FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Guitar Impression Light String

Question:
I enjoy playing country blues on my low-end Takamine. At some point in the future I'd like to purchase a better quality guitar. Are there particular body styles, guitar features etc., that are considered to be more suited for this kind of playing? (I'll add that my fingers are on the medium to shortish side). What is it about those features/styles that make them amenable to this kind of music/style of playing? Secondly - I have been using light strings but just visited the guitar store where the guitars all seemed to be strung with mediums. Do most fingerstyle players use medium guage string

Answer:
Naturally, exceptions ABOUND, but a great many fingerstyle players enjoy the increased responsiveness and tonal balance they get with smallbody and midsized guitars. I would recommend that you start looking at Martin 000 and OM sized guitars to begin with. The Larrivée company also makes an OM that's an excellent value, and the Tacoma Guitar Company makes an instrument called the EM-9 that will knock your socks off for fingerpicking: it's just a very lively little guitar. There are also the various parlor-sized guitars on the market; again, Larrivée makes a notable example. These are great fun and work really well for the style you enjoy. What we'll do, then, is introduce you to one of the regulars here on the newsgroup, Texas Tom Risner, who'll be so tenacious in trying to get money out of your hands for donations to his Fund that he'll actually stretch your fingers and increase your glove size by three sizes.... Another option, if you manage to avoid shaking hands with Tom The Rack Risner, would be to look at guitars with slimmer necks. An excellent choice in this regard are the Martin Triple O copies made by Saga for their Blueridge guitar line: the Blueridge BR-143 or BR-163 would both be good for a fingerstyle player with smaller hands. (They also have the added advantage of being very reasonably priced for all-solid wood guitars.) Well, with a smaller top and a smaller air cavity inside the body it takes less energy to drive the top. This means the guitar can respond more easily and more quickly to a lighter touch. What's more, smaller guitar body styles tend to have a more pronounced waist than dreadnoughts, and this helps the overall tonal balance, for some reason. (Larger guitar body styles with more pronounced waists also tend to be better balanced than dreads.) Not that I've noticed - a few do, but the majority seem to like the easier playing characteristics and enhanced treble response of the lights. I would caution you, though, that it can be hard to discern what gauge strings are on a lot of guitars hanging in on the walls of music stores - a guitar strung with lights but with an overly stiff action can feel like it's strung with mediums. The rare, concerned retailer aside, most music stores don't have most of the guitars set up as well as they might or should. So that's something to take into consideration when trying out new guitars. Another factor is that, traditionally, most guitars have shipped from the factory with medium gauge strings. As a rule, you get more tone and more volume with mediums, and the manufacturers want the guitars to sound their best and their fullest when potential buyers are trying them out. This is slowly changing, and many guitars nowadays DO ship with light gauge strings, particularly those targeted specifically at the fingerstyle market. But there's by no means anything resembling a consensus within the guitar industry about this. One thing you should seriously consider, if you think you're almost ready to purchase a guitar, is to buy a set of the light gauge Elixirs you prefer and put them on the guitar you're considering. Most stores will let you do this if you're truly serious, and it will help you to give you a truer idea of how the guitar will play and sound when you get it home.