Metropoulos Forum

i bought some WCR fillmore pu's recently to setup an electric guitar for slide and i'm trying different strings gauges but i don't really know what to use !
i used a 2001 les paul standard with the regular neck used untill 2002 , kind of "50's" neck compared to the thinner "60's" one they now propose as well.

i tried my usual 10/46 but it seems a bit light on the plain strings, so i put some 011 and 018 (keeping the 013) but felt it was not exactly what i looked for .
so i put some 013 016 and 018 and left the wound strings like that (026 036 and 046 ) but i'm afraid it twists the neck.

also, i have the feeling the plain strings don't resonate as well as with some thinner ones .
i have often read bigger strings give a bigger sound but also that they tend to resonate less as they have more tension, so there should be less sustain and ... ?

i have setup the strings quiet high (raised the pu's) but i'd like to be able to fret some notes a well so i hesitate to set it even higher and/or put some bigger wound strings that might be hard to fret with the high setup. .
i had to raise the stud bar as well to avoid the high E string lays on the back of the bridge, so everything is quiet high !
i'm working on some Allman brothers songs (just started statsboro blues ) and i read on the les paul forum Duane was using some 10 gauge but i wonder if that's true and if usualy slide players don't play with bigger strings gauge .
or maybe i push too much on the strings !

i recently read a review on the les paul forum and i was surprised to read the light string gauge , some well known Les Paul users seemed to have used from the late 60's (if ever what's written on this topic is true :
http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showt ... p?t=143076

how do you tune your guitar? how heavy is your slide? do you use picks, and how hard do you pick?
playing slide on thin strings takes some time to get used to, but it can work fine (at least for some)

I don't have an original Coricidin bottle to try but the reproductions are pretty light so 10's is feasible to an experienced player. I like a heavy slide but usually play 10's and it doesn't work as well to my ears so I don't learn much slide as a result. I'd go 11's and a little stiffer action on a guitar for me, if I were to dedicate a guitar to slide. (I've got twelve or thirteen guitars here so I don't have a good excuse why I never do this.)

My expereince with slides is the orig, coriceden bottles were very light weight, and so are the duplicates therefore it takes a very light touch and does not work well for standard tuning as I play, I now use a heavy brass slide I had for 16 years, and use 10 thru 46 gauge strings its more forgiving with this set up, I wish I could get the different tunings and finger dampening style down but never could get it!

If it was gonna be a dedicated slide guitar (high action, no fingers fretting notes) I would put on the heaviest strings the neck could handle. I have a Galvestion thin body resonator with a Firebird pup in the neck position, and I use 14's on that. 14--17--24 (wound)--32--42--56 (the truss rod is under some real tension on that guitar!! ) I dont mind using the wound third for that. Its got its own unique tone.
For slides, I use anything, as long as its thin walled. Steel, brass, glass, and lengths varying from 3/4" to 2 1/2". I prefer metal over glass for its tone, though. I havent found thin walled ceramic yet. I use thin wall stuff cause I dont like the feel of a heavy slide. Maybe cause I wear the slide on my pinky.
Picks are extra heavy, unless Im playing a National, which I use a thin pick on to accentuate the brightness of the note attack.
Tuning could be just about anything, but as most players know, its a study to get proficient at slide in standard tuning. I try to use standard tuning if the guitar is used for fretted playing as well as slide playing. Mostly I use open A, G, D, E, and sometimes these keys in open minor, which is lots of fun in a sad, dramatic kinda way.

thanks for your answers.

actualy, i'm using a small glass slide and as i'm quiet new in playing slide, i hesitate to use my ring or pinky finger !
in a way, i prefer the pinky as it lets 3 fingers free to fret when i need it but the ring finger isn't bad and maybe easier to use with a les paul neck to go on the high notes near the body; maybe easier to be precise with it than with the pinky .
i read Duane was using the ring finger but some like johny winter use the pinky.
all in all, for the moment i might prefer the pinky cause i began recently to learn slide with the song "Memo from Turner" (great song) of the Rolling stones, that uses also normal fretted work but i began statsboro blues recently and it's really another level; much harder to play obviously !
they are both open E tuning .

for the "memo from turner" song, i played with 010/046 with standard action setup and had no problem but when i began statsboro blues, i felt the need of an higher action an maybe bigger strings (especialy the thin ones )

i mostly use extra heavy Fender picks cause i'm not use to play without pick and it gives me more attack than without it but i read Duane wasn't using picks with slide (and saw a video on you tube showing it) .

i have several guitars, so i have setup one for slide , one for open G standard fret work and will try another open tuning on another guitar (D ?).
it seems the open A is not very good for the neck's health ! LOL

do you think i might twist my 2001' les paul standard neck (not the 60's les paul "classic" thin neck but the one used untill 2002 on all the les paul standard) if i use 013 016 018 026 036 046 strings with an open E tuning ?

maybe i should install some 032 042 052 (i had in a dean markley pack) or try to learn with some thinner earnie ball or gibson 011/048 and let the action high.
i read the action could be lower if the strings are big and higher if they are thin.

I use D'Addarrio Chromes 12-52 guage... flatwound strings on a couple of my slide guitars. The flatwounds reduce that scratchy sound of the bottle sliding over the strings. They also have a really nice warm characteristic sound. I also will use regular nickel wounds though... just different sounds. I can't say enough good things about D'Addarrio strings and Planet Waves products for that matter.... great stuff.

I started out using the slide on my ring finger (35-40 years ago) but switched to my pinky. I would encourage you to use your pinky as it frees up your other fingers for chording as well as fretting notes behind the slide. Look up some Sonny Landreth on YouTube if you're unclear what I mean by fretting behind the slide.

electricskychurch wrote:do you think i might twist my 2001' les paul standard neck (not the 60's les paul "classic" thin neck but the one used untill 2002 on all the les paul standard) if i use 013 016 018 026 036 046 strings with an open E tuning ?

maybe i should install some 032 042 052 (i had in a dean markley pack) or try to learn with some thinner earnie ball or gibson 011/048 and let the action high.
i read the action could be lower if the strings are big and higher if they are thin.

Its hard to say if those heavy strings will affect the neck of your guitar or not. If the neck is real good to begin with, USUALLY it wont be a problem, but there's no guarantee. The thing I wouldnt do is start mixing up string gauges. The tension of a stock set of strings is designed to be fairly even across the board, so the potential for twisting can increase if you use heavier strings for some, but not all of the strings in a pack, particularly if you're using strings that are heavier than normal in the first place.

i finaly added the 032 042 and 052 to the 013 016 and 018 and it seems ok .
i really begin to prefer the pinky finger cause i can fret, slide and make good vibratos far on the neck by putting the hand on a different angles.
i've been working on the intro and a bit of the 1st verse of statsboro blues (at the fillmore ) for 3 or 4 days, a few hours a day and i begin to get some good time.
it's definately harder than the rolling stones slide songs i tried but once you get the feeling, it's really cool; the most difficult beeing to get the exact pitch on the long slides and to control the strings with the free fingers before the slide,to cancel unwanted too long resonances .

in fact i read garry rossington was using some 013 016 and another 016 (for his slide guitar at least) as the 3 first strings when he began slide (he was a big allman brothers fan) and some other more or less like the bigger ones i just installed, that's why i choose 013 016 and 018.

it seems pete townshend used some 013 016 017 032 044 056 in the early seventies and then 013 016 and 018 near the mid seventies but it was not for slide and i suppose most songs were standard tunings.

another good electric slide blues player was lowell georges from little feat .

According to Johnny Sandlin, who played with Duane in the Hourglass, Duane used Fender Rock and Roll strings gauge 10-38 even for slide. The modern day equivalent would be the Fender original 150's guage 10-38. They're just a renamed version of the rock and roll strings.

I use 10 to 50 - same as for my regular playing since I do not use a dedicated slide guitar. If I did I would go up one gauge, say 11 to 54 or so.