NGD (.....Philly Q, the low budget Twinfan!) [....REVISITED!]

[Andrew W]

It's come back with a set of 11's (ouch... but interesting) and a low action.  Looks like the frets have been dressed too, which is rather nice.  :)

Oh I'm all about the 11s on a PRS, I think it's the perfect gauge for them. Maybe give them a try for a bit and see what you think? The question now is, which BKPs..?

[Philly Q]

The 11s feel weird, but of course I've had 30 years of playing 10s, so that's to be expected.

I know people say guitars ring more, or "come to life", with heavier strings, but I'm not sure 11s + low action seems any more effective in that sense than 10s + higher action.

And I'm slightly concerned about the intonation - aren't PRS bridges optimised for 9s and 10s?  And if I got used to 11s, I'd have to put them on all my Juniors etc - where again, intonation is a compromise.  I know I'm over-thinking this....

Pickups are easy - the set of Cold Sweats I've had hanging around forever.  Chrome covers, black mounting rings.

[tekbow]

And I'm slightly concerned about the intonation - aren't PRS bridges optimised for 9s and 10s?  And if I got used to 11s, I'd have to put them on all my Juniors etc - where again, intonation is a compromise.  I know I'm over-thinking this....

http://www.prsguitars.com/csc/setup.html

should be fine says PRS, and the DGT uses the same bridge and tuners as the other models

[MrBump]

That's a nice geetar, PQ.  Non-blingy, workman like.  My kind of PRS.

[Zaned]

I know people say guitars ring more, or "come to life", with heavier strings, but I'm not sure 11s + low action seems any more effective in that sense than 10s + higher action.

And I'm slightly concerned about the intonation - aren't PRS bridges optimised for 9s and 10s?  And if I got used to 11s, I'd have to put them on all my Juniors etc - where again, intonation is a compromise.  I know I'm over-thinking this....

The bridge will intonate just as fine as with 10s.

I went from 10-52 to 10-46 quite recently! On all of my electrics, except for the LP. That has 11-49s. I do like tension, but I began to feel that the low strings were a bit on the tubby side. I wanted a bit of twang there too, and it was hard to get with the 52 low E.

Lovely guitar btw! One that's gonna look just better with scars. Kinda like the Keef :)

-Zaned

[Andrew W]

And if I got used to 11s, I'd have to put them on all my Juniors etc - where again, intonation is a compromise.  I know I'm over-thinking this....

Well your mileage may vary but I've come to the conclusion that, for me, different guitars suit different gauges: PRS and my Telemaster suit 11s, the Gibson, Hamer, Tele and Wilshire all get 10s. If I end up getting a second hand Ibanez S it'll have 9s. I actually don't find swapping from one guitar with one gauge to another too weird, once you get used to it. And this comes from someone who only used 9s for about 20 years.

I should have rephrased my pickup question, when do you think you're going to fit the new BKPs? ;)

[Philly Q]

I should have rephrased my pickup question, when do you think you're going to fit the new BKPs? ;)

Well, where are we now.... 2013? 

I'll have to check my five year planner (..... as if I would have such a thing!  :lol: )


Interesting point about different string gauges for different guitars.  I did for a while use 10s on Gibsons and 9s on Fender types, then just went over to 10s on everything.  I'll carry on with these 11s for a while, anyway (until one breaks, or I do that pickup change....  )

[gwEm]

welcome back your old PRS and welcome back this thread :)

always thought this guitar was one of your top buys.

its funny, because i usually play 11s and quite like the novelty of 9s, but i strongly dislike 10s. i guess it all comes down to what we're used to.

[Telerocker]

It is mainly what you are used to, I think. I went from 9.5 to 10's, for me a comfortable gauge, however a strat with 11's sounds usually better then with 10's.

[BigB]

I know people say guitars ring more, or "come to life", with heavier strings, but I'm not sure 11s + low action seems any more effective in that sense than 10s + higher action.

Then try 11s with higher action :mrgreen:

+1 with AndrewW on the guitars / gauge stuff, I recently switched to 11/52 on my SG and LP and I like it (same - rather high - action as before FWIW) but 10/48 is JustRight on my Tele. I've not tried 11/52 on the Vox, Hofner and Epi Wilshire yet...

[Philly Q]

welcome back your old PRS and welcome back this thread :)

always thought this guitar was one of your top buys.

It was certainly one of my top bargains, second only to my white Singlecut LP Special, I think.

It's not the best PRS I've owned, in terms of natural tone and resonance, but I really like having a PRS with proper old-school birds, and I love the rough-and-ready feel of the finish - it's sunk into the grain of the mahogany all over the neck and body, like an old Gibson.

Re the strings (amazing how much we can debate strings!  :P ) I am definitely going to raise the action a bit, the low action seems to kill the vibration of the strings (very unscientific).  I'll see how that goes.

[BigB]

Re the strings (amazing how much we can debate strings!  :P )

Well, yes, but OTHO a guitar without strings doesn't sound that great, does it ? xD

I am definitely going to raise the action a bit, the low action seems to kill the vibration of the strings (very unscientific). 

Not that "unscientific" when you think about it. Strings need some clearance so the movement is not dampened by the frets (and also higher action means more tension and more pressure on the bridge hence more interaction with the body's wood). 

[Lew]

Before you change gauge bring it down to Eflat and if it's still too much bring it down to D  8) should require very minimal set-up on a nice guitar like that. I'm using 11-48 +68 a whole step down and loving it  8) a bit slinkier than 10's in standard. Still regret getting shot of my 513 but it was a mistake getting a guitar that couldn't have BKPs dropped in to it.

[BigB]

Before you change gauge bring it down to Eflat and if it's still too much bring it down to D

Strange enough I first tried 11-52 in D, didn't like it so before going back to 10-43 I gave a try with standard tuning... and just found it perfect wrt/ tone and feel (ok, fingers did hurt for the first 3 days but the tone...).

[dvorak]

Congrats on getting it back! It's a very pretty one for sure  8)