Light strings on a GS mini

[beedee]

I have a radial nerve problem in my left hand and have great difficulty barring and stretching problem in fretting chords etc due to the weakness in it. I have persevered with 13s but to no avail ! The action causes me no amount of problems ! Could any of you excellent guitarists advise me if having the strings changed down to 11s and the action lowered would solve any of these problems!! I thank you all in advance for any kind replies and advice !!

[cc7]

The good news is that it will play easier. The bad news is it won't sound very good - I tried it once.

[Guitargeak99]

I think each guitar model is very different with regards to how they respond to strings.
My spruce top GS sounds better with lights, and plays like a dream.
However, I cannot do any “down tunings” - the strings are too flimsy.

[Frettingflyer]

Maybe have the action lowered first, then see if that doesn’t solve your issue? A setup can really change the way a guitar plays. Then switch to lighter strings if you still need to?
Good luck,

[DenverSteve]

To me the answer is - only you can tell. Many, many.....many people use light strings on GS Minis and love it.  Your experience may, or may not, be the same.  It's a short experiment and will cost you around $25 - if you decide to immediately switch back.  Fortunately, this is the same procedure for every guitar owned by every guitar player.  The first thing I do with new guitars is to experiment with the 6 or 7 different string sets that I like on various guitars and judge whether any of them sound, TO ME, better than the stock strings.  Then the result of that experiment becomes the new baseline for that guitar.  Have fun experimenting.

[Earl]

My wife used light gauge strings on her GS Mini mahogany, and even tuned down to Open G (DGDGBD).  She was happy with the easy playability.  If there was a noticeable loss of tone, I don't recall (it's been a couple of years now).  Mini also sounded OK the few times it was ever in standard tuning.

First thing I would try is to put the lights on then tune down a half step across the board to Eb.  That will be about the lightest tension you can get without going to electric guitar string gauges, and it is easily reversible.

[AmericanEagle]

I put lights on my GS Mini mahogany.
Still sounds great, and is easier to play!
Medium strings hurt my fingers and tire my hand quicker.

[imorroy]

I switched to lights strings today. So much easier to play. I sacrificed some volume in the bass strings, which is fine since I usually play plugged in.