Light strings on mini?

[Airborne]

I’ve read of folks putting light strings on their mini and was wondering if this would be detrimental to the guitar itself? Thank you for any opinions!

[DennisG]

It won't physically hurt the guitar, but it will likely have an effect on the sound.  The guitar is braced for medium strings, so light strings won't drive the top as effectively.  The result is usually diminished bass response and overall quieter sound.

[Frettingflyer]

What Dennis said, but we have them on my Koa mini for my wife to play, and it still sounds really good, maybe just not really, really good. Cheap experiment and you can always go back.

[tnfiddler]

I just put GHS Laurence Juber signature series light gauge strings on my Koa today and I LOVE it!  I don’t really notice a huge reduction in volume, but what I do notice is that it tamed what was a right on the edge of being an obnoxious and out-of-control toned guitar. There was always a harshness to the tone and the bass seemed to always overwhelm the mids and highs.  Now it has a warm, smooth tone to it. It’s still plenty loud and has an amazing amount of bass for a small guitar, but it’s more evenly balanced from top to bottom. I’ll never go back to mediums on it again. I’m playing it at church Sunday so I can hear it plugged in with the ES2. 

[Guitargeak99]

........ I don’t really notice a huge reduction in volume, but what I do notice is that it tamed what was a right on the edge of being an obnoxious and out-of-control toned guitar. There was always a harshness to the tone and the bass seemed to always overwhelm the mids and highs.  Now it has a warm, smooth tone to it. It’s still plenty loud and has an amazing amount of bass for a small guitar, but it’s more evenly balanced from top to bottom. I’ll never go back to mediums on it again.

Very well put - this is my experience exactly. With mediums it seemed like there was too much sound going on for the guitar to handle. The lights are as loud and more balanced - at least on mine anyway.
But, I don’t plug in. It seems that I read on the AGF that a GS owner had problems with the lights when plugging in.
Let us know how it goes at church.
Regards <><

[tnfiddler]

........ I don’t really notice a huge reduction in volume, but what I do notice is that it tamed what was a right on the edge of being an obnoxious and out-of-control toned guitar. There was always a harshness to the tone and the bass seemed to always overwhelm the mids and highs.  Now it has a warm, smooth tone to it. It’s still plenty loud and has an amazing amount of bass for a small guitar, but it’s more evenly balanced from top to bottom. I’ll never go back to mediums on it again.

Very well put - this is my experience exactly. With mediums it seemed like there was too much sound going on for the guitar to handle. The lights are as loud and more balanced - at least on mine anyway.
But, I don’t plug in. It seems that I read on the AGF that a GS owner had problems with the lights when plugging in.
Let us know how it goes at church.
Regards <><

That was me  on the  AGF.  I'll update on here too.  I really love the lights on it if I'm playing without a capo.  If I capo on the first or second fret it's no big deal, but I noticed Sunday that when I played in C and capoed on the 5th fret and played out of G, I had horrible tuning issues. I had to take the capo and perfectly align it directly In the middle of the fret and then pull all of the strings towards the center to make sure they were straight.  So it'll be relegated to the son from lessons and practice and for me to practice with and jam some if i'm unplugged.  I can't believe the sound out of these little things plugged in with the ES2.  It sounds like a full size guitar!!

[Guitargeak99]

Thanks “fiddler”, now I remember your post about the capo.

[marc55]

I've had the Santa Cruz Mid-Tension Parabolic strings on my GS- Mini KOA for about a week now, and so far they are the best strings I've had on her! Nice, warm, and focused. I highly recommend you give them a try.

[floyd80]

- Lights won't hurt it
- I think they sound better
- But, when I put light son it, I get lots of fret buzz, which is annoying and truss rod adjustment doesn't work
- Since I'm too lazy to bring it to a luthier, I put .13's back on
- I put Polywebs on, and they seem to be easier on the hands