New love for "reg bottom / light top" string set.

[Matthew Bryson]

I can be such a dummy when it comes to string gauge… I always seem to have trouble thinking through what a heavier or lighter gauge will really be like.

I had decided that I liked D'Addario nickel strings in 105,85,70,50 and I played through several sets of them without changing brands or gauges. Then, by mistake, I bought the same strings - but the "reg bottom / light top" set - 105,85,65,45.

I thought I'd hate them. My thinking was: The D and G strings already sound "thinner" than the E and A strings. The same notes played on fatter strings sound "fatter"… So if I make the skinny strings even more skinny, this will get even worse and the thinner D and G will sound way too thin…

But then I was too lazy to go buy new strings one day, so I decided to put that set with the "light top" on and see if I could really tell. I could. It was the opposite of what I thought it would be.

That's when I realized I was all wrong - it's more about tension than string gauge. By going to lighter top string, you make the D and G strings looser AND this in turn makes the E and A string tighter. This creates a string set with more even tension and that makes the notes sound more even across all of the strings.

It turns out that making my skinny strings even skinner will make them sound fatter.

I just had to share in case anybody else thought of it like I used to. Thinner string don't sound thinner. I guess I learned that lesson with string gauge in general, but for whatever reason I was still confused about the "reg bottom / light top" type string sets. Now I know why they exists and I'm a fan.

[biff malibu]

try a set of lights. 45-100. ive been using them and nothing but and have never had a problem getting deep thick lows with my jazz. sometimes i think my high strings sound thin but thats usually just a sign to change them.