The situation of my SG

[NUNOSLASH]

Ok i need opinions here:

Until yesterday my Gibson SG had earnie ball skinny top, heavy bottom strings (10, 13,17,30,42,52) and the set up (action, intonation,etc) was good, today i bought some earnie balls power slinky (11 14 18 28 38 48) cause i want more fatness to the higher strings.
I know that when you wrap around the strings through the stop bar the strings get looser so i dont think its going to be much problem going heavier with the string gauge on the higher strings....right???

And also would this require a truss rod adjustment?? Notice that this new set of strings are heavier on the higher strings but skinnier on the bottom ones

BTW i always tune to standard, right now its standard, and i want to tune to standard with the new ones

Help!!

 

[tc]

Re: The situation of my SG

well basically about the whole stop bar thing, the longer the string's length the tighter they feel (which is why 25.5 scale feels tighter than 24.75 with the same gauge strings), and about the truss rod, just slap em on and check the relief

 

[lex666]

Re: The situation of my SG

Yeah, I try not to mess with the truss rod, if possible.

If you're trying out a new string gauge, I like to leave them on there for a while. Thouroughly break 'em in, and play it for at least a couple of days. Then, I would assess whether or not the relief or action has changed, and if so, make the necessary adjustment.

 

[ibanezrocks]

Re: The situation of my SG

You're going to have to put them on to see if you need to adjust the truss rod, if you do I'd be surprised if it was more than 1/4 turn. Truss rod adjustments really aren't hard, and this is coming from someone who doesn't remember how to do them. I just read about it ahead of time on the net, did it in slow increments, set up the action again and it turned out great.

 

[blueman335]

Re: The situation of my SG

Until yesterday my Gibson SG had earnie ball skinny top, heavy bottom strings (10, 13,17,30,42,52) and the set up (action, intonation,etc) was good, today i bought some earnie balls power slinky (11 14 18 28 38 48) cause i want more fatness to the higher strings.
I know that when you wrap around the strings through the stop bar the strings get looser so i dont think its going to be much problem going heavier with the string gauge on the higher strings....right??? And also would this require a truss rod adjustment?? Notice that this new set of strings are heavier on the higher strings but skinnier on the bottom ones Help!!

If you change string gauges, the truss rod may or may not need to be adjusted (more tension from thicker strings, that have to be tighter to reach the same pitch). This is a really easy thing to do, and you rarely need more than a half turn. Look at your neck...straight is best, and a slight inwards bow is fine too. A back bow will make the frets buzz. Why live with that?

What's more likely to need adjusting is the intonation, which is more sensitive to slight variations in the neck (caused by changes in string tension). You can do this yourself with a chromatic tuner, checking the open notes with the 12th fret. You can do this in a few minutes.

Wrapping the strings around the stop bar (as I do myself) doesn't effect the scale length, that's determined by the bridge. Wrapping around the stop bar is beneficial to reduce the angle of the strings so they don't push the bridge forward, and totally mess up the intonation (used by Billy Gibbons & Duane Allman). If you have bridge posts with flanged bases, they'll stay straight & a stop bar wrap isn't needed.

Don't be afraid of setting up your guitar so it plays better, as long as you do minor adjustments & don't put holes in it. There's a great book by Dan Erlewine on setting up guitars, tells you everything you need to know...get it.