Re: [tuning] Digest Number 1008

Seth-
I wouldn't use anything but round wound or ground round on
a fretless, as flat wound and pressure wound strings don't
have as good sustain or brightness. I use stainless steel on
my electrics and silver/nylon on my classical fretless. The
stainless are really bright, but lose their highs more
quickly than nickel. Some folks won't use round wound on a
fretless because they are afraid they will eat up the
fingerboard, but in my experience a good epoxy or super glue
coating will resist wear, especially if you use a high grade
string with even windings. When the strings have worn a
little into the surface, you can apply a coat of epoxy or
super glue (don't mix and match!) to touch it up.
As far as gauges, it depends on the guitar. If it has a
truss rod, you can use pretty heavy strings, but any
unevenness in the neck will be amplified by greater tension,
and you don't want to crank the truss rod too hard. I used
to play with a guitarist who used 16-56 on a Gibson ES 250,
and it played really well. I'm sure you could go even
heavier.

--
John Starrett
"We have nothing to fear but the scary stuff."
http://www-math.cudenver.edu/~jstarret/microtone.html