JS1000 w Heavy Gauge (13.) strings?

3381 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by jb4674, Dec 3, 2009

Jazzmatazz

Discussion Starter · Dec 2, 2009

Hey folks,

well, i love my white JS1000 and play it with pleasure. but since im jazzin more around (got also an archtop) and still able to bend strings and make a good vibrato technique with 13. (maybe 12.) gauge strings i would like to equip my JS1000 with those kind of strings. i just love the feelin of those fat strings, and also the sound. my question is (ok, i'll probably change the floyd rose to a fixed floyd, only have to find a dealer for that kind in germany): will the JS manage the bigger tension on the neck. is it in case kind of dangerous for the stability of the guitar? or is it simply a question of the bridge (e.g. a fixed floyd).

thank you,
... of course, afterwards i have to re-make the string-action.

cheers

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djohns74

· #2 · Dec 2, 2009

The truss rod will probably want a bit of an adjustment to keep the action nice along the length of the neck, but there's nothing inherently dangerous about using heavy strings. The strings themselves will fail from high tension long before the neck will.

The bridge could be a problem, depending on what you'd like to do with it. You probably could still get it set up to float even with the heavy strings, but you'll be adding at least one more spring to the back and possibly need to look into stiffer springs too, all of which will, of course, lead to a much firmer feeling trem, which many people don't care for. If you don't care about the trem, just look into blocking it, there's no reason to replace it.

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smooth55

· #3 · Dec 2, 2009

Exactly what was said above. You'll be able to do it, the guitar will be able to handle it but some aspects of the feel will change with the additional spring added and you'll need to tweak some action, neck bow, and intonation to get it playing it's best.

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Jazzmatazz

Discussion Starter · #4 · Dec 2, 2009

thankyou!

i'm on!

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guitarnoize

· #5 · Dec 2, 2009

You could get a trem-stopper? cheaper than replacing the bridge:
http://floydupgrades.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70&zenid=m743e5s3m8juoorl4r23b7a4r7

$20 and you can easily disengage it too.

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Magical Muffin

· #6 · Dec 3, 2009

You'll never be able to do anything but vibrato on the high e with those kind of strings without it breaking if you can even tune it that high to begin with, but that's fine if that's that's your thing.

You might find that the really heavy bass strings might not be able to entirely fit into the nut, but that shouldn't be much of an issue because at the very worst the string will be nice and snug and the action will be higher there (but still easily playable, talking from experience), and at the best the nut will quickly 'stretch' to accommodate the string. (Talking about traditional nuts here, I have no idea about locking and metal nuts, which might be more of issue).

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jb4674

· #7 · Dec 3, 2009

I would look into getting a JS1600 or a JS6 instead.

Jimmy:smile:

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