Wound G should be more popular

[Chistopher]

If your G is larger than a 18 or maybe 20, I would recommend looking at trying a wound one out.

Regardless of your opinion on vintage correct or not, I think it makes more sense to have a wound G. Plain is more comfortable for me on lighter strings in standard tuning, but the bigger your strings get and the lower you drop tune, the weirder it sounds.

I think the reason people don't try them out as much is because they think their shred stick will magically turn into a jazz box. One legitimate concern is how a wound string of the same size is harder to bend, which I can understand. Or with some setups it may upset the string to string volume balance, but the pros outweigh the cons for me.

[Seashore]

I like wound 3rds for low tuning on 6-strings, and I agree they sound better than super thick plain strings. The one issue I've run into is that the core wire on a wound 3rd is thin enough to be prone to breakage. I've had wound .020 and .022 snap at the saddles and even once or twice at the nut. They don't all do that all the time but it's more likely.

[Mincer]

no no no no no no no. but mine is always 16.

[Rex_Rocker]

I agree 100%. I feel plain strings that are too heavy always intonate kinda funny too.

Those heavier Ernie Ball sets, I have no idea what criteria they use for those ridiculously heavy plain thirds. The feel and sound way off.

[Rex_Rocker]

no no no no no no no. but mine is always 16.

Yeah, for standar tuning and/or standard 9, 10 or even 11 gauge sets, plain thirds aren't bad. It's when you start getting into those heavier sets for downtuning, IME.

[Chistopher]

no no no no no no no. but mine is always 16.

16 would definitely be too small. At that point the equivalent in feel would be an 18 or so, which is a tad on the small side for a wound string.

[Chistopher]

I agree 100%. I feel plain strings that are too heavy always intonate kinda funny too.

Those heavier Ernie Ball sets, I have no idea what criteria they use for those ridiculously heavy plain thirds. The feel and sound way off.

The 11-54 Ernie Ball set is actually what originally got me thinking about this. A 22w matches the feel of the rest of the strings, but they include a 22p which feels out of place with the set.

[GuitarStv]

In standard tuning with a set of .11s I don't like bends on a wound G and tend to break a lot of them. That's why I don't use them any more. For chording stuff or if I wasn't doing much bending though, then yes - I prefer the G wound.

[Rex_Rocker]

The 11-54 Ernie Ball set is actually what originally got me thinking about this. A 22w matches the feel of the rest of the strings, but they include a 22p which feels out of place with the set.

If you have bridges where you can't set the individual action of strings like a Tune-O, that 22p even ends up always higher than the rest of the strings because it's so fat and stiff that it won't bend at the nut or the saddle as much as the other 5 strings, LOL.

To be honest, I have no idea what they were thinking when they put those sets together. They're well-balanced for the most part. It's just that attrocious 3rd string. Like... why? LOL.

[eclecticsynergy]

Great option for rhythm players, and jazz cats. I could see going wound-G in a lower tuning too, I guess.
But the plain fact (pun intended) is, bending the G string is pretty central to most lead playing.
And a wound G just doesn't bend the way a plain one does.

[jeremy]

i play in standard tuning basically all the time and use and 11/14/18/28/38/50 set on almost everything. as others have said, an 18w is a bit of a weak string and its harder to bend so i prefer a plain 18. a 22w is a fine string though it is a bear to bend more than an half step. it can be done, sure, but you are workin for it. i have an old guild hollowbody with 12s and that has a wound third. sounds great, but im not bending much on that bad boy

[Rex_Rocker]

Yeah, I suppose it also has to do with what you do over that 3rd string.

I'm more of a rhythm player than I am a lead player, so it's not hard for me to prioritize one over the other. In case I want to bend strings, there are still two other ones below that one. I'd rather have that 3rd string optimized for rhythm, personally.

[esandes]

I don't like a wound G at all. The strings I bend the most are better not wound. More cutting tone.

[Seashore]

Two more cents from me - if you don't tune down to C# or lower (on a 24.75-25.5" scale length) and gauge up your strings accordingly, you will never need to worry about this, just play what you like. Once your 3rd string is in the .019-.022 range, it can start to get annoying - too loud, overtones get too prominent, feel isn't quite right. You can mitigate some of that with pole piece adjustments but that's the range where the trade-offs become apparent. Once you get down to B standard, a wound 3rd makes more sense than a plain one.

[dave74]

My cutoff is between 17 and 18, or D and C# on my setups. I'd never use a wound 3rd for an E or Eb tuning.

I use a plain 3rd (17) for my D-standards (ultra slinky 10-48).
For my C#-standards I buy bulk custom singles sets from juststrings, and boomers for a couple guitars. 11-14-22w-30-40-52