question about stringing

[cray159]

I just bought an acoustic guitar, and the strings it came with are pretty bad, i had some electric guitar strings laying around, should i put electric guitar strings on it? My friend did it and he says he loves it, I like the feel of electric guitar strings over acoustic, but what do you guys say?

Also when i hit the low e string it tends to rattle against the fret board i believe, is there a way to fix this?

thanks

[Lordathestrings]

Acoustic string sets usually have bronze or phosphor-bronze alloy wire wrapping. Electric strings are usually wrapped with nickel alloys. Also, acoustic strings are usually thicker than electric strings. The nickel content in electric strings helps them work better with the pickups, but, to my ears at least, they don't sound as rich as acoustic strings.

Sure, try 'em out. You may like them. If you change to a different gauge, the guitar may need to be set up to match the new string size.

Thinner strings don't move as much as thick ones, so lighter strings may reduce the fret-buzz you mention. A careful setup by a professional guitar tech would definitely help. Unless you're just plain thumping it too hard. A lot of people tend to chop at the strings when they strum. Strings should be stroked, not pounded.

[R. Shackleferd]

I used to try electric strings on an Ovation I used to have. It would sound nice at first, but they lost their tone alot quicker. I especially disliked the unwound G string. An acoustic almost definitely needs a wound G and an electric an unwound one...in my opinion. This is most obvious when strumming chords, but it's still fun to play light quick leads that are usually restricted to electric.

[Andrew Sa]

I find that electric strings on an acoustic sound too thin and tinny, but each to his own I guess.
Suppose I do play very heavy strings on all my electrics(well most of them)...maybe I just like thicker strings.