The benefits of the acoustic guitar, with the bonus of being able to be plugged in and turned into an electric guitar… many great artists have a wide selection of these hybrid guitars in their arsenal. These hybrids, more commonly known as acoustic electrics, are popular worldwide!
That being said, it takes a special type of string to handle both types of playing. In this guide to acoustic electric guitar strings, you’ll learn tons of details that make these strings special. We will walk you through the construction, tone, material, and what makes these strings unique!
Tone and Appeal of Acoustic-Electric Guitar Strings
The strings found on your acoustic-electric guitar have a huge impact on how the guitar will play. The tone, quality, feel, and overall sound of the guitar are significantly impacted by the strings.
For you to produce that heartwarming music, you need to choose the perfect strings for your instruments. It is important to know that every type of string comes with its playing characteristics and sonic qualities. Exploring different options is a rewarding and fun part of your creating your unique and signature sound. Read on to know more about the best match for your Acoustic-Electric Guitar Strings.
Why acoustic-electric strings cannot be used for normal acoustic and electric guitars?
This is a very common, and very good question. You technically could use them for either acoustic or electric, but the results would be less than inspiring.
Acoustic electric guitar strings have a lighter gauge that struggles to produce enough sound for an acoustic model. You do need to have a heavier gauge string for you to provide the force that is required to get vibrations and produce resonance and good volume.
The electric guitar, unlike the acoustic, relies on vibration that is picked up directly from your guitar string passing over the magnet, A “light” acoustic string is known to be equal to the “medium” of the acoustic-electric strings. Also, a medium acoustic-electric string may be too heavy for a standard electric model.
Factors You Should Consider When Shopping .
The major points to keep in mind when shopping for your electric guitar strings include:
- How Often do you Usually Play your Guitar
- What are your ideal music genres and playing styles
- Tone, Volume, and sound you’d like to attain.
Things that impact these characteristics include:
- String Gauge
- String Winding method
- Construction materials
- Coated vs. Uncoated finish
Acoustic Electric Guitar Strings playing characteristics
We know that lighter strings are much easier to play than the heavier ones. Hence, if you do inspire to become a shredder burning up your fretboard with intense rhythm cording and lightning-fast leads then you will want to use the lighter gauges. However if you are a metal player and you do use the detuned scales like drop D you need to use the heavier set of gauges.
Classic rock and blues guitarists who are used to lots of string bending often opt for medium measures since they combine well with bending, and they have more sustain with richer, fatter, and darker tones.
Mainstream jazz guitarists are known to use more of a heavy gauge string with Flatwound winding since they do not play many notes with bending, and they have a broad tone spectrum.
The main key to finding your ideal acoustic electric string gauge that works excellent for your unique playing style is to experiment. Try different brands, string composition and gauges and check out how they feel on your fingers and the ones that are pleasing to the ears.
Acoustic-Electric Guitar String Gauge
Acoustic-Electric Guitar strings have been designed in a range of thickness, and these gauges are duly designated in thousandths of inches. The thinnest string is known to have a 0.008-inch diameter (usually called “eight”) by the guitarists. And the heaviest strings a 0.56-inch diameter(referred to as fifty-six).
Characteristics of Lighter Gauge Strings
- They are very easy to play
- They allow you to enjoy more natural bending of frets and notes
- They are weaker and thus break frequently
- They cannot produce the sustain and volume of a heavier string
- Strings tend to cause fret buzzing in guitars with small action
- Exert less tension on the neck of the guitar
- Ideal for Vintage Guitars
Characteristics of Heavier Gauge Strings
- Harder to hold down, thus harder to play
- They produce plenty of sustain and volume with minimal effort
- Tend to be preferred for lower tunings such as the drop D
- Extend more tension on the guitar neck
String Sets Gauge Designations
Most of the Acoustic-Electric Guitar Strings manufacturers usually identify gauges in their different sets using terms like “heavy” or “extra light.” Although the exact string gauge may differ among different manufacturers, here are the typical gauge ranges for the standard electric guitar string sets.
Acoustic Electric Guitar Strings set gauges
Heavy – 0.012.0.016, 0.020, 0.032, 0.042, 0.054.
Medium – 0.011, 0.015, 0.018, 0.026, 0.036, 0.050
Light – 0.010, 0.013, 0.017, 0.026, 0.046
Super light – 0.009, 0.011, 0.016, 0.024, 0.032, 0.042
Extra- super light – 0.008, 0.010, 0.015, 0.021, 0.030, 0.038
String sets are occasionally recognized by the gauge of its high E string- usually the thinnest gauge string. A “medium” set of the Acoustic-Electric Guitar Strings just an example can be identified as a “0.11 set”. We love this guide for choosing the gauge that is right for you!
Acoustic Electric Guitar String Materials
All strings for electric guitars are made of nickel, steel or another kind of magnetic conductive metal alloys. The metal alloys are essential for transmitting the string vibration to the guitar magnetic pickups. The type of plating or your guitar coating that is applied to strings steel alloys has a significant impact on the kind of sound produced. Here are the major tonal characteristics of electric guitar strings:
Nickel-Plated steel
Comes with warmth and has more attack. Overall, it has balanced brightness than some of the other materials. These are some of the best acoustic electric guitar strings for an authentic sound at a better price.
Pure Nickel
Less bright than the nickel-plated steel but with more added warmth.
Stainless Steel:
It is less prone to fingers squeaks and it has a bright, edgy, crisp tone with corrosion resistance and sustain.
Chrome
Crome has a low resonance and often is used by blues and jazz guitarists.
Titanium
Features a relatively bright tone and an excellent strength
Cobalt
Has a wide dynamic range with pickup response and a notable brightness.
Polymer-coated
Has a relatively small amount of sustain with less corrosion-resistance.
Color-coated
More for show than any actual benefits for sound or tone, simply a visual appeal factor.
Types of String Winding
In many sets from the manufacturer the high E, B, and occasionally G strings are usually unwound. The other strings have the winding wire that is wrapped tightly around the cores. The methods that are used for covering this strings affects playability and tone. Here are the modern winding methods:
Roundwound
Most well-known winding method and it has a noticeably ridged texture. It is known to produce more attack, bite, and sustain and at the same time, they produce more finger noise and cause fretboard wear.
Halfwound
Has a smoother texture with a darker tone and it has less attack than the roundwounds.
Flatwound
Flatrounds tend to have a dark tone and flat features, hence, it has less responsive to guitar picking dynamics. You’ll commonly find this method of wrapping used by guitarists of blues and jazz genres.
Signs that you need to change your electric strings
- When you see discoloration or rust on the strings
- Getting the correct tune from certain strings becomes more difficult
- Tone sounds dead/flat
Hopefully, with the information in this post you’ll have an adequate amount of knowledge to select your next set of strings for your Acoustic-Electric. In many cases, it will take time to experiment to find the exact match for not only your playing style but also the genre and feel you prefer. Happy shopping, and even happier playing!
Acoustic Electric Guitar Strings – The Final Note
There you have it! This guide should give you more knowledge about acoustic electric guitar strings than most players that you’ll come across. Personal experience is probably the only way you’ll find out which particular strings are your favorite, but now you’ll have a much better idea what you’re looking at when you start shopping around!
For more information on acoustic electric guitars make sure to head back to our category page!