.12 string guage

[NewGuy]

I just restring an acostic guitar from .10 to .12... The action seems incredibly high now and the string tension is high too... Is this normal?

By the way I feel worse than a noob now... all those stuff I can play on electric, I can't do it on the .12 acoustic like bare chords...

What is the norm string guage for acoustic? Is it .11?

 

[mikemann]

First string .12 guage should fall under the range of medium for acoustic. Should be Ok, as it's still is the normal guage.

.11 seems more common here as the range of light normally.

If your action feels very high then before, I suggest you un-tune your strings immediately and get it to someone experienced to check it out. If over tension occurs, your neck could become bow permanently.

Sometimes depends on the guitar, if it's the cheap kind, more likely could happen. When you change to a heavier guage, always observe more closely as you are tuning up.

You can always bring it to excelsior basement guitar hub, there are a few repair shops there.

 

[NewGuy]

Ok thanks for the advice... its my sch's guitar but then I suspect something wrong or maybe because I use .12 guage first time that's y feels different. But I check it before leaving sch... the neck was still straight... but then action was higher than before... is this common?

 

[NewGuy]

Eh I usually play .9 on electric so when switch to .12 on acoustic feels weird...

Are the guages for electric and acoustic the same? Cos I have a .10 electric strings and if I change from .9 to .10 will the action increase?

 

[Mobius]

.9 to 10 isnt a drastic change, so wont have any change in action, I did that before, action still the same. One thing to take note though is that acoustic usually have higher action as the strings they use are of thicker gauge.

 

[NewGuy]

Oic thanks man... :lol:

 

[jeremyrozario]

not necessarily higher action, but string tension is definitely higher

 

[NewGuy]

oic sound wise a bit louder is it?

 

[andrewtheshredder]

definitely, because with electric, the acoustic sound does not need to be THAT loud. on electric, the string vibrations are picked up by the magnetic coils in the pickups i think..

 

[jeremyrozario]

tink so, anyways i always thought of acoustic to electric trade-off

Acoustic
+ really nice sound(most of the time), dun need amp, can juz pick it up and play
- bulky and higher string tension

Electric
+ low string tension, not as bulky, sound of its own
- need amp to play, cables to amp etc.

 

[Lifehouse]

The moment you move up by 2 guage, your guitar neck due to the difference in tension, will naturally bend outwards (away from the soundboard). In such cases, it's acutally better to do a proper setup.