Changing String Guages

Jamie Kitlarchuk · From: Alberta, Canada

Thinking about trying the NYXL medium set, but a few of strings are different gauges. Here are the NYXL gauges:
Plain Steel .013, .015, .012, .015, .018, .020, NYXL Nickel Wound .024, .030, .034, .038

The differences would be on the 4th (.014 to .015), 6th (.022W to .020P), and 7th (.026W to .024W).
I'd hate to buy a relatively expensive set of strings then need to also buy a bunch of additional singles.

I currently make my own sets based on Ricky Davis's jaguar set (recently i bought an ernie ball set and only had to switch out the 3rd strings):
Plain Steel .013, .015, .012, .014, .018, Wound.022, .026, .030, .034, .038

Question is, if I try the NYXL set and switch the 6 to my standard .022W, would the increased 4th (.015) and 7th (.024W) make much of a difference in terms of setup / tuning issues?

Any other off the shelf sets that are close to my current set that I should consider?

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Will you need to tweak the nylon tuners? Probably. Nothing radical beyond what they are designed for.
I believe your post indicates that you understand that if you were to change the 6th string from plain to wound or vice versa, that would be radical. Anyone planning that change should be prepared for rerodding things. But you have indicated that you intend to keep the wound 6th.

Jamie Kitlarchuk · From: Alberta, Canada

You're right Jon. I like how it's set up now and would prefer not to re-rod if I don't have to.

The other thing is, i've typically just bought single electric guitar strings when I need a one-off, some folks say that steel sets are specifically made to accommodate the significant bending you get on the pedal steel.

I've never had an issue, but wondering if any strings (specifically the 3rd) would be more susceptible to breakage if using a 'standard' electric .012 gauge string?

Jon Voth · From: Virginia, USA

I had played SIT strings for a while then tried the NYXL Medium and liked them better. Then I looked at the gauges, and the SITs have .022 (plain) on 6 and .026w on 7 (bigger than the NYXL ones).

You can get those NYXL singles, and I do that and have no problems, but yes it's pricy and maybe I should do what you are doing.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

I buy all my strings in single-gauge packs of 12 from juststrings.com . I read all sorts of stuff about pedal-steel-specific strings but I have never had any problems using these "electric guitar" strings. I happen to have recently bought a set of NYXLs from the Forum store out of curiosity but I haven't installed them yet.

Roy Carroll · From: North of a Round Rock

I have used the PF set like the one you described for a long time. It is perfect! A little thicker sound from the higher Strings (unwound) and worth the change for sure. The NYXL can be purchased from the forum or Strings and Beyond.
They are Nickel wound strings. Try'em.
_________________
Just north of the Weird place, south of Georgetown

Dave Campbell · From: Nova Scotia, Canada

you definitely want to keep the wound 6th on the sho bud. that's the bummer of buying a set.

for the rest of the changes i think you're only looking at retuning the stops...i don't think you'll run into travel problems on 4 or 7.

i've been using the nyxl set on my push pull, but that's a different scale length than the bud, so they work fine out of the box.

for what it's worth, i do like the nyxl set, but if one breaks and i replace it with a single string, it doesn't jump out at me.

Jamie Kitlarchuk · From: Alberta, Canada

Thanks guys, i'm going to give them a go (exception being the wound 6th) and see if i like them.

Dave, when you say re-tuning the stops, do you mean the nylon tuning nuts at the changer? Or do you think i would have to also adjust the pedal / lever stops (bolts) under the guitar?

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Jamie -- if the guitar plays well now, then it is unlikely that you will need to adjust the pedal and lever stops. One or two thousandths of an inch difference between strings should be easily accommodated by the nylon tuning nuts. Wound strings present some wild-card elements regarding their inner core size so this is not 100% guaranteed. But these gauge changes are most likely under the category of "tweak" at the changer.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

As long as you're not going from plain to wound or vice-versa and the nylon nuts are not at the limit where any further tightening renders them over-tuned, you should be able to make the changes you need using the tuning nuts. Read Jon's excellent sticky thread on over-tuning if you run into any issue - https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=326460

You can generally tell if a string/pull is at that limit, before changing the string, by just tuning raises on the string a bit sharp or lowers a bit flat and see if that affects the non-pulled string pitch. If it does, then you'll probably either need to change the leverages a bit or add a bit of extra travel to that pull. I have had to deal with that a couple of times when I lowered the gauge on one string, in 15 years working on a bunch of guitars. In both those cases, the pull was right at the limit before over-tuning.

Of course, if you go from plain to wound or vice-versa, you will probably need to make some fairly substantial changes.

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