What gauge acoustic strings are you guys using?

[culturejam]

Every time I got to buy acoustic strings, I can never recall what gauge I just had on my guitar.

I'm thinking 11-52 or 12-53 is the ticket. What about yous guys?

[pryde]

12-53g here

Good compromise of tone and playability

[GammaFlex]

14 - 62 at the moment

When that's not available I usually use a regular 13-56

[lincolnic]

I've always played 12-53. Curious to hear if anyone's using 11s and what their experience has been.

[Blues Healer]

I use light gauge, 12-53, usually D'Addario Phosphor Bronze. http://www.juststrings.com/dad-ej16-3d.html

I have to admit I also kinda like the Martin Lifespans that come on their new guitars.

[hoodoo]

12-53 D'addario's for me too 

[midwayfair]

I switched to 12s when I started fingerpicking exclusively (some fingerpickers are the exact opposite of me, though, and switched to a higher gauge). I think my Larivee was built to use 12s.

If your hands can handle it, though, most acoustics are built and set up to use 13s (my Tennessee is like that, but I put 12s on it anyway, otherwise it feels too different). If you have trouble remembering, I'd say at some point buy three sets of strings, try them all, and put a sticker inside the guitar which one sounded and felt the best.

[ckim715]

12-53 on my Taylor GA4,
13-56 on my Guild Dreadnought.

[culturejam]

Thanks for the input, folks!

I've always played 12-53. Curious to hear if anyone's using 11s and what their experience has been.

I might give 11s a shot and see how I like it. I play acoustic a lot less than electric, and the "finger fatigue" on switching to the heavier strings can be a real drag.

[GermanCdn]

For the most part, I use 12s.  On smaller body acoustics I sometimes use 13s to get a little more bass, and when I used to play out alot I used 13s on my gigging acoustic, mainly because I used to bust a lot of strings (very heavy handed back in the day) and wanted to minimize that.

Think I've tried 11-49 once or twice, but they didn't stick with me for whatever reason, but certainly would eliminate finger fatigue if you're used to playing 10s.

[icecycle66]

These itty bitty guitar strings crack me up.

[Leevibe]

12-53's for years. Lately it's been the D'addario EXP's.

[jkokura]

12's for me. D'Addario EJ16 I think. I change pretty often.

Jacob

[culturejam]

I was hoping you'd weigh in, Jacob. Thanks

[Blues Healer]

It's probably a good time to mention a couple of things:

The majority of acoustics come with light gauge strings nowadays, depending on the model ... for instance, my Martin OM-21 is lightly braced, and set up for light gauge strings, but their Dreadnaughts are mostly set up for mediums. So putting lighter strings on a Dreadnaught is less of a problem than putting mediums on an OM, due to the bracing. Sometimes a builder will specifically state that a guitar should only be used with light gauge strings.

The issue of finger fatigue may indicate the need for adjusting the set up, mainly the truss rod and saddle height. I feel that most electric players, if they have played acoustic guitar at all, should be able to picking up an acoustic again fairly quickly without any problem.