electric or acoustic strings.

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question444

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Is there a difference between electric and acoustic as far g, b and high e strings?
 
That's a good question. My acoustic guitars are strung with phospher bronz strings, so they are definitely different than electric guitar strings.

Anyone have an intelligent answer to this?
 
My electric guitar is strung with nickel plated steel, btw. Does that answer your question any?
 
Well I'm not sure. I replaced a broken g with an electric g on my acoustic. i have intonation problems with it that I don't recall having before. A guy in my band says "you know there's no difference between electric strings and acoustic strings when it comes to the top three right?" I figured it is likely he might not know what he's talking about, but speaks it as fact anyway.
 
question444 said:
Well I'm not sure. I replaced a broken g with an electric g on my acoustic. i have intonation problems with it that I don't recall having before. A guy in my band says "you know there's no difference between electric strings and acoustic strings when it comes to the top three right?" I figured it is likely he might not know what he's talking about, but speaks it as fact anyway.
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I inadvertantly put a whole set of electric string on my acoustic once. They didn't sound as loud, and yes, I had problems with chords above the 5th fret. I guess you could go to Ask Jeeves or google the answer.
 
There is a difference. The biggest difference for me is the sound. Accoustic strings are usually a heavier gauge and have 4 wound strings instead of 3 for electric.

However, I've strung all of my accoustic guitars with electric strings. The reason is that the accoustic strings make a lot of noise when you are sliding your fingers around during a chord change. This annoys the heck out of me...but everyone is different.

Plus, if I want to do any rock style or solo-ing on my accoustic, the strings are ready to go...and are easy to bend.

IMO, if all you'll be doing is strumming, then stick to the accoustic strings.
 
I play chords and rhythm but mainly sing. My guitar player puts electric strings on his acoustic. I'm positive they are easier to hold and manipulate, but I don't think they sound very good. Since I don't play lead I think I prefer the acoustic strings as I believe they have richer sound. Often the dificult way is the better sounding way. My acoustic is hell to finger, but when I pick up an electric holding the frets is effortless to me, like pushing buttons. My fingers are built up by now because I always play steel string acoustic. I know this is all preference-related stuff that cannot be asked, I just figured there must be a difference or they woudn't make acoustic and electric strings. I think my guitar player should study up on his field. Thanks.
 
Other than the gauging, they're all the same.

I forget which brand, I believe it may be D'Addario, but I remember having a pack of acoustics and a pack of electrics with the same gauging. The thicker strings either said "acoustic" or "electric" on them, but the skinnier strings just said "guitar" strings. Now, I know this is rough logic, but the strings and packaging appearred 100% interchangable, and I've mixed the strings many times with no noticable difference. So, in my personal opinion, they are exactly the same.

I have also noticed that the thicker strings on an acoustic tend to produce less output on an electric, probably because they're not specifically designed for magnetic pickups. The difference isn't really too noticable unless you've mixed the two types of strings.
 
On the bass strings (E,A,D,G) the wrapping materal is an obvious difference, acoustic strings are generaly bronze-phosphor while electric strings tend to be steel or a steel alloy. The bronze wrap tends to give a more mellow, less twangy sound and has a definately different feel to it. I play mostly electric but also some acoustic, and have on many occasions put electric strings on my acoustic. I prefer the feel of electric strings but have learned from expreience that light guage electric strings sound like crap on acoustic. I do use heavy guage electric strings on acoustic and substitute the plain 3rd for a wrapped of the same guage and find this works quite well. As far as I can tell there is little or no difference, other than guage size in the high (B,E) strings.
 
The G is a wound string still. As far as a B adn high E they are thicker and thats about all i know
 
Acoustic strings have a wrapped G string. You can not swap wrapped and plain strings back and forth without some intonation problems. I learned this the hard way on a Gibson ES120, an archtop electric guitar designed for a wrapped G.

However, the plain B and E strings can be swapped.

The four wrapped electric guitar strings cause much greater disturbance in the magnetic field of pickups. Therefore, an acoustic set on an electric guitar will not work well.
 
The unwound strings are EXACTLY the same. they're steel, they can be the same gauges, no difference. Look at a package of most common electric or acoustic strings, the package for the unwound strings will say "acoustic or electric guitar string".
 
Quality acoustic strings - wound or unwound - are made with bronze alloys (80/20 bronze or phosphor/bronze) that sound loud and generally appealing on an acoustic guitar. They usually transmit a lot of finger noise and lose their "sparkle" quickly.

Electric guitar strings are made of nickel (in the old days), nickel-plated steel, or stainless steel. They are not loud on an acoustic guitar because their job is to excite an electromagnetic pickup, which nickel and steel do very well.

Electric strings are quieter and generally tougher than acoustic strings.
 
wow thanks a lot for all the info. No wonder I am having trouble with it. I've explained to my guitarist and we realized we were both partially wrong about it. Anyway just picked up some new d'addario lights and expect for all to be back to normal...just a learnin experience. -P
 
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