10 gauge strings on an reissue Aristocrat ( reissue hollow burst version)

[guitarlover]

I am searching an excuse for buying a sunburst ( fully hollow reissue) Aristocrat M 75 to complete the collection ;-)
I absolutely love my goldtop and black aristocrats but these are fitted with 11 gauge strings , I love the tone but sometimes my - not so very talented- fingers get a little tired when I do a lot of bending.
So a perfect excuse to get the sunburst.

So did any of you put 10's on this guitar and are you happy with the sound result ?
I guess for the bridge it will be no problem since there are pinned cuos underneath ?

Also would there be a method to make the body a little less " shiny" ? I guess not beside elbow grease and a lot of playing but since I already opened this topic I thought I could ask it anyway.

Oh yes : Best wishess to all forum memberd here ;-)

 

[mavuser]

I would only use 11's on that guitar, or any full hollow that was not from the 50's or older. But that is just me. Try Ernie Ball 11's, "Power Slinky"

 

[GAD]

I would only use 11's on that guitar, or any full hollow that was not from the 50's or older. But that is just me. Try Ernie Ball 11's, "Power Slinky"

Why?

 

[mavuser]

Why?

I don't seem to get that hollow, or semi-hollow, acoustic resonance with 10's. 11's are perfect.

side note, I also play 11's on my acoustics, so it's not such a shock to the system when I do play acoustic, since I am used to 11's from electric. I do use 10's on solid body electrics.

I had a CE-100-D from 1958 (that I sold to a member here). On that guitar I threw a set of 10's on it, while it was still in the original owner's possesion/ownership, just to get strings on the guitar, and see if everything worked. The guitar played great, low action, sounded fantastic, the Franz pickups were super hot, and it was a 14 fretter...so I left the 10's on there...as the guitar was untouched since the early 60's, certainly had never been set up, and I didn't want to get greedy. Hence my comment about a guitar from the 50's or older. Sometimes a small sacrifce in tone is justified. However, that guitar sounded fantastic with 10's. I think it was the OG Franz pickups, and all maple guitar.

 

[GAD]

I don't seem to get that hollow, or semi-hollow, acoustic resonance with 10's. 11's are perfect.

side note, I also play 11's on my acoustics, so it's not such a shock to the system when I do play acoustic, since I am used to 11's from electric. I do use 10's on solid body electrics.

I had a CE-100-D from 1958 (that I sold to a member here). On that guitar I threw a set of 10's on it, while it was still in the original owner's possesion/ownership, just to get strings on the guitar, and see if everything worked. The guitar played great, low action, sounded fantastic, the Franz pickups were super hot, and it was a 14 fretter...so I left the 10's on there...as the guitar was untouched since the early 60's, certainly had never been set up, and I didn't want to get greedy. Hence my comment about a guitar from the 50's or older. Sometimes a small sacrifce in tone is justified. However, that guitar sounded fantastic with 10's. I think it was the OG Franz pickups, and all maple guitar.

Interesting - thanks for that!

When I got my AA I put 10s on it and it sounded awful. I put TI flat wounds on it and it came alive.

 

[mushroom]

If you other two are reissues, why not put 10’s on one of those to see if you like it or not?

 

[mavuser]

Interesting - thanks for that!

When I got my AA I put 10s on it and it sounded awful. I put TI flat wounds on it and it came alive.

Have to say that 58 CE-100-D also sounded amazing unplugged, with 10's. How does the AA sound unplugged? Also, I've never been able to play flatwound guitar strings. But I really like flatwound bass strings.

 

[guitarlover]

If you other two are reissues, why not put 10’s on one of those to see if you like it or not?

My goldtop has the unpinned cups . With 10's they will start to move.
The black one has flatwounds and a wooden bridge for a wound g
My third (;-)) one , also black, has a bigsby.

 

[Walter Broes]

I haven't tried it myself, but I think you should be fine with 10's and a good setup. You'll get a little less low end and it'll be a little twangier, neither is a bad thing IMO.

 

[BradHK]

My goldtop has the unpinned cups . With 10's they will start to move.

Have you tried it and they moved around? I have multiple vintage hollow M75 and M65 guitars with the floating cups. All have 10s and I have no issues with the cups moving around.

 

[GAD]

Have to say that 58 CE-100-D also sounded amazing unplugged, with 10's. How does the AA sound unplugged? Also, I've never been able to play flatwound guitar strings. But I really like flatwound bass strings.

My AA is a magnificent instrument that blew me away with the flatwounds - and I don’t like them either. It sounds amazing acoustically. I daresay better than the Benedetto AA I had.

 

[MixO'Lydian]

I have thomastick jazz swing flats on my reissue aristocrat, 12 on the top, and it seems fine. It might like 11s better. It's a pretty shallow arch though, and when I got it if had 10s on it, and the bridge-which is "floating," not pinned moved around really easily. I like it a lot with the 12 flats.

I have a 1978 AA, which has a gorgeous acoustic and electric sound. The Aristocrat is not in the same league and why would I expect it to? It's a smaller body with a laminate top. It sounds great amplified, and it's more versatile than the AA