Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I asked my flatmate to pick me up some "D'addario 10s" while he was shopping this weekend. He's only gone and brought back ACOUSTIC strings - 10s no less!

I didn't even think you could get these! What kind of acoustic would you put them on? Does anyone else use them? Should I give them a try or throw them at my flatmate's head before the neck of my acoustic bends into a circular ring?!?!

I use D'Addario 10's on my acoustic all the time - Great for rock.

Robert: You may find that the 10s will not give you the intonation you enjoyed with the heavier gauge strings.

I didn't know they made such light strings for acoustics, but there do seem to be quite a bit of "acoustic soloists" out there nowadays. Perhaps they're meant to cater to this type of player.

No 10's for me though, acoustic or electric! I'd exchange 'em for some 12's.

I might give 'em a go then and report back.

Do you get much neck-bow when you change to them Kris?

I would think, if anything, you'd take some tension off the neck and possibly get convex-type bowing, but I don't think your neck would have a problem. Maybe a slight truss-rod tweak if you plan on going with 10's from then on.

I use 0.013"s on my acoustic.

For a 12 string I can understand using light strings, for sure.

Wow - I had no idea they were so relatively popular! I shall be stringing up this evening.

Thanks Paul

Here's a point to ponder:

An .013 "E" string exerts nearly 40% more stress on a guitar's neck that an .010, so you've got that tension thing backwards, Rob. Correspondingly, a low "E" of .056" diameter exerts about 30% more tension than one of .049" diameter, when tuned to concert pitch.

A complete set of .010-.046 strings on an acoustic of "standard" scale length exerts a force of about 150 pounds. Switch to mediums and you're talking closer to 200 pounds. That's on a 6 string!

A 12 string with a scale length of 25.5" (Ricks are 25.4", incidentally) strung with Martin Extra Lights will have about 245 pounds of stress on its neck. Medium gauge strings will push this up to near 300 pounds.

300 pounds!? that's expensive!

So, as a very broad conclusion, ultra lights on acoustics are not necessarily crazy and the only real down-side is a possible lack of intonation?

I should mention that my acoustic (non-Rick) came from the factory with 0.013" D'Addadio phosphor bronze strings on it. I have continued to keep it stock. I like the sound plus I didn't want to replace the nut and chance intonation problems. My newly acquired 12 string has lighter strings on it, but I haven't measured the gauge yet. I assume that it is fairly light since the only wound octave string is the E.

I would not draw that conclusion about intonation, Rob. It is possible, of course, but I think it would depend upon individual cases.

I have found minor differences in intonation on RIC 12-string acoustics when switching brands and gauges; not enough to cause grief. The "jangle" or chorusing, slightly-out-of-tune effect of 12-string acoustics (due to their fixed bridges) is well-known and long-accepted.

When I locate the bridges while building these, I base my calculations on the low strings, and allow the octave strings to "fall where they may" in intonation. Twelve-string acoustic players will capo up to fret 5 in many cases and seldom go beyond that. This leaves tuning at "home plate" (the nut) and checking intonation at fret 12 the most practical ways of setting these up.

Sixes, of course, are a good deal easier. But of course, you can bet that intonation will vary a bit with string gauge.

Incidentally, this is a bigger problem with shorter-scale guitars than with longer-scale ones. Rick acoustics are, at 25.4", right in the same close range as Gibsons, Martins, and many popular brands. It is, in fact, identical to Martin's "long" scale (Martin's "short" scale is 24.9"). As such, their scale length is the longest of the Rickenbacker line, whereas the Rick short scale electrics are the shortest conventional instruments on the market, at 20.75", and thus would suffer most from intonation sensitivity.

They're even shorter in scale length than the kid's Fender Strat mini, which clings to the age-old Fender 22.75" short scale length.

Both of my acoustics are strung with .010 strings. They lose some of their natural volume and perhaps some tonal qualities, but they provide me with the ability to play lead and rhythm at the same time. In the somewhat unorthodox manner I am accustomed to playing on my various electric guitars.

I have never experienced any intonation problems on either guitar. Go for it