Going Back to a Bare G String

An earlier post talked about selecting the wound G (third) string in a string set that offers a choice of wound or non-wound (bare) G strings.  I just switched to the bare, non-wound G string in the Dean Markley 2505 Nickel Steel electric guitar strings on a Les Paul, after giving the wound string a try. I liked the way wound G string played, for a while; but now I’m glad I switched back to the regular bare G string.  

 I had to reverse the guitar set up adjustments I made for the wound string. The intonation had to be adjusted to suit the wound strings, which meant the third string saddle had to be moved forward a bit, instead of being nearly all the way aft.  Also, the pole piece screw for the third string (G string) had been raised to better detect the wound string, and match it’s volume to that of the other strings. After putting on the bare string, I made both adjustments with a flat tipped screwdriver, in just a few minutes. The bare string has a stronger magnetic signature than the wound string, so I had to turn the neck pickup’s pole piece screw in one and a half turn, to reduce the bare string’s volume relative to the other strings.  As for intonation, obviously the bridge saddle had to be set back (moved aft) to bring the 12th fret first harmonic and fretted pitches together.  Both adjustments were no trouble, and the new bare string now plays in harmony with the other five.

Overall, the choice of using the bare or wound G string depends on how you want to play and sound, and to some extent on the type of guitar.  The wound string is okay for chords and strumming, but it sounds a little weak for leads.  The bare string seems to have no deficiencies.  It works for chords and leads, and is excellent for bends.  The guitar body type also matters.  I think solid body guitars deserve the bare string, since solid bodies tend to reflect individual notes and tones back to the strings they came from.  So you can bend a single note and hold it a long time on a solid body. It’s not quite the same with a hollow body guitar, which mix the string vibrations up.  They sound great for what they do, but if you want to hear those single notes clearly, you need a solid body.  The wound string is fine on hollow body and semi-hollow guitars, where you can get the acoustic response of the guitar top to add some woody overtones and warmth.

 Conclusion:  When given a choice of a wound or bare third (G) string, I’d choose the wound string for a hollow body guitar and the bare string for a solid body or a semi-hollow.  These string choices seem to be consistent with the character and sound that comes naturally out of these types of guitars.

That’s my opinion.  Let me know what you think.

Rancher 110

To see Dean Markley and other brands of electric guitar strings, click on Electric Guitar Strings at www.guitarstringdepot.com.

Have you ever changed from a wound to a plain third (G) string, or plain to wound, and found it just didn’t sound right when fretted or forming chords in the upper register?   If your guitar was adjusted for proper intonation for the previous strings, it may have to be adjusted for the new set.  It’s critical that you check and adjust your intonation when switching between plain and wound strings.   They will probably be “off” if you do nothing else; but don’t worry, it’s easy to fix the problem.

Here’s a practical lesson I learned about wound versus bare strings. I chose a set of SIT Power Wound 11-50 medium light strings on to evaluate the difference between a wound and plain G-string.  This particular set comes with two G-strings: a 0.020 plain (bare) string and a 0.026 wound string.   You can use which ever you want, and save the other.  I put the wound string on first to see how it would sound.   Since this set replaced a lighter set with a bare G-string, I reset the intonation to match this set.   The new set played just fine and sounded great for chord melodies and general rhythm pieces, and I was happy with them.  I think the reason some people don’t have good results with wound G-strings may be that they didn’t change the intonation to match the new strings.

Now it’s time to get on with checking out the bare G-string.  All I had to do was to change the G-string.  The guitar I used for this test is a Carvin SH275 semi-hollow.  Changing strings on the Carvin is a breeze.  The locking Sperzel tuners unwind in less than one turn, then you just have to loosen the thumb wheel on the back of the tuner to release it’s grip on the old string.  Then, just pull the string back out of tuner post and all the way back down through the through-body anchor point, and it’s gone.  Putting on the next string is just the reverse of this process, and takes less than a minute from the time you insert it through the body until its tuned up.

Intonation was checked the old fashioned way, by comparing the twelfth fret harmonic to the fretted pitch at the twelfth fret.  The objective is to get them to be as close to equal as practical.  I used a Korg tuner to bring the string up to proper pitch, but used my ears to compare the harmonic and fretted pitches.   No other variables were altered.  Bridge height wasn’t changed, and neither was truss rod tension.   Both of these factor have an effects that alter intonation.

The intonation for the wound G-string requires moving the saddle forward a little, much like that of an acoustic guitar.  In the next picture you see the bridge with all saddles set for proper intonation for the given string set, which includes a wound G-string.  Notice how the saddles for the four wound strings pretty much line up, in an angled array across the bridge.   Notice also how much difference there is between the wound G-string’s saddle position and that of the bare B-string next to it.

Next, after exchanging the wound G-string for a bare string (form the SIT set),  checking the intonation determined the new bare string gave a sharp fretted tone, as compared to the open string twelfth fret harmonic.  This meant the “active” length of string from the initial saddle position to the twelfth fret was shorter than the corresponding length to the harmonic spot above the twelfth fret.  The solution to getting proper intonation would be to move the saddle back, toward the tail of the guitar, to increase the distance to the twelfth fret.  I used a small, flat tipped screw driver to turn the saddle screw in the clock-wise direction.  With a right-handed thread, this pulls the saddle toward the screw head.   It took a few tries to get the fretted and harmonic pitches to match, as this is a trial and error method.  You have to test each small increment of saddle movement to see if it’s what you want.

The picture to the right shows the final position for the G-string saddle.  Notice how the saddle for the third string (G) is set back to increase the “active” or “playing” length of the string.   Intonation settings for the other five strings were fine, and no adjustment was necessary.

What must be remembered in switching between wound and bare string is the intonation change.  Wound and bare strings have different characteristics that affect they way they vibrate, which makes it necessary to check and sometimes adjust the individual string intonations when changing string types or even gauges.   That’s because wound strings are more flexible, but  have more mass per unit length than an equivalent gauge bare string.  The stiffness of a wound string comes primarily from its core wire, which is a small fraction of the string’s total diameter.  In contrast, a bare string is all core, with no extra weight.  These factor come into play in how strings flex and behave as they cross the bridge saddle, as well as how the vibrate.   As string gauges increase, you need to add more total “active” length.  This is true for both plain and wound strings, but in different proportions.  This difference becomes apparent when you switch between wound and bare third, G-strings.

About the strings: These are SIT (“Stay In Tune”) Power Wound S1150 medium light electric guitar strings ( Link ).  The set is designed with a wound third string, but includes a bare third string just to give you an option of using a bare or wound string.

String diameters:  0.011, 0.015, 0.018 (bare) or 0.020 (wound), 0.026, 0.036, and 0.050.

The wound strings feature nickel plated steel round  windings over a tempered hex steel core.  The bare strings are also tempered steel.   All string end twists are treated with SIT’s special chemical binder, to prevent any slippage or unwinding at the ends.  This apparently is one of the reasons they “stay in tune” so long.  They are exceptionally high quality strings and their tone is fantastic.  The 11-50 set has a firm feel and they make six string barre chords sound full and lush,  regardless of which third string is used.  The bare treble strings sound strong, not thin or tinny.  I think the wound third sounds fine for chord melodies and general strumming, but bare string sounds better for picking notes and bends.

Conclusion: The objective of this article was to emphasize the need to check and adjust your intonation to match the type of string being used.   Intonation will change if you change string types or gauges, due to the specific stiffness and mass characteristics of each string.

Rancher 110