String Tension on Archtop

[needsmorecowbel]

I was given a ply Kay archtop from the states as a birthday present and have decided to have a play around with it and do a bit of work on it (floating pickup, fretboard might need some sanding/ planing from the 14th fret, frets etc). I'm planning on chucking some D'Daddario XL Chrome 52s (Flatwounds) on it. Would it be inadvisable to string up a guitar like this from the sixties with 12s to 52s?


Stu

[P Bill]

Freddie Green played rhythm before pickups. His action was high and his stings were thick. As long as you don't cut a hole in the top it should be ok. But with a pickup you won't need fencing wire. The link has some interesting thoughts about his sound.





http://www.freddiegreen.org/instruments/setup.html

[needsmorecowbel]

Cheers for the advice. I'm only planning on a floating pickup or one mounted to the end of the fretboard.
Stu

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Stu,
I run 12s to 53 Nanoweb 80s 20s bronze Elixirs on my Archie. Very good volume and no fret noise. I have a K&K dual transducer on my as well and like the tone very much. The pickup is easy enough to fit and the two tranducers are glued on the inside at the middle of the F holes. My other Archie commission had the Kent Armstrong pickup fitted at the fingerboard. Didn't like that sound myself. No guts IMO.
Cheers
Alan
PS Nice present

[Kim]

Moved your topic to the main forum Stu where it will attract more user attention.

Cheers

Kim

[jeffhigh]

Hard to tell from the near straight on photo, but the bridge does not look very high, break angle is not large so you probably won't be putting a lot of stress on the top, should be ok

[needsmorecowbel]

Cheers Kim. Thanks Guys I'll post a better pic from the bridge side on tomorrow

Stu