String question: Acoustic with magnetic pickup

Gary Blanchard

Gary Blanchard

beloved, local musician
So I bought this:
POP_EJ160NA.jpg


and I noticed that the strings are not bronze or phosphor/bronze; I am guessing they are nickel or something. Can I put regular acoustic strings on this? If not, what should I buy? I must admit that the unplugged sound is a bit thin.
 
Only way to find out is try em. If the unwound strings are louder than the wound ones, and you can't compensate with pole piece height then you need nickel wound strings. If you find you can't use reg acoustic bronze strings then I'd go with the new-old Martin Monels or DiAddario White Bronze.
I have a lipstick pickup in a Gretsch Jim Dandy and I've run both. I like the Monels a little better.
 
I use Martin Silk & Steel. BP strings and magnetic pups don't go well together. The J-160 is a notoriously poor acoustic guitar.
 
When I bought my Taylor, they come from the factory with Elixer (sp?) strings. And they sound phenomenal. They are a bit pricy but they have been on the guitar for over a year now and they still sound fresh. It's an acoustic/electric and I've played it plugged in...sounded great.
I think it's worth at least one set to see if you like them.
I'd never bought them before strictly due to the price, but for that guitar from now on it gets nothing but the best.
 
gtrjunior said:
When I bought my Taylor, they come from the factory with Elixer (sp?) strings. And they sound phenomenal. They are a bit pricy but they have been on the guitar for over a year now and they still sound fresh. It's an acoustic/electric and I've played it plugged in...sounded great.
I think it's worth at least one set to see if you like them.
I'd never bought them before strictly due to the price, but for that guitar from now on it gets nothing but the best.
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I have played Elixers, and they are okay. My main concern with this guitar was due to the specific type of pickup and the fact that it came with nickel strings. On my other guitars I have used phosphor/bronze strings and like the sound, plugged or unplugged.

I have plenty of extra sets of P/B strings around; one day I will test a set on this guitar, but will have a set of nickel ready just in case. :grin:
 
Gary, looks like the pole pieces may be adjustable on that pickup. If so when you put on PB strings run the poles under the wound strings as high as possible and lower the poles under the unwound strings until they match the wound strings in volume. You may be able to balance the sound that way. It's the winding on the PB strings that have less magnetic pull.
 
Pine Apple Slim said:
Gary, looks like the pole pieces may be adjustable on that pickup. If so when you put on PB strings run the poles under the wound strings as high as possible and lower the poles under the unwound strings until they match the wound strings in volume. You may be able to balance the sound that way. It's the winding on the PB strings that have less magnetic pull.
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I'll check that out later. Thanks.
 
Pine Apple Slim said:
Martin Monels or DiAddario White Bronze.
I have a lipstick pickup in a Gretsch Jim Dandy and I've run both. I like the Monels a little better.
Click to expand...

I had a Peavey Generation EXP, a Tele copy. Had normal Tele pickups and it had a piezo pickup for acoustic-ish sounds. Traded it over 5 years ago, I remember the strings for it were called white bronze but, weren't Daddario. Was it these?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/acce...bronze-light-acoustic-electric-guitar-strings
 
Denverdave said:
Regular acoustic strings will be fine as far as the pickup goes.
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Modern Saint said:
I don't see why not, after all it is an acoustic guitar.
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Coralkong said:
Any acoustic stings are fine.
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The PU in the J-160 is an electric guitar PU, not an acoustic PU. The P/B doesn't interact enough with the pickup's magnetic field. I found this out with an old DeArmond "soundhole pickup" I've had for years, which is similar. The original J-160E was designed to be plugged in for use, that's why they were made of plywood.
 
Well, I put the GHS White Bronze string on the guitar; it sounds better unplugged than the original strings sounded. I have yet to get the guitar plugged in, but these strings are "magnetically active", so we'll see what happens.
 
Looking forward to your plugged in review. I'm sure you know this Gary, but that guitar type was never designed to sound like an acoustic guitar, just louder, as modern acoustic pickup systems are. It will have its own unique voice, not quite acoustic, not quite electric. Played thru a nice Fender or Vox tube amp adds even more unique color. Try it (at least thru a decent modeler).
 
[QUhttps://soundcloud.com/garyblanchard/be-the-change-1OTE="Pine Apple Slim, post: 1394015, member: 1310"]Looking forward to your plugged in review. I'm sure you know this Gary, but that guitar type was never designed to sound like an acoustic guitar, just louder, as modern acoustic pickup systems are. It will have its own unique voice, not quite acoustic, not quite electric. Played thru a nice Fender or Vox tube amp adds even more unique color. Try it (at least thru a decent modeler).[/QUOTE]
I plugged it in Saturday to record my song Be The Change; I really like the sound I got from it. I think it will work well for my open tuning stuff. Here's a rough mix; I'll be happy to hear Sonik's mix when he gets to it. (I just sent it to him today.)
 
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