String recommendations for acoustic 7

[FILTHnFEAR]

So I just snagged an Ibanez AEL207e off of GC. Should be here Friday.

Haven't played acoustic in years so I'm rather ignorant of what to try.

Plan to tune to drop B, possibly drop A.

Suggestions on material, brand, gauges please?

Thanks for reading.

 

[Winspear]

A general rule of thumb is that people move up 1 or 2 gauges on acoustic compared to electric.
I use 10s on electric, 12s on acoustic. A balanced set of 10s is 10-46+62 for the low B. The equivalent 12s would be 12-54+74. Quite thick - but I'd say absolutely necessary if you're going to drop to A too.
I stopped using 'acoustic strings' a long time ago and just use whatever nickelwounds I'm using at the time. I started doing this because custom options were better. That said, D'addario sell thick single bronze strings these days, but I've come to prefer nickelwounds anyway.

 

[Winspear]

Sorry, I see you said drop B not B standard so go for 11s on the top 6. 11-50+72/74 will give you a decent average acoustic tension in drop B and should be just tight enough for drop A.

 

[FILTHnFEAR]

@Winspear, how do nickel wounds sound on an acoustic? Never tried that before.

It would make buying strings a lot easier. Cheaper too.

 

[Winspear]

Marginally brighter, in my experience not really any bigger a difference than comparing various sets of acoustic strings. Of course they mellow down to a similar level fast too.
For sure, it's handy. I find them to last longer for me too, bronze seem nasty with my hands. Give it a go, nothing to lose

 

[FILTHnFEAR]

I think I will. I was going to get a couple different acoustics sets to try, might as well try some electrics too.

Thanks!

 

[Winspear]

Cool! One thing to be aware of is very slightly lighter tension on nickelwounds, eg 12-54 acoustic strings might feel the same as 12-56 electric strings Fairly insignificant

 

[rikomaru]

I used flatwound strings on my AJ307. I don't know if the 11-65 set I use will work for your tuning, but I assume there are heavier sets out there.

 

[FILTHnFEAR]

I used flatwound strings on my AJ307. I don't know if the 11-65 set I use will work for your tuning, but I assume there are heavier sets out there.

What tuning is yours in?

 

[rikomaru]

Mine is just in E standard tuning. Here's a link with pics of the pack, so you can see the tension numbers on the back and all that jazz.
https://www.guitarcenter.com/DAddario/ECG24-7-7-String-Chrome-Flat-Wound-Electric-Guitar-Strings.gc

 

[MaxOfMetal]

You go for bigger strings on an acoustic because of volume and sustain.

Action is typically higher compared to an electric and the non-adjustable bridge means you have to compensate gauges with tuning to find the sweet spot that works with your playing.

Throw out most of the normal conventions of electric guitar strings, the factor change differently when moving to acoustic. For instance, balanced tension is less important than balanced volume and intonation.

You're really going to have to grab a few sets and play around with it. Especially if you don't have similar acoustics to use as a starting point.