Guitar Hardware → What kind of guitar strings should I buy?
If you have ever visited a guitar shop or looked online at purchasing guitar strings, you may have found that there are tons of choices. Which ones should you buy?
As with most things guitar, it ultimately comes down to personal choice. There are a couple of things to keep in mind though when buying guitar strings.
First off, there are different types of strings for different guitars. There are three main types of guitars – acoustic, electric, and classical. Each type of guitar has physically different strings that may not work well or at all on other types of guitars.
Acoustic guitars like you may see your favorite Country and Western band playing are typically bronze wound steel. The sound quality of an acoustic guitar is a function of the strings and the guitar body itself unlike an electric guitar which also relies on an amplifier to produce sound.
Rock and roll is defined by screaming electric guitars. Electric guitar strings are usually nickel plated steel. These strings vibrate in the magnetic field caused by the pickups and produce a tone that is output to an amplifier. In addition to the strings and guitar body, an electric guitar also relies on the amplifier to produce some of the musical tone that is heard.
The final type of guitar string that you will find in a guitar shop is the classical string. These are made of nylon with the top three strings being silver plated copper wound. In the old days they were made of “catgut” which was commonly sheeps intestine, not actual cat.
Since there are different types of strings for different guitars, you must make sure to buy the proper strings for your guitar. Classic and acoustic strings wont activate the pickups magnetic field on an electric guitar and thus will not make a sound. Acoustic and electric strings may put a classical guitar under too much stress and break the neck. Classic strings on an acoustic do not have enough tension and may cause the neck to bow.
The next thing you want to look at when purchasing guitar strings is the gauge. Each type of guitar string (classical, electric, acoustic) comes in different gauges such as light, medium light, medium, and heavy. The higher the string gauge, the thicker the strings are. Lighter string gauges (thinner strings) may be easier to play since they are under less tension than heavier gauge strings, but heavier gauge strings may sound fuller than the thinner light gauge strings. You should try a few diferent gauges until you find the one that works best for you.
Once you have decided which type of string works best for you, you should stick with those particular strings. Changing back and forth between different gauges of string can cause tuning problems since the guitar is set up to be under a certain tension. If you change the gauge of strings from what the guitar was originally set up to use, you may need to take it to a guitar shop to have the neck adjusted for the new tension.