Guitar strings - cheese wire or ships' hawsers? - FAQ

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Hampshire Guitar Orchestra » Guitar stuff » FAQs » string gauges

String gauges, scale length and pitch ranges in Hertz for Niibori guitars

Our four sizes of Niibori Guitar require different gauges of strings because the change in pitch from guitar to guitar is larger than the change in scale length. See our dimensions FAQ.

Why are the strings on the bass instruments thicker than on the higher, treble instruments?
It's because thin strings would have to be very slack to vibrate slowly, and slack strings buzz even at quite modest volumes. Thicker strings can be really tight and still produce a low note, because they are heavier (harder to move) for the same tension, and so move more slowly without slapping. More here

String thickness depends on whether the strings are low, medium or hard tension, but here are some typical values.

Guitar string material pitch range
hertz (*)		 scale length
inches & mm		 string thickness
inches & millimetres
Alto Top 3 strings are monofilament nylon.
Bottom 3 are wound		 123-494 21.25 in
540 mm		 0.0235 in to 0.036 in
0.597 mm to 0.914 mm
Prime Top 3 strings are monofilament.
Bottom 3 are wound.		 82-330 25.6 in
650 mm		 0.0285 in to 0.044 in
0.724 mm to 1.118 mm
Bass Top 2 strings are monofilament.
Bottom 4 are wound.		 62-247

27.55 in
700 mm

 0.0327 in to 0.056 in
0.831 mm to 1.422 mm
Contra Top 4 strings are wound.
Bottom 2 are double wound.		 41-165 29.5 in
750 mm		 0.030 in to 0.098 in
0.762 mm to 2.489 mm

(*) These are the pitches of the open strings to the nearest whole number - the note on fret 12 of the top string is twice as high again

There's more information in our string FAQ