Originally Posted by: van2006Hi, aschleman. Thanks for the very informative post. Learned a lot there. A few questions:
1.Is the dreadnought a common or high-end/professional kind of guitar?
2.You mentioned the strings-- since I basically can't do anything with the guitar itself-- do you mean there are certain kinds of replacement steel strings for a Squier that I can choose from or is it an option only for certain guitars? I hope it's a yes because I'm not so crazy with the overly metallic sound of the 1-3rd strings

Also, thanks for the advice, Matt-- appreciate it.

Not a problem... that's what we're here for.

1. The dreadnought style guitar is just one of the styles, like I said... Some people prefer the full sound of the dreadnought when playing, and yes... professional musicians do use them... but all in all, as with any gear, it's usually up to the artists preference. Normally dreadnought style guitars are preferred by artists that have a style that is more based around chords and strumming rather than riffing or scale type playing... But sure, a ton of companies make dreadnoughts that are designed for professional use... Just depends on the manufacturer and the quality whether or not it's a high end model or not... Doesn't really have anythign to do with whether it's a dreadnought or not. But there are high end dreadnought models out there... certainly

2. You can put any steel acoustic strings on any steel acoustic. There are literally infinite combinations of string gauges to choose from but for a beginner i suggest you buy a set of 6 strings... You can buy strings individually but string manufacturers have done a great job of putting together the basic sets of strings... A metallic sound translates, to me, as a treble sound... So if you don't like the treble sound that you're getting from those 3 strings I suggest you go with a heavier set of strings... Some of the good manufacturers to check out are GHS, D'Adarrio, Elixer, and Martin strings... you might especially like the Martin strings since they tend to bleed off some of the treble tones of guitars..... But I suggest taking your guitar into a shop or a guitar center and talkign to someone so they can give you some hands on attention since it's hard for me to give that over a forum.

Good Luck.