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Heritage Owners Club

Taking the Temp on Strings...


JAM

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Been having a Semi-Religious experience with my new-to-me 2009 H-150FM that I purchased last month from Totanka.

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Having been little played, it needs a good cleanup and setup. I do note that the Low E and D strings require an intonation adjustment and I suspect the strings may be original.

My question to the Group is what is the current Flavor and Gauge of strings for this Guitar.

It has 10s on it currently, as does my 2010 H-535

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These are OK, though all of my 5 Fenders are 9s.

I use Fender Nickel-Plate Steel strings on those with good results. Over the years, I have used virtually every brand string out there.  But, my experience pales to the sample size of this Group. Plus, I'm not necessarily up-to-date on any of the new innovations or technology.

But since about 98% of ALL strings World-Wide are pulled by Mapes Piano Wire Co. in Tennessee (albeit some are proprietary), does it really matter?

Also, any thoughts about switching gauges from 10s to 9s? I know the Nut can handle it, and that there may be some Neck Relief adjustment needed and some intonation (all of which I do myself w/ necessary gauges and tools), but are 9s too light... am I asking for trouble?

 

TIA  !

 

cheers!

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I use D'Addario XL125, which have the regular gauge strings at the bottom end and "9's" at the high end.  Works great for me.  I use low action and, since my hands don't sweat in fretting, the strings last a long time.

I am a firm believer in not stressing the neck and have the notion that lighter strings require less tension to reach pitch.

Stay away from stainless, unless you are prepared to foot the eventual premature re-fret.

Moving between adjacent gauges in strings require no to little relief adjustment, particularly in anything less than continuously humid regions.  People tinker to say they have tried.

My two cents

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D'Addario XL's standard 10-46.  Vanilla I guess...?  I think 9's would be fine with some adjustments to the set up.

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10's on the H150 and 12's on the semi. 12's will sound stupendous and you can really whap them, get the guitar set up right for them and you will love them.

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OK... Should have realized that I was asking the proverbial 'Motor Oil' question - Ask 10 People...

But, there was a consensus on gauge - 9ppl for 10s and only 2ppl for 9s. Thank You ALL for replying !!

Went to my local go-to Store - Willies American Guitars (one of the Finest Guitar Stores in the Country, 1 mile away).

Nate, the owner (aka Willie), who owns an H-575 said: "D'Addario XL 10s !"

Known Nate for 20 yrs. and have neither the Chops or the Cajones to argue with him, so I bagged a set of D'Addario XL 10s and D'Addario XL 9s (maybe for future). Nate said buy 2 and he'd throw-in a Willies Hat - :) .

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Armed with fresh strings, a bottle of Naptha, a tube of Flitz, Virtuoso Cleaner & Polish, Gerlitz 'Guitar Honey', 0000 Steel Wool, Blue Masking Tape, my StewMac Straight-Edge, Feeler Gauges and String Action Gauge, copious diaper-quality cotton and micro-fibre cloths, Plus a bottle of revel Reposado Mezcal and a chaser of Sangrita, I dug in.

Pulled the Pickguard and brace, masked the PUs, polished them (brace, not PG) all w/ Flitz (like mirrors), cleaned the PG, Truss Rod cvr. and rear Cavity Covers w/ Denatured Alcohol, set aside. Both Marv and Ren signed the build tag !

Masked the PUs and used the Steel Wool to polish the Frets - barely played but DIRTY - vacuumed up debris. Used small amount Guitar Honey to condition Fingerboard - FILTHY ! Naptha'd, Cleaned & Polished Front/Back, really highlited the wood !!

Tightened (rather 'snugged') Tuners, Pots, Output and added new strings.

Then, following the Joe Walsh Method, I set the Strings, String Height, Intonation, Neck Relief (which remained at 0.011) & PU Height.

4 hours and $50 worth of Mezcal later (Wife is in Vegas w/ girls to see Celine), this thing sang like an ANGEL... I was NEVER expecting the improvement achieved. Plus, I'm confident that it would compete in any Beauty Contest in the Country.

Thanks to you ALL for being a Part of it... !!

cheers !

JAM

 

 

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On 5/22/2019 at 8:05 AM, Polo said:

DR Pure Blues...

My choice for at least the last 30 years.

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10 hours ago, JAM said:

 I was NEVER expecting the improvement achieved.
 

You'll never convince me that, like a sentient being, instruments don't respond to attention like this!  What you have here is the checklist for a basic setup.  And I think that in doing this sort of thing, you're actually doing a setup on yourself, as the player of this piece, hence the result.  The only difference in our approaches, JAM, is that for mine, a good single malt Scotch is on the list.  And as a side-note, I have used .009's maybe three or four times in the last fifty years.  Just last week I put a set on my Jack Dent, which has a long scale and has always been kind of "tight" to play.  Wasn't expecting much....  I'll never put anything other than .009's on that guitar again.

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Pyramid Maximum Performance (10-46) or Throbak Vintage choice Nickel Wound (10-46) on my Gibson and Gretsch solid bodies, Thomastik Flatwounds on my Gibson ES-125 and Gretsch hollows (12-50), and because of the longer scale length, Ernie Ball Super Slinkys (9-42) on my Strat, G&L Legacy, Telecasters, and Zemaitis solid bodies. I went through a lot of brands of strings to find what works, and I'm done looking, these all work great for my needs!

 

And while we're at it, for acoustic guitars, Elixir Phosphor Nanoweb lights (12-52) for my performance guitars, and Martin SP Phosphor lights (12-54) for recording.

For resonator guitars John Pearce Jazz Medium nickel wound 12-52 set #2700

 

 

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On 5/22/2019 at 1:46 PM, mark555 said:

10's on the H150 and 12's on the semi. 12's will sound stupendous and you can really whap them, get the guitar set up right for them and you will love them.

likewise here.  plus- after playing 12s for a while, those 10s feel soft as melting butter and you can smoke 'em.

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1 hour ago, tsp17 said:

likewise here.... and you can smoke 'em.

Maybe in California... ;)

cheers!

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