------
"I'm a half-wit. I sold the other half on e-Bay"

[a***@verizon.net]

If your instrument is from the late 1930s, it's probably an "X-braced"
rather than "parallel-braced" instrument. The X-braced models, which I
think have a distinctive and beautiful sweetness to the sound, project
a bit less well than later parallel-braced L-5s. Given your style, my
advice would be to use the heaviest strings you can comfortably play,
perhaps moving to .13s. I would also use a brighter string than the
Elixirs -- any bronze non-coated string. I used to have a 1937 L-12,
the one guitar I most regret selling, and I think I used D'Addarios.

I don't know if you know the Kress-McDonough recordings from the
mid-to-late 1930s, but when I had the L-12, I was trying to learn some
of their tunes and the guitar really nailed the sound (even if my
playing didn't).

Post by LouisB
Hi there.
I've recently acquired a 1930s acoustic L5 (a big 17 inch beast) and I'm
wondering about the best type of string to use with this guitar. On my
acoustics I have pretty much settled on Elixir Nanoweb light gauge,
.12-.53s. Will these sound good on the L5 as well?
I mainly play chord based jazz, if that helps.
TIA for anyone who can spare the time to give me some advice.
LouisB
------
"I'm a half-wit. I sold the other half on e-Bay"

[Max Leggett]

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 17:13:08 GMT, "LouisB"

Post by LouisB
Hi there.
I've recently acquired a 1930s acoustic L5 (a big 17 inch beast) and I'm
wondering about the best type of string to use with this guitar. On my
acoustics I have pretty much settled on Elixir Nanoweb light gauge,
.12-.53s. Will these sound good on the L5 as well?

Yeah, fer shure. Try D'Addario Chromes as well. You might want to go
up to 13s or even 14s to drive that L5. Try them all: strings are
cheap. As an aside, I've found that different guitars sound better
with different strings - there's no hard and fast rule. Even two
archtops - I have a reissue D'Angelico that sounds best with Thomastik
round 12s, and a 165 that sounds best with 13 flats. Unfortunately, 13
flats don't feel right under my fingers, so I've got it strung with
D'Addario round 12s. It sounds wimpy with Thomastiks. For good prices
and selectionI buy onloine at JustStrings.com; there are other places
as well.









--------------------------------
Without music, life is a mistake.
Freidrich "Hep Daddy" Nietzsche
---------------------------------

[a***@invalid.co.uk.invalid]

Post by LouisB
Hi there.
I've recently acquired a 1930s acoustic L5 (a big 17 inch beast) and I'm
wondering about the best type of string to use with this guitar. On my
acoustics I have pretty much settled on Elixir Nanoweb light gauge,
.12-.53s. Will these sound good on the L5 as well?
I mainly play chord based jazz, if that helps.
TIA for anyone who can spare the time to give me some advice.
LouisB
------
"I'm a half-wit. I sold the other half on e-Bay"

12 - 53 is a gauge too light for an acoustic L5; it will be happier
with 13 - 56. People usually use bronze strings but, depending on the
individual instrument, nickel roundwounds (not nickel plated) can
sound really good.

Arthur

[Starcaster]

In my opinion, this choice depends as much on your desired style and
sound as it does on the guitar. I have a 1938 L-7 that I just
acquired, and a 1975 L-5C (acoustic).

If you *like* that loud, brash tone that people seem to associate these
instruments with, then go for the heavy bronze strings to drive the top
and project more volume. I personally do NOT like that sound; I prefer
to enhance the mellowness of the instrument. I put (gasp) TI Bebop
11's on my L-5. I don't use heavy strings for stylistic reasons. I
prefer the touch sensitivity of lighter strings. And I have a floating
BJB pickup on the L-5 that responds great with these strings.

I just got the old L-7, and it is X-braced like yours. It has had DR
"Pure Blues" roundwound nickel 12's... and now Elixir Nanoweb electric
11's. I like the Elixirs much better. They do not bark as much as the
DR's. I may try the TI Bebops next.

So if you like the bark of these archtops, go with the popular opinion.
If not, try something different and see what you think...

[rl]

I'm not sure I've found the right strings for my no-pup 1949 Epi
Triumph yet. I love the Thomastiks and use their flats on my electric
archtop. When I got the Epi I put on a basic set of Phos/Bronze
acoustic strings but they were no fun. I miss the lower tension of the
TI's and the acoustic strings were just too much, unless you're doing
the Freddie Green thing. So I've ended up using the TI BeBop .012
roundwound nickel set on the acoustic.

I guess the perfect string would be a bronze string that had the lower
tension like the nickel TI's. I've looked but no luck.

Is there such a thing?

THX
Richard

[Beach Runner]

Post by rl
I'm not sure I've found the right strings for my no-pup 1949 Epi
Triumph yet. I love the Thomastiks and use their flats on my electric
archtop. When I got the Epi I put on a basic set of Phos/Bronze
acoustic strings but they were no fun. I miss the lower tension of the
TI's and the acoustic strings were just too much, unless you're doing
the Freddie Green thing. So I've ended up using the TI BeBop .012
roundwound nickel set on the acoustic.
I guess the perfect string would be a bronze string that had the lower
tension like the nickel TI's. I've looked but no luck.
Is there such a thing?
THX
Richard

I love the Thomastic jazz flat wounds. That was stylistic at the time.
Listen to Johnny Smith, and he uses flats. The Thomastic jazz flats are
the most singing and sweet of the flat wounds.
I think those are usually very sweet sounding guitars.

[dunlop212]

I'm with starcaster; the choice of strings has more to do with your
playing style and the sound you want than the model of guitar. I have
pretty much settled on TI flat 12s for all of my guitars, electric and
acoustic, hollow and solid, for their warm sound, low tension, and lack
of string noise.

I am guessing that the number of people playing unamplified archtops
(no mike, no pickup) with a big band is about zero, so the old
fashioned goal of maximum drive and volume is not a factor, but many of
us love those old archtops for all around play.

[t***@gmail.com]

HI Louis ,
I have a 53 L7-C with a floating KA humbucker !
I like TI Swing Series .013 -.053 flatwound when I plug it in .
Un plugged I have been using D'Addario 80/20 Bronze.012 -.056
Like others have said ...strings are pretty cheap
The nanoweb coated strings are a little like a nice couch with a
plastic cover on it ..

[LouisB]

Thanks for all the advice. Like many of you have said, strings are cheap so
I'll have to try out some of your recommendations and then settle on what
both sounds good and feels good to play with.

I did have a L-7 for many years and I think, if memory serves me well, in
the end I was using D'addario J-16s. I only switched to elxir nanowebs
recently when I bought a new Lowden acoustic and it came with them. I was
pretty astonished at how much better they sounded than the D'addario's so I
switched.

Anwyay, thanks again for all the advice, very helpful indeed

LouisB

Post by LouisB
Hi there.
I've recently acquired a 1930s acoustic L5 (a big 17 inch beast) and I'm
wondering about the best type of string to use with this guitar. On my
acoustics I have pretty much settled on Elixir Nanoweb light gauge,
.12-.53s. Will these sound good on the L5 as well?
I mainly play chord based jazz, if that helps.
TIA for anyone who can spare the time to give me some advice.
LouisB
------
"I'm a half-wit. I sold the other half on e-Bay"