The String Gauge Conundrum (Jazzmaster)

[Mojo Johnson]

I recently picked up my first Jazzmaster (TVL) and I absolutely love it for its sounds and feat0ures. I've played a couple of gigs with it at this point and I feel I am struggling a little with string gauge and tension.

I have years of experience with Strats and Teles and I've always been a .10 - .42 standard tuning guy. Set it and forget it. I also have a Jaguar and settled on .11 - .49 Flatwounds for that.

So given the 25.5" scale of the JM I figured NYXL .10's would do the trick. For playing at home and lead work, they do indeed. However, in live situations I find that I naturally play harder when holding down the rythm and the .10's feel a little too mushy. The TVL has a Mustang bridge so no slippage, but I feel like I'm going to break a string when I lay into it, especially when I transition from playing acoustic for 40 minutes a the beginning of the night (which is usually the case with my gigs).

I also found the JM sounds a little thinner and brighter than I'm used to so on the surface it sounds like a move to .11's is a natural solution.

This is a conundrum because I like slinkier strings for bending when I play lead. I guess it's time to man up and move up a gauge. I just wanted to ask about your experiences with JM string gauges. Anyone else find that .10's feel really light on a JM compared to other 25.5" scale guitars? Maybe it's just in my head because I am switching between acoustic and electric a lot?

Thanks!

[Larry Mal]

It's common to add more tension via a shim, which if you haven't done, might help an awful lot. You can order a set of shims from Stew-Mac, one is a half degree, one is a full degree. These can help out a good amount.

Also, it has a Mustang bridge, but there are better alternatives out there. Maybe look into one of those. I greatly prefer that the bridges on my Jazzmasters don't rock and shift.

[PaulDesmondTutu]

Since I started using a set of 10.5 - 48 I've never looked back. The high e is 10.5 and the b-string is 13.5, the rest is the same as a set of 11s.

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[Antoon]

That why switched to EB "light top heavy bottom" 010 - 052. Not that i want the bass strings to be louder but to get stiffer response when playing rhythm. The top strings are still easy to bend.

[jorri]

Yes Jazzmasters do feel lighter because of the break angle. it doesn't affect tension so much as flexibility.

You could always try a heavy-bottom set...they even make 10-52s I find the bottom strings benefit more for needing tension anyway.
(oh and I just read the above post whilst typing this, so +1 for the above)

I play 12-60 or something at the moment...but i had 12s on my strat when i had it although that was detuned and my jazzmaster is in standard mostly. Never much of a bender though, I apparently play jazz technique, though my style is nothing of the sort.

[eligit]

having switched from 10-49 to 11-54 on my JM in the last month or two this is my basic take away:

The heavier strings simply sound better. it was immediately noticeable. resonance, sustain, acoustic and electric volume, the way the trem works, etc. it's a much "bigger" pianistic sounding instrument with the 11-54s than 10-49s. if you do drop D from time to time this is even more true.

super slinky bending and effortless shredding is not as easy with these strings but my take on Jazzmasters *in general* is that dramatic bending is NOT the best thing about them. they do tons of other stuff great (the great pickups, cool noise effects behind the bridge, a great sounding tremolo, etc) but super bendy playing with the left hand is not the best. i get much nicer left hand bending effects on guitars with a different bridge design, lighter strings, bigger frets, etc. with 11-54s tuned to standard pitch i can bend a whole step give or take (depending on where I am on the fret board) without my fingers complaining and that's about it.

if i want big dramatic 1.5 to 2 whole step+ bends that don't fret out and sustain really well it's just much easier on a Les Paul with 9s or 10s on it or a tele with a 9.5 or flatter radius and 9s on it. flatter radiuses, lighter strings, bigger frets, fixed stop tail, tele or strat style bridges...all these things seem to just work better than the JM style bridge if *big* bends are the focus.

to get a jazzmaster to do a 2 whole step bend easily tuned to standard A440 (put light strings on it) compromises the overall sound of the instrument imo. not to say you can't put 9s on a Jazzmaster for easy play and big bends but imo it's not going to resonate as well.