String Gauges

Selecting the right gauge string

Your guitar comes from the manufacturer balanced to specific strings and gauges. Changing gauges or brands may require some adjustments to the travel, action and balance of the various pulls.

The chart below will serve as a guide for making up custom sets of strings for a pedal steel guitar. The gauges are based on the ability of a string to retain its memory accurately over time.

You should select the string based on the highest pitch to which the string will be pulled when a pedal or knee lever is used.

Pitch Gauge Type
A .010 - .011 Plain
G# (Ab) .011 - .012 Plain
G .012 Plain
F# (Gb) .014 Plain
F .014 Plain
E .015 Plain
D# (Eb) .015 Plain
D .016 Plain
C# (Db) .017 Plain
C .018 Plain
B .020 Plain
A# (Bb) .022 Plain or Wound
A .022 Plain or Wound
G# (Ab) .024 Plain or Wound
G .024 - .026 Wound
F# (Gb) .026 Wound
F .030 Wound
E .030 Wound
D# Eb) .032 - .034 Wound
D ,034 Wound
C# (Db) .036 Wound
C .036 - .038 Wound
B .038 Wound
A# (Bb) .040 Wound
A .042 - .044 Wound
G# (Ab) .044 - .046 Wound
G .048 Wound
F# (Gb) .050 - .052 Wound
F .052 - .054 Wound
E .054 - .056 Wound
D# (Eb) .058 Wound
D .060 - .070 Wound
C# (Db) .062 - .070 Wound
C .064 - .074 Wound
B .066 - .074 Wound
A# (Bb) .068 - .078 Wound
A .070 - .080 Wound
G# (Ab) .072 - .080 Wound