Mixed gauges?

[creolian]

Hello all,

having read a few string related threads and am wondering if anyone else here is mixing string gauges...

... Im using a mix of 12s and 13s and I like the lighter bass strings on the wooden guitar and heavier bass strings on the metal...

I have a friend here who has an endorsement deal with Thomastik and he introduced me to the idea...  If I reacall, he was using a very light 5th string on the bass end for something called a nashville sound or tuning.   Hes given me a lot of single strings and a few sets over the years... subsequently I have a shoe box with a bunch of orphans.

anyone else experimenting?

all best 

jeff

ps. After a year of experimenting, for the resos Ive settled on DR sunbeams... unfortunately I cannot get MM newtones here at a price that is affordable.  The DRs are a low tension round core and I like the way they sound after the newness wears off... 3hrs ?

[richclough]

Hi,

I thought Nashville tuning was standard tuning, but replacing the low bass E with an unwound high treble E?

I recently heard a trio where the second guitarist's 6 string was strung differently. The best way to describe it is bass like a 12 string, but with the low bass strings removed and treble as normal. Gave a very zingy sound.

Cheers,
Rich

[bod]

Feb 19, 2019 13:21:43 GMT richclough said:

Hi,
...
I recently heard a trio where the second guitarist's 6 string was strung differently. The best way to describe it is bass like a 12 string, but with the low bass strings removed and treble as normal. Gave a very zingy sound.

Cheers,
Rich

I thought *that* was Nashville tuning (i.e,, one string from each pair, heaviest ones discarded)

[richclough]

Wikipedia seems to have both described as Nashville.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_tuning_(high_strung)

[lonelyjelly]

Hmmm Dave Gilmour aside I think it’s just replacing strings 3-6 with an octave higher, like a 12 string set stripped of its heavy strings. D’addario do a set ready to go :-) It’s really good fun for writing with, the inversions start changing as a result and you start playing melody lines that you wouldn’t necessarily (accidentally) have come across with a normal set. I’m always on the lookout for a bargain small bodied acoustic to keep strung this way permanently :-)

Best,
Lew

[creolian]

Feb 19, 2019 16:27:29 GMT lonelyjelly said:

Hmmm Dave Gilmour aside I think it’s just replacing strings 3-6 with an octave higher, like a 12 string set stripped of its heavy strings. D’addario do a set ready to go :-) It’s really good fun for writing with, the inversions start changing as a result and you start playing melody lines that you wouldn’t necessarily (accidentally) have come across with a normal set. I’m always on the lookout for a bargain small bodied acoustic to keep strung this way permanently :-)

Best,
Lew

I could have sworn it was the A in standard that my friend showed me... his guitar is a seven string so Im probably wrong.
Looks like daddario makes a set specifically for a " Nashville " tuning...  link

Edit: one thing I keep coming across is comments on various forums about mixed gauge sets or custom mixed for various open tunings that I assume are for gfiddles always tuned to the same key.

I found some of the same things along with some other oddballs surfing and the top 3 idea looks like something I might try on an electric ?   I remember my friend having a sound that was " nashville " or clear water country, chet atkins like, playing a slab guitar ( novax)  Hes all fingerstyle but not a blues player, more like the atkins travis style applied to coltrane tunes...really one of a kind... phil de gruy

Thx

jeff