594 Hollowbody II string gauge

Oscar

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Nov 26, 2021
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103
I’ve had 11’s on my 594 HB forever. With hollowbodies heavier strings mean fatter, rounder, less-plinky sounding plain strings. Or so I thought. Just for the heck of it I put on a set of 10.5’s today and despite the minimal difference in string gauge the resulting tonal improvement is huge. The highs became much more musical, warm and angelic. As a whole the guitar sounds more relaxed somehow and there’s not a hint of plinky-ness or harshness. I mostly play jazzy stuff and I barely have to roll the tone control back, whereas with the 11s I usually roll down to five or six. I was already smitten with this guitar but now I’m appreciating it even more. It sounds stunning.

What strings do you put on your thinline hollowbody guitars and why?
 
I always put on D'Addario XL110W, including on a PRS Core Hollowbody with an adjustable bridge I used to have. 10 - 46 with a wound G. I like the feel and the tone of the wound G.
 
Either 10s or 11s. Like you, I find that the 11s on hollowbodies have a bigger sound. But 10s will yield a richer, juicier sound.

It's not automatic. It depends on the guitar. One of my HB-IIs takes 11 and the other one takes 10s. It's just a matter of asking the guitars which they prefer.

Biggest surprise: My Rickenbacker 360 (6 string) asked for 11s, after trying many 10s.

So listen to what your guitar is trying to tell you.

=K
 
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