.012 gauge G#

[Chris Harvey]

I'd love to fatten up that .011 and use a .012 on the third string. The guitar is a slightly shorter scale and breaks them immediately. Any way around this?

[Carl Kilmer]

I tried a SIT and a Jagwire .012 and they both broke
before I finished one song, so I went back to .011

[Tony Glassman]

I've used .012 since forever on my p/p,s. All work fine except for Ernie Ball strings (which don't have the additional tight wraps).

[Jon Light (deceased)]

What guitar, Chris?
I've been using 12's on Carter, Sho-Bud (24" guitars) and Fessenden (24.25") for years with no problems. Pretty much the same longevity as I got with 11's, the extra mass vs. the extra tension sort of making the breakage factor a wash (is how I figure it).
Have you done everything you can re: checking for burrs on both ends of the guitar and are you giving the string plenty of extra wraps at the tuner post?

[Andy Sandoval]

I use the .012's on my ShowPro with a 24.25 scale length without any problems.

[Craig A Davidson]

Danny at Jagwire used to make a set for Push-Pulls with a .12 for a third. I never had any trouble with them.

[Georg Sørtun]

I have 0.0115 as 3d string - Jagwire or LSS, on my PSGs. Good tone balance with other strings, and even with 1/1 tone lower on that string both Jags and LSS seem to last a long time - stopped counting lifetime when past 40 hours playing time.

[James Morehead]

Chris, I use the Jagwire Ricky Davis sig. strings which uses a 12 on the 3rd string, on all my guitars I've owned and refurbed, and never broke a 12. Been using them on my fingertip eversince I have had it. Never say never, I did have a bad run a few years ago--broke three 12's in a row trying to tune them up. It happens sometimes that you can get a bad batch.

[Lane Gray]

I've a confession. I don't recall whether it was my dyslexia (which my brain compensates for by turning the unexpected into the expected: successful dyslexics learn this early) or inattention, but I slapped a .022 on the 3rd string. It not only held G#, but pedalled to A.
I noticed that it was thicker than the 5th, so I pulled it and replaced it.
You can't tell me that a 0.012 won't go to G#

[Bob Knight]

I'd love to fatten up that .011 and use a .012 on the third string. The guitar is a slightly <b>shorter scale</b> and breaks them immediately. Any way around this?

Shorter scale = less tension, something doesn't add up.
I have used a .012 on a 24" scale for a lot of years, and can't remember when I broke one. Of course, I change strings every few years if needed.

Bob

[Keith Currie]

I use a 12 on the third on my Franklin all the time with no trouble, and I raise it and lower it also.

[Erv Niehaus]

I use a no. 12 Ernie Ball string with no problem.

[Larry Allen]

Chris. I've used a .012 on G# since 1999 when Bobbe introduced Cobra Coils. Never broke one even on my Sho-buds..I recently tried the Live steel strings and broke 2 just changing strings..Larry

[Larry Bressington]

I tried a 12, and went back to an 11...I could feel the difference in that slight change, it was too tight for me.

[mike nolan]

I use .012 on all of my guitars... Sho~Buds, Emmons, Williams, and others. I almost never break one.... Something else is going on here.

[Mike Wheeler]

I use .012s on all my U12s...Emmons, MSA, MCI, and Dekley. They don't break and have a thicker sound. An .011 sounds very thin to me...never liked them at all.

[Jerry Kippola]

I've used .012 ernie ball on my emmons and Zum for many, many years. Have to say I never break one. U have to figure out how to wrap it on the tuner. On the emmons i use 6-7 wraps and double it over at the last wrap. On the Zum that doesn't work, it takes a straight wrap 5-6 turns.

[Richard Damron]

Chris -

I've crunched some numbers which substantiate the claims made by just about everyone concerning the use of an .012 for the 3rd, or G#, string.

The standard guages - MORE OR LESS - for the first four strings on an E9th tuning are: - .012, .015, .011 and .014. The average tension for those four strings is approximately 27.6 pounds for a 24" scale length.

For a .012" diameter string tuned to an F# (F=369.994 hertz) the tension on a 24" scale length is 26.0 pounds. Since the breaking strength of a .012" diameter string is approximately 39.6 pounds (a conservative estimate) and a string tuned to approximately 80% of its' breaking strength - 31.7 pounds - it is seen to be well within the breaking strength limit.

In using this .012" diameter string for the 3rd string G# (F=415.305 hertz) one finds that the tension is approximately 32.8 pounds - tuned to approximately 80% of its' breaking strength. This, too, is well within the breaking strength limit. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that there's a mechanical glitch somewhere that is, so far, unaccounted for since the idea of over-tensioning the string is eliminated.

You may add my name to the list of those who use that .012 as a 3rd string. Hope that this helps you to zero in on the problem.

Richard

[Richard Damron]

Oh -

Just in case anyone suspects that Lane Gray is on a diet of wacky-weed and Jack Daniels, let it be known that my favorite site for this kind of info:

http://liutaiomottola.com/formulae/tension.htm

tells me that his .022 was tensioned to slightly over 80% of the breaking strength of the string.

Strange, but true!

Richard

[Jim Pitman]

I've never considered it for the following reasons. One, on my Fessey U12, 24.25" scale, it rarely breaks before getting around to changing the whole set. Two, that string is particularly loud compared to other pedal steel guitars I've owned.
I've never felt the need.

[Erv Niehaus]

I've tried to avoid using the 3rd string as much as possible when writing tabs as I've always felt that this string sounded "thin". My favorite grip is the 5th, 6th and 8th string combination.

[Lane Gray]

Erv, try the .022 It sounded beefy, but the pedal was a mite stiff

[Erv Niehaus]

I can imagine!!!

[Roger Rettig]

Interesting read. It's made me realise that I, too, avoid the third string unless, that is, it's part of a chord. Single note lines are, in my opinion, more effective when the third is left out of the equation.

A few years back I went to .0115" and enjoyed the slightly thicker tone (Emmons LeGrande guitars, by the way). Then I took the next step and went to '12s' - even better. Breakage is actually less than with '11s' and now I break fifth strings with about the same frequency as I do thirds.

I still avoid that string for melody work, though - I don't think you can beat the tone of the fifth for the heart of the tune.

[Chris Harvey]

Thanks everyone! I think I meant my guitar was a longer scale (LLII). I've used .012 on just about every other guitar with no problems. I didn't know they made a 11.5. The .012 seemed to be much smoother in comparison to the .011. This turned into quite the read and was VERY informative.