I'm thinking about changing some of my sticks from Heavy gauge to Medium gauge. What adjustments to the stick are needed to make this happen?

I am currently in an email discussion with Grace on this very topic. I haven't had time yet to fully 'correct' my Stick from the changeover, but will shortly and get back to you here if there's anything significant to add (I've got it playing 80% better than before this email conv). I changed my older Stick from Heavies to Meds about 6-8 months ago. I tried figuring out the necessary adjustments myself to some success. But my new Stick (delivered to me a year ago, with Mediums) plays like a dream. The older Stick wasn't quite there yet.

As per Grace's instructions:

"If you change string gauges from heavier to lighter there should be slightly less tension on the neck which implies a possible tightening of the truss rod however sighting the instrument is the best start for determining what the neck is doing and you have said that it looks bowed. Do you have a divided truss?

As you know, the sighted neck should look straight as possible on both sides. If one side looks different than the other choose the melody side for the best straight view. Once you get it where you want it, I would adjust at the bridge for the strings that are buzzing and then go to the nut and probably lower the bass side but make sure there’s a bit of a space between the string and the fret because of the gauge change. The tendency to buzz at the first few frets could be caused by a nut that is too high. An instrument that’s bowed would have higher strings clearances as you get to the center of the board while each end would have lower clearances that may buzz. Get it straight first then adjust the bridge and bounce over to the nut and adjust.

Heavier gauge strings would have a slightly different profile when you look at them from each side then lighter gauge which would have a flatter profile. It sounds like that could possibly be the problem. So….. Get rid of the bow and raise 7,8 and 9 a half turn. Be aware that each saddle is cocked out at a specific angle for equal spacing between strings. Then adjust your nut. Don’t tighten the nut down hard, the goal is snug. Tune it and try it"

Her instruction about strings 7, 8, 9 are specific to my problem. So ignore that maybe.

Basic gist:
1) Straighten neck
2) Adjust bridge height screws on the strings that seem to give problems (fret buzz, etc)...HALF TURNS at a time
3) Last, adjust the Nut of individual strings if nec. LOWER the nut (not raise) to eliminate fret buzz.

B

Thank you for all of the details on the adjustments. This may be beyond my skill levels, as I've made a mess of one of my sticks once by trying to adjust things....got frustrated and sent it back to SE to fix my fixing. I hate to repeat my screw-ups by taking this on myself. I also don't want to send my sticks back to SE and wait several months to get them back.

I just took inventory of my sticks. I have two sticks that are medium gauge, which are much easier to play than the heavy gauge, for me anyway.

My other sticks are all heavy gauge. The heavy gauge has its benefits, in that they stay in tune longer, and have a different sound. When I go from playing heavy gauge to playing medium, it is so much easier. Perhaps I'm building finger muscles by working out with the heavy gauge sticks.

I may just leave the sticks with their original gauges. I don't want to f-up my sticks by attempting to change gauges. Building finger muscles is a good thing, if it is a thing at all. :-;


Thanks again Brian

Ha! Your ordeals of self adjustment sounds like what I'm in the middle of now. I'm determined to learn to do this. I figure after 27 years of playing, I should know how.

My problems may have started prior to Grace's emails. In that, I may have jacked with the nut-side truss (on divided truss) and the Nut flaps prior to knowing what is really needed.

And yeah, shipping it to SE...I could probably do fine without it a few months. But from Canada, with the exchange rate, duties upon return, it adds up.

I'm not giving up yet. But I've thought about it some.

When I brought my Alto it was set up like an acoustic guitar with a really high action. The strings were a mix between original SE strings and strings for electric guitar. First of all, after cleaning the Stick, I put on original SE strings. And then I tried to set it up from scratch. This one helped me a lot:

and:

The complete text is here: https://www.stickist.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13511

I did it! Instead of changing from Heavy to Medium gauge, I moved to Light gauge. Originally, I was thinking of sending my stick to Stick Enterprises to make all of the adjustments. On SE's tech page (see below link), they list possible adjustments needed when changing gauges include modifying: bridge nut screws, saddle height screws, pickup housing height, individual pickup heights, intonation, and truss rod. There is enough going on with the instructions to scare me into having SE do the work, so I wouldn't screw it up. Jeff at SE put me on a 2-year repair waiting list to get the set-up done. That's right, if you need work done on your stick, get in line. This long wait gave me the motivation to do the work myself.

I asked advice from some veteran stick players, who advised me the adjustments are normally minimal (thanks Steve A. and Bob C.) I switched out the strings, and had to loosen the truss rod significantly since the heavy strings have much more tension. All strings were clearly ringing out except for the two largest bass strings, which seemed to be dead. As Greg mentioned, the bridge nuts for these two strings are set lower than lighter gauge strings because heavy strings sit higher in the bridge screws. I raised the two bridge strings 1/2 turn, which did the trick! The intonation was close enough for my ear. It wasn't perfect before the change, but this could be because my tuner is off somewhat. I didn't mess with it. My advice to others is to do minimal adjustments, but only as needed.

I have mixed feelings about playing on the light gauge. Some things I like, such as playability. The dynamics are much better, bending strings, etc. My fingers don't have to strike the strings as hard. Playability is 100% better with the light gauge. The lighter strings do not stay in tune. Every 5 minutes the strings need to be tuned. This does not happen with me for the heavy or medium gauge strings. Emmett even told me that light gauge strings don't stay in tune. The tone of light gauge strings, in my opinion, is not as "fat" as the heavy or medium gauge strings.  I used a medium gauge stick as a reference when tuning, and it was noticeable that light gauge just didn't have the same beefy tone.

I'm keeping the stick in light gauge. The positives in enhance playability far outweigh my perceived tone issues. I'll put up with the more frequent tuning. At this point, since I'm a novice player, I would rather have a stick that's easier to play, which could motivate me to practice more often


https://stick.com/instruments/tech/setup/