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Guitar strings - wound vs unwound


EliasMooseblaster
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'afternoon all,

Apologies if this one's been covered before, but if I'm honest, it was hard to know what to search for!

Is there likely to be any discernible difference in output between a wound and an unwound electric guitar string of the same (or comparable) thickness? I only ask because my guitar's "G" seems to be quiet in comparison to the rest of the strings, most noticeably when playing clean. I recently upgraded the pickups, and although everything sounds better generally, I can still hear the difference in volume.

I can't say for certain, but I'm sure I only noticed this problem after moving up a gauge to playing 12s, which typically come with a wound 3rd string, whereas the 11s I was on before were always unwound.

(And daft secondary question: presumably I can fix this simply by moving the "G" polepiece up a notch?)

Edited by EliasMooseblaster
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[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1389096343' post='2329770']
'afternoon all,

Apologies if this one's been covered before, but if I'm honest, it was hard to know what to search for!

Is there likely to be any discernible difference in output between a wound and an unwound electric guitar string of the same (or comparable) thickness? I only ask because my guitar's "G" seems to be quiet in comparison to the rest of the strings, most noticeably when playing clean. I recently upgraded the pickups, and although everything sounds better generally, I can still hear the difference in volume.

I can't say for certain, but I'm sure I only noticed this problem after moving up a gauge to playing 12s, which typically come with a wound 3rd string, whereas the 11s I was on before were always unwound.

(And daft secondary question: presumably I can fix this simply by moving the "G" polepiece up a notch?)
[/quote]

Not a daft question at all - yes...just raise the screw on the pickup a tad. 3rd strings are notorious for never quite sounding right. The advantage of an electric over an acoustic is that you are able to balance the volume of the individual strings

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[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1389527196' post='2335025']
I use 11's on my guitars, I would use 12's but I haven't found any that come with an unwound G.
My G has to be unwound as I bend it while soloing and that.
[/quote]

You can still bend a wound G! (You just have to not mind the way it cuts into your fingertips when you do so...)

Joking aside, I think Ernie Ball do a specialised set of 12s that come with an unwound G. No idea how easy they are to come by, I only know about them because the guitarist in my blues trio wanted to put some 12s on a dedicated open-G guitar but still wanted to be able to fret the G without drawing blood!

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