I'm trying heavy Elixir strings on the Gibson B45-12. Because the guitar is fragile and old, I'm tuning down a fourth, so the 1st and 6th courses are B instead of E. First results are better than I expected. The guitar is not a bright guitar, particularly when compared to a Taylor. The floating bridge is ebony and has notches, and I think this muffles the sound. The side and back are mahogany, considered a dark sounding wood. There is not much jangle; the top 2 courses sound positively muted. I've been using Martin Marquis, a medium weight string and tune it down a minor third. But since I have an LKSM-12 tuned the same my thoughts for the Gibson were to put bright light strings tuned up to concert to counter the mellow darkness of the guitar itself. However I changed my mind for some reason and put the heavies on it. The big dreadnaught shape seems to handle the lows very smoothly, and now all the strings seem to be tuned under that muffled sounding ceiling (which is the best way I can think to describe the effect), giving it a rather grand, maybe somewhat ponderous, sound.
Here's a sample, 1.3 megs
No comments:
Post a Comment