Nylon String Acoustics - Educate moi!

steveh

Phil_aka_Pip said:

@carlos I use 11s on acoustic - 13s would be like steel hawsers. I had way rather play on steel 11s than nylon.

Seriously, you need to Man Up! 11s are for electrics (and whimps). Nowhere near enough tension to get the top moving on a decent steel-string. No wonder it hurts you less than nylon!
Have to agree with AliGorie - 13-56 is about right. FFS I use 14-59 when tuning down. 

We'll all agree it's not easy to transition to steel-string when you've been playing electric; we've all been there and it hurts but persevere and its well worth it and the pain is gone as your fingers strengthen. The thing about acoustics, both steel and (especially) nylon, is the more effort you put in, the more you get out. You have to be able to dig in with the right hand to get the tone out.

Worth pointing out that nylon strings come in different "tensions" which is analogous to steel/electric guague. "Hard" tension gives you the stiffest feel. Most use "medium".

Phil_aka_Pip

@steveh mate, you're talking to a bloke with perennial pains in the finger joints, who went from 9s to 10s on the electric in search of better tone quality and stayed there. I don't think there's much chance of me using anything heavier than 11s. One very good reason is that I like a plain G, and the thickest plain string I know how to get is 0,22 which works as a G in a set of 11s. Anything thicker would have to be wound, and that's a no-no.

TimmyO

It might not fit the pure 'acoustic' definition but I'm intrigued by the Gibson Chet Atkins nylon string - have seen them used but never got my hands on one