What do you string your resonator with?

[slimey]

I have an El Trovador and heard an interview with Mike Dowling saying he used Elixir Heavy Electric guitar strings on his . Tried it, super tone, a very round full sound with no harshness at all.
Not a string I'd have ever thought of but they work very well.

[SCVJ]

I'm using a standard acoustic guitar, not a resonator, to play slide. It has typical string height at the 12th fret, same as my other guitars, neither high nor low. It 's now wearing light gauge strings, the high E is a 12. I'm sort of an advanced beginner.

I've read it's a good idea to increase the gauge of the E string for better tone, and that the extra size may help with the problem we beginners have with hitting the frets with the slide.

Can someone with experience with heavier strings please advise me on this question: I have a 13 and a 15 I can switch to - which do you think would work best? Tone improvement is less important at this point than overcoming the fret noise problem.

Of course, I'm working on overcoming that with practice, but it's been the hardest technique to master so far.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by SCVJ

I'm using a standard acoustic guitar, not a resonator, to play slide. It has typical string height at the 12th fret, same as my other guitars, neither high nor low. It 's now wearing light gauge strings, the high E is a 12. I'm sort of an advanced beginner.

Yup. I use twelves on my flattops and reso.

Originally Posted by SCVJ

I've read it's a good idea to increase the gauge of the E string for better tone, and that the extra size may help with the problem we beginners have with hitting the frets with the slide.

Yes, some of the folks above have recommended that.

Originally Posted by SCVJ

Can someone with experience with heavier strings please advise me on this question: I have a 13 and a 15 I can switch to - which do you think would work best? Tone improvement is less important at this point than overcoming the fret noise problem.

We're all different. Try both. E strings are cheap.

Originally Posted by SCVJ

Of course, I'm working on overcoming that with practice, but it's been the hardest technique to master so far.

Just don't press down with the slide. Keep working on it. You'll get the hang of it.

I wouldn't raise the action. That makes it harder to fret and throws off the intonation. Instead, learn to relax your slide finger and trust it to know what it's doing. The rest is just time and practice.