Anyway,my two cents worth..I found out if you use a plain G string, which is what I gather out of all of this,the way to go is just lower the gauge of
the string.( and adjusting the height of course)
Let's say you get a standard gauge set of 9's then the G string would be 016 which is too loud compared to the B and E(first) which is the case
with pickups that have staggered polepieces.
The trick is to balance the output of each string so as to get an equal sounding whole..(read about this stuff in a lot of forums)
I put theory to practice and I must say those guys were right!
I swapped out the 016 plain G string for a 014 and it worked beautifully....much better and equal response compared with the B and E string.
Most people here use heavy gauge sets of strings but even then you can balance out if needed.
I play lots of other music besides the Shads stuff so that's why I use 9's...makes things easier if you tend to do a lot of string-bending,etc.
I'm planning on getting a few sets of 9 1/2 gauge just to see how they sound...just a little thicker on the top and bottom side of the set.
I'm convinced that you don't really need a wound G string to get a good Shads sound and they are terrible if you do string bends like i do
especially when playing country music..
Regards,
Ernie
