Changing the strings????

crookedpinky

I currently have a Gitane D500 (brilliant guitar for the money) a Dell Arte Pigalle and a handbuilt maple 12 Fret D Hole . All of them have the action around 4mm on the bass side and 3.5 on the treble. My two previous guitars - a Dell Arte Angelo DeBarre and a Harley Benton (re-badged D. A.) Hommage were both set up in similar fashion.

I use either Galli or Argentines -11's on the 12 fret guitars and 10s on the 14 fretters.

asd123321

I think I am arround 2.5 on the top E which is where you want it lower for speed more then the bass side. You won't get the buzzing on the upper strings that you would if you had the bass strings that low

Bob Holo

That's more in line with what I've seen from a fairly good chunk of European & American artists. (3mm to 3.2mm low E & 2.5mm high E) and actually... I've seen a lot of guys who want the high E lower than that. Some of the best lead players for whom I've set up guitars have preferred high E strings in the 2.2 to 2.3 range provided the guitar's fretboard is capable of doing it. (low E seems to be 2.8 to 3.2 range depending on the player)

Of course, it depends on scale length & neck angle - the shorter the scale length and/or more shallow the neck angle - the bigger the string you want & the higher the action you can get away with before the guitar starts to feel overly stiff. It's all a tradeoff in terms of feel as that's very subjective.

But intonation is not so subjective. Though there are ways to compensate for it in the frets and the bridge, in general - guitars are flat in the lower fretboard and sharp in the upper fretboard. The higher you take the action above the point intended by the designer, the greater this effect will be. Primarily the reason is simply string stretch.

So this begs the question: "What is the design point?" Well, though there are many ways to space fret slots, for a long time now it has been "equal temperament" for many guitars. Sure, some historical builders use rule of 18 and there are a number of other spacings build around different temperaments - or treatments of the first fret - or fanning the frets... heck Busato seems to have had his own way of spacing frets. But if you're playing a guitar built within the last couple of decades, there is a good chance that it's equal temperament... and your best "time tested" bet for good intonation (assuming the bridge is made right) is between 6/64 & 7/64" (2.3 to 2.8mm)

So... can you play with higher action than this, but my (admittedly somewhat subjective) observation is that intonation starts to become a real pain in the ass somewhere around 3.2mm...

TimmyHawken

On the subject of changing strings: I know I struggled with switching to the slotted style when I got my first sel-mac style guitar. what I do now is pre-cut my strings before winding them, about 4-6 inches past the tuner (after of course looping it on the tail piece) This, for me at least, is the cleanest operation but also really sucks if you don't give yourself enough slack, so be careful.

As far as your action problems, maybe you should consider getting a new, shorter bridge. It's a pretty inexpensive upgrade and great if done right.

Tim

SEV

My dupont came with a 1 (extra) - but it seems strange that the 2 (which came on it) won't get the same results as before - maybe I am just not used to the new strings, or maybe the bridge shifted (but doesn't really look like it) - overall, I think the action is somewhere between 3.3ish on low e (i.e. a 3.5 wegen slightly lifts the string when i place it under the 12th fret wire) to 2.5 on the high e...probably should have paid more attention before taking the strings off - I've thought about trying 10's, but still unsure why I can't just put the same strings on with the same results as it was originally. Wondering if new strings (tension) may have caused something to happen- doesn't seem like it should matter. All of my other guitars dreadnaughts and om's do not have any action issues. As far as restringing the guitar, I just threaded the string and started turning, looping on inside and switching to the outside (3 or so loops) - stays in tune and intonates just fine. Just seems a tad bit higher on the low e is all. I really appreciate the thread, and info everyone is providing. These guitars are a breed of their own, and I am a bit disequilibrated with the setup. Cheers!