Putting Heavier Strings on Tele

[jellyfishfuzz]

I want to put heavier strings on my tele. Mainly the heavier bottom end strings. I notice that all i use really anyways. Just want to know if this would be cool to do. I don't want to fuck up my guitar. I was also thinkin of just getting a Les Paul copy for heavy strings. Any suggestions?

[Chankgeez]

What gauge strings are on there now?

What gauge do you wanna throw on there?

[christianatl]

I use 13-56 on both my Esquire and Tele, but I tune to dropped C.

[Uncle Grandfather]

I want to put heavier strings on my tele. Mainly the heavier bottom end strings. I notice that all i use really anyways. Just want to know if this would be cool to do. I don't want to fuck up my guitar. I was also thinkin of just getting a Les Paul copy for heavy strings. Any suggestions?

You,re not going to fuck up your guitar, but you are going to need to re set it up. Neck adjustment, action, intonation etc. pretty simple.

[jellyfishfuzz]

What about the nut on it? DO i need to file bigger grooves in it.

[Chankgeez]

You won't know until you change strings. If the strings are getting caught up, you'll need bigger slots.

[Ancient Astronaught]

What about the nut on it? DO i need to file bigger grooves in it.

Depends on what gauges you end up using. There's a ghetto trick though... Cut off two to three inches off the end of the wound strings that aren't settling in the bottom of the groove and use them as a file for the nut. Just grab both ends of the cut off piece and file it back and forth in the slot until the bottom of the string hits the bottom of the precut groove then lubricate with graphite or something similar and bam your golden. That's exactly what I did with my tele in C standard with .12-.60's and I have zero tuning stability issues.

[Jero]

What about the nut on it? DO i need to file bigger grooves in it.

Depends on what gauges you end up using. There's a ghetto trick though... Cut off two to three inches off the end of the wound strings that aren't settling in the bottom of the groove and use them as a file for the nut. Just grab both ends of the cut off piece and file it back and forth in the slot until the bottom of the string hits the bottom of the precut groove then lubricate with graphite or something similar and bam your golden. That's exactly what I did with my tele in C standard with .12-.60's and I have zero tuning stability issues.

this man knows

[Krosis]

Yeah, be careful with the nut. When was young and stupid, I broke the nut on my first strat trying to force in a slightly heavier gauge low E string.

Take your tele to a tech, imo. A guitar might take some getting used to a new gauge and neck tension so a tech might be worth it.

[AxAxSxS]

What about the nut on it? DO i need to file bigger grooves in it.

Depends on what gauges you end up using. There's a ghetto trick though... Cut off two to three inches off the end of the wound strings that aren't settling in the bottom of the groove and use them as a file for the nut. Just grab both ends of the cut off piece and file it back and forth in the slot until the bottom of the string hits the bottom of the precut groove then lubricate with graphite or something similar and bam your golden. That's exactly what I did with my tele in C standard with .12-.60's and I have zero tuning stability issues.

This

[crohny]

What about the nut on it? DO i need to file bigger grooves in it.

More than likely yes. Depends on how much bigger you go. If you are using .009 -. 046 and jump ti .013 -. 056 you will want to file the nut to ensure you don't have tuning issues. It's not a big deal unless you want to go back to a smaller gauge string size. Then a nut replacement would be in the cards.

[Sutur]

I really like the heavy gauge DR strings. Think they're like a .060 - .013. Sound great on a SG.

[van_muddlestein]

I use 12-54's on several including a tele and a jagmaster(with a 25.5" scale neck). I'm also tuned down to drop C though.