different wound wires here<\/a> at my other post and learn what’s different about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGuitar String Overtone Example<\/h4>\n\n\n\n So.. that’s the theory… I decided to test this for myself! I got out my guitar and measured the low E2 String, the G String tuned to low E2, and just for fun, I did the high E4 string. I did a spectrum analysis on all three to see if there was any difference in overtones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is my low E string which is .053 inches in diameter and tuned to E2 (standard guitar tuning).<\/p>\n\n\n\nOvertones of the Low E string on a guitar. You can see overtones all the way past 2khz!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nTake note of the spread of frequencies! Instead of super distinct lines you see something more of a scatterplot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a comparison, I also played the G string which is of diameter .024 inches (half the diameter of the low E) string tuned to the low E2:<\/p>\n\n\n\nOvertones of G string tuned to Low E2. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou can see the same breadth of overtones but they are not as strong, especially towards the high end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lastly, I also played E4 on the thinnest string of the guitar which had a diameter of .012 inches.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOvertones of high E4 string on the guitar <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMatching up with conventional knowledge, you can see that the overtones are much thinner. It’s really fantastic when you compare the frequencies of the E2 and the E4, because you can see how the low E2 string wavers and has a very broad spectrum, in comparison to the E4 string which has very tight and solid frequencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TL;DR:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe thicker the guitar string, the more overtones<\/strong>. As we learned with the example above, more overtones means higher perceived loudness<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThicker Strings = Stiffer Strings = Louder Strings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n I had heard this many times before, that a thicker string is louder<\/strong> because it is stiffer. I decided to do my own experiment to test the theory. <\/p>\n\n\n\nI’ll give you a bit of a spoiler. The thickness of the string makes a noticeable difference in volume.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nMaterials used:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAcoustic Takamine EG430S-VV Guitar<\/li> Furniture Pad as a pick to factor out attack (as much as possible)<\/li> Tape measure<\/li> MXL V88 microphone<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nMethod:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nTune the 2nd and 4th strings to E2<\/li> Get tape measure on the tuning peg side of the sound hole and line it up with the edge of the string as I was looking down at the string <\/li> Pull back string on 12th fret with a furniture pad to try and remove as much attack as possible<\/li> Release string when it has been pulled back 1\/8th of an inch. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\nHere are the three samples: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/audio>1st String at .053 inches tuned to E2 (standard tuning)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/audio>2nd String at .042 inches diameter (usually A) down-tuned to E2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/audio>4th String at .024 inches diameter (usually G) down-tuned to E2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nExperiment Results<\/h4>\n\n\n\n With my microphone at the same setting for all strings and not taking into account the attack (the plucking of the string), I got these results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1st and thickest string at .053 inches in diameter came in at -9db.<\/strong><\/li>2nd string down tuned to E4 at .042 inches in diameter came in at -15db<\/strong><\/li>4th string down-tuned to E4 at .024 inches in diameter came in at -21db<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nThe 4th string (which is still a wound string) was so loose when down-tuned to E2 you could see it vibrating like crazy, but it was much quieter than the higher tensioned E2 string at .053 inches in diameter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, to summarize, thicker strings produce higher volume than thinner strings<\/strong> if they are pulled back the same distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\nExperiment Discussion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n Intuitively, <\/strong>this all makes sense. A tighter string has more energy. The tighter you make the string the more potential energy it stores. Just like if you were to continue to pull a rubber band the more potential energy you put into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you pull back a loose rubber band and let go without building a lot of tension, it’s not going to shoot very far. If you pull back a rubber band with a ton of tension, it’s going to rocket off and probably nail someone in the face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key point here is it all depends on how hard you strike you strings. <\/strong>If you don’t adjust your playing style at all when you put on thicker strings, you will play at a higher volume<\/strong> (you will have to put in slightly more effort to pluck and strum the strings).<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf however you back off your playing with thicker strings, then you may not notice any volume difference whatsoever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Electric Guitars<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nSo, this definitely seemed to be true for an acoustic guitar and it would make sense that the same thing would happen for an electric guitar–although instead of moving air an electric guitar makes noise through electrical disturbances. It follows that the harder you pull a string, the more disturbance is created. I haven’t tested this, though and it would be an interesting experiment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, electric guitarists play so loud it’s a lot harder to distinguish between ultra loud and super ultra loud, anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is The Difference In Volume for Heavy vs. Light String Gauges Noticeable?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n One important thing about this<\/strong>. The difference between “extra light” gauges and heavy gauges will be noticeable, (a difference of around .09 inches) but the difference between “extra light” and “light” will not be a big difference at all. Even between “light” and “medium” guitar string gauges, the difference is around .04 inches. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThat’s not a huge difference.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIt’s likely that you won’t notice a large difference in volume from going from one set of guitar strings to another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, I asked this question to a community of guitarists, and about half of the 13 that answered said there was no difference in volume<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\nEven if there technically was a difference in volume, it seems that half of guitarists don’t even think it is noticeable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most likely scenario you’ll notice a significant difference is on an acoustic guitar going from extra light to heavy strings. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThicker Strings Have More Sustain and Sustain Sounds Louder<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Kind of a byproduct of this experiment I realized that the thicker guitar strings sustained their volume for longer than the thinner guitar strings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same principle applies to drum cymbals. The large ride if you hit it like a crash cymbal will sustain for a long time–while the splash cymbal has a high-pitched and short crash that dies out, quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It turns out that our brains perceive long tones louder than short tones. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIf the fire alarm went off with a brief half second klaxon and that was it, it wouldn’t feel very loud. But if the tone sounds and sustains it feels extremely loud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same applies to guitar strings to a lesser extent. Often we are making transition from note to note, but it is a subtle difference that can add to the loudness perception for thicker guitar strings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the dozens of guitar string types out there an inevitable question pops up: What’s the difference between getting lighter (thinner) gauge guitar strings and the heavier (thicker) gauge guitar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":12,"label":"Guitar"},{"value":2,"label":"Instruments"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/materials-for-thickness-loudness-experiment-1024x768.jpg",640,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Peter Mitchell","author_link":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/author\/thesoundadventurer\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":12,"name":"Guitar","slug":"guitar","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":12,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":2,"count":32,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":12,"category_count":32,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Guitar","category_nicename":"guitar","category_parent":2},{"term_id":2,"name":"Instruments","slug":"instruments","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":105,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":105,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Instruments","category_nicename":"instruments","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1387,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317\/revisions\/1387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}