Got my Elixir HD Lights today

[TBman]

Yesssss

Going to put a set on my Furch, although I like the La Bella Silk and Steel that are on it, I really do prefer 13 and 17 trebles. I have another set of the La Bella so I don't feel bad changing strings "prematurely." .

I'll do a demo of course sometime this weekend with it.

[boombox]

I've only ever used these on my Taylor 712e 12 fret. The thought of those thicker trebles scared me a little at first, but they sound so good and with the short scale play so easily that I've not seen any reason to try anything else nearly five years into ownership of the guitar. I'd try them on something else perhaps, but they are expensive and so difficult to source, I don't want to potentially waste a set.

[donlyn]

Got my Elixir HD Lights today

Where did you get them if I may ask?

Originally Posted by boombox

I've only ever used these on my Taylor 712e 12 fret. The thought of those thicker trebles scared me a little at first, but they sound so good and with the short scale play so easily that I've not seen any reason to try anything else nearly five years into ownership of the guitar. I'd try them on something else perhaps, but they are expensive and so difficult to source, I don't want to potentially waste a set.

Well you could always gut a couple of loose .013s and .017s and use them with whatever strings are already on the guitar you are thinking of. Personally I am in total agreement with using those Medium Gauge trebles on anything as long as the guitar likes it. I use the HD light gauge extensively on most of my 6 string guitars. Only ones that don't have HD are my Alvarez, which only likes Light gauge, and my walnut jumbo which needs Mediums to drive the top. And putting on HDs really only adds .001 to the G, B, and E strings anyway. But there is a real difference using those.

And by way of experimenting, my new Epiphone J-200 solid wood model now has Elixir Lights on the E,A,D, and G, with .013 and .017 on the B and E. Mostly because I had those strings lying around and decided to use them. The G string is .024 instead of .025, but I haven't noticed any issues, and will be corrected next string change anyway. And my big body guitars don't really need a fat bass string to sound bass-y. And my ancient paws like the slightly lesser tension too.

Don
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[Deft Tungsman]

Until last year I’d been using Elixir PB Lights on all my guitars for at least a decade. Then a friend turned me onto HD Lights.

I first tried them on my Claxton OM, and have been using them ever since on that guitar. The trebles are fatter, yet the guitar remains the easiest player I’ve ever had in my lap. Uncanny.

Next, I tried them on the Circa, but they made a somewhat tight guitar feel too stiff. To make it less tight, a month or two ago I tried a set of 11-52s, and bingo! All the muscular clarity and sweet highs of the guitar are still there, but it’s easier under the fingers than with normal Lights.

On my ‘33 0-17, I switched from Lights to Custom Lights, too. It’s small and so lightly braced that it doesn’t need a lot of string tension to produce full tone. There’s now more clarity in the low end, which is what I was hoping for.

I recently put some HD Lights on my Blackbird Rider CF travel guitar to fatten the highs, but I’m not happy. The whole thing is just too stiff. I’ll try some Custom Lights next time round.

Lastly, the Baranik Parlor currently has a set of Santa Cruz Parabolics, which I received as a gift. I hate them. Today they’re coming off, and I’ll try some Elixir Custom Lights instead of normal Lights.

I’m glad I’ve broken out of my comfort zone and done these experiments. I’ve discovered that different string gauges work better on some guitar than on others, but the results aren’t always what I’d expected.

One thing I will say is that every time I’ve tried a different brand of string, I’ve never repeated the experience. Elixirs sound and feel right to me, especially now that I’ve dialed in the gauges that work best for my instruments.

[ifret]

I use Elixir HD Lights on my 3 Taylor GA's. I'm a exclusive fingerpicker (with fingerpicks) and I carry the melody on the treble strings. The slightly heavier gauge strings complements my style of play.

[BrunoBlack]

I use HD strings on 2 of my guitars (Froggy K and SCGC OMG) and sometimes on a 3rd (Goodall 000). I find they provide nice thick trebles and accentuate the bass just a touch. The Froggy likes 80/20s, the others do best with PBs. I do use other strings and these guitars all sound great with light gauge strings, but James Goodall recommended I try HD strings as an alternate and I like them a lot on certain guitars.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by donlyn

Got my Elixir HD Lights today

Where did you get them if I may ask?

Don
.

Don, I bought them from Sweetwater.

[steelvibe]

I'm not an Elixir guy but love the concept of HD Lights. Many others make slightly comparable product with "New Mediums" or "True Mediums". I have to buy the 13 and 17 separately but I usually leave the rest of a set alone. Seems to be working great for my style of play and I completely agree with comments that mention these things are very guitar specific.

[donlyn]

Originally Posted by TBman

Don, I bought them from Sweetwater.

Thanks, Barry. Time to re-supply.

Don
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[BrunoBlack]

One thing I’d like to bring out is that the first 3 strings (E-B-G) are heavier on HD Lights. Overall tension goes from 162 pounds on Lights to 174 pounds on HD Lights, about midpoint between Lights and Mediums 188 pounds.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Haasome

One thing I’d like to bring out is that the first 3 strings (E-B-G) are heavier on HD Lights. Overall tension goes from 162 pounds on Lights to 174 pounds on HD Lights, about midpoint between Lights and Mediums 188 pounds.

The guitars I use them on are tuned to DADGAD and lower. If I use a drop-D tuning I'll tune down to CGCFAD.

[donlyn]

Got my Elixir HD Lights today

One of my Grand Concerts came with HD Lights. But overall, I'm coming from the other direction. Except for the all-walnut, I have downsized the gauge on my Jumboes and Grand Orchestra from Mediums to HD Lights, so I lost a few pounds in the process.

Could maybe afford to lose a couple of pounds myself, especially if it were that easy.

And yes, the extra '+.001s' in the trebles do help to offset the down-tuning for DADGAD. My mahogany GC is my dedicated DADGAD guitar, as well as my 355 12 string, but that one is tuned to C# with DADGAD intervals.



Don
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