Is it safe to change guitar string gauge from 12 to 11?

Question

The guy who sold me my guitar said that generally there doesn't have to be any adjustments to the neck, bridge, etc. when switching between these two gauges but I'm just making sure. Thanks for the help!

The guy who sold me my guitar said that generally there doesn't have to be any adjustments to the neck, bridge, etc. when switching between these two gauges but I'm just making sure. Thanks for the help!

edit: I'm referring to an acoustic guitar, thought it helps to know about electrics also.

Answer 1

Absolutely. you can change it all the way down to a .09 (although the .09 is more likely to break) and I have known people who have used .12 and.13 on the high E as well. It depends on how much strength you have in your fingers, the type of sound you are looking for, and how much you want to bend the string. It also depends on the note you are trying to get to. If you are exploring alternate tunings, you are going to want to try different tensions to get to those modal tunings.

I actually had a friend who was about to go on stage with a guitar that had a buzz. We didn't have a hex wrench to do a quick adjustment to the truss rod and he didn't want to borrow mine (they don't call me hammer hands for nothing!) so I simply changed the strings. I didn't tell him that I put one of my sets on (extra high tension steel strings - it was a steel string guitar) which pulled the neck up just enough to get rid of the buzz. I didn't tell him after the show either however, because I had to leave right away. (There was a songwriting clinic that I was asked to attend and I didn't even get to hear his whole show)

A few weeks later I ran into him again and he asked me to look at his guitar again. I started laughing and couldn't stop for the longest time. He had put another set of those super slinky strings on that guitar and it had gone back to buzzing. After I recovered, I told him what I had done. He was mystified at first because he had always been told that he couldn't play on anything but those slappy slinky strings his shop was selling him. When he found out that he had done about fifteen shows on MY strings (well, not mine personally, but I do use a very thick gauge of strings) his self esteem went up through the roof. Now he uses all kinds of gauges of strings like I do, as it suits his purpose and gets the job done. Anyway, change away, it won't do any harm. If you get a little buzz, take the guitar in to the luthier and get the neck tweaked, but it probably won't happen. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Yes, it's safe. It might make it easier to play with lighter gauge strings, particularly if u like string bends. Hope this helps

Answer 3

Geez, as usual you have to read cconsaul's life story to get an answer. SHORT ANSWER: Go ahead, there should not be any intonation problems - however, any gauge less than 12s (light) may not have enough energy to drive the top, so the sound will be thin or weak - especially the bass.