What would it sound like if I put electric strings on an acoustic guitar?
I have acoustic guitar strings on my seagull acoustic. I installed a mini-humbucker neck pickup. It works, but the bronze wrapped strings are way quieter than the B and E strings. I had to angle the pickup way down for strings 1 & 2 and adjust the screws way out for 3, 4, 5, & 6 strings. It's pretty balanced now.
Would electric strings fix the imbalance? Would I lose much of my acoustic tone?
Using an electric guitar pup will need electric guitar strings - they pick up steel strings' vibrations far better than those of bronze.
I've used electric guitar strings for 50 yrs with no problems, but if you go too heavy on the gauge, the bridge can be at risk. Liking .008s, there's never been that problem on my guitars, although acoustically they sound thinner than they would with heavier gauge strings - that's the nature of things.
I suggest if it's a well-made guitar, you could swap bronze for steel of the same gauge, losing the minimum of sound quality acoustically - and gaining a lot electrically. Most brands post tensions of their strings, so a check there would be prudent.
