tsp17

Excellent! Love this one.

+1

Really nice.

Very cool!

surprisingly no. plays great, sounds great. action maybe a little bit higher, but not an issue.

Spot on. My 000-28 loves lighter strings. Heavier strings deaden it. Not nearly as lively.

Third party validation is good. Last night at the gig, someone who had seen us play before asked me if the guitar was new. She said it sounded different and really good. Nice to hear that the improvement wasn't just in my head. It feels like a fuller tone with more gravity, if that makes sense. Definitely no bends though. It is limiting in that way. Slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs only.

When i wanted to experiment with a heavier gauge to get a bigger sound on my SKB, i intended to go from 12s to 13s. But Thomastik doesn’t make a 13 in the GB line. So i skipped to 14s. Had them on my SKB now for a few years. I would have stuck with 12s on the 550 but didn’t have any left in the house. It was an adjustment at first- definitely, but once i got used to it, it was not a big deal. Going from one guitar strung with 12 to another with 14 you can feel it for sure, but it just takes a minute to remind yourself to give it a little extra oomph all around. On the other side- i tried heavier gauges on my Martin 000-18 and didn’t really like it. I found it much harder to get what i wanted out of heavy gauge on acoustic.

Since we are sharing H550 pics....My 550.

Right. Very little bending in my playing. Slides, and hammer on, yes, but almost no bends.

I’ve had 14s on my Super KB for years. No problem. But, your point is well taken.

Nope. Plays like a dream.

For years I’ve strung my H550 with Thomastik GB Flatwound 12s. They are expensive but last 3-4 times other strings and sound great, always. Very easy playing, consistent and great tone. I use 14s on my Super KB, but have never tried 14s on the 550 because the 12s sound so good, warm, round but also a little sweet. Very 60’-70’s jazz archtop. The band digs it. I went to change out the old 12s for a new set today….But…i was out of the 12s. Never thought to put 14s on the 550; that was all i had and the old strings were already half off. So….14s went on the 550. Wow. What a difference! The guitar sounds bigger in every way. A little darker, fuller and just more. I was really surprised that it made that big a change in fullness and voice of the guitar. Not as effortless to play, but not a huge change in fretting or picking force required, just takes a little more oomph all around. 14s will stay on and maybe be the norm for this 550 from now on. Gig on Friday, so we’ll see…

Nice!