Accidentally put heavies on my 000-15sm

[devellis]

In my limited (thankfully) experience of putting overly-heavy strings on a guitar that shouldn't use them, the instrument can sound fantastic but the well-being of the guitar can be seriously compromised. It's been ages since I've made a mistake like that and, even then, I recognized it pretty quickly. These days, I actually prefer the feel and tone of lighter strings on most of my instruments so it's a non-issue.

[zhunter]

Originally Posted by mcbean

Mediums are functionally heavies. Many manufacturers will tell you straight up that their guitars aren't properly braced to handle .13's over a long period of time let alone something heavier that. I'm generalizing of course.

.12's (lights) are standard, functionally "medium". Extra light .11's being the functional "light" gauge. Like someone already said, I don't think I've ever seen a "heavy" set sitting in a shop before...though I'm sure you can find them online.

If I were you, I'd be cautious about leaving .13's on that Martin permanently. But there are many on here who could tell you better than me.

I'm afraid that just struck me as funny. As in mediums are the new heavies. Not quite sure I buy that. Though Martin does recommend lights for this guitar, they still recommend mediums pretty often. I don't think it is time to revise the language just yet.

I ran heavies (as in the real heavies) for a while back in the 70s. While I never found they gave my guitar a problem, I used to bend a lot more on acoustic. I gave em up when a fingertip split to the bleeding point. That laid me up for a week or so and the heavies came off.

hunter