String gauge and tone

[GuitarBilly]

I had a few sets of 11s here and decided to put them on some of my guitars, mostly because I hate to see things sitting here unused. I am familiar with how 11s play and I've used them in the past. I actually like the firmer feel of 11s in E standard. They don't make it harder for me, if anything, the heavier strings reduce extraneous string noise and make me focus on the pitch of my bends more.

It's when it comes to tone that I don't like them much. I think they add some low end muddiness and while they make the tone a bit gainier/louder, it actually sound less crunchy. Particularly with humbuckers and with Marshalls. There is something that happens in the midrange of a Marshall amp with light strings that doesn't happen when you start to go up in gauge.

It seems that the general consensus (well internet consensus lol) is that heavier strings are harder to to play but sound better. But I find the exact opposite. I think they're easier to play (except maybe big bends), but they don't sound as good/crunchy as a lighter set.

Now obviously lower tunings need heavier sets for the most part but when it comes to E/Eb tunings, I tend to think lighter is better. What's your take on it?

[RaceU4her]

beato did a whole video on this im not sure i ever watched, im gonna watch it now






edit: i see they are using a DSL and les paul for the test, how Billy

[TurboPablo]

I've been through .09-.11 over the years. Even tried some .12s' at one point. Always came back to .10s and have stopped fucking around altogether. Since I play my 000-18 96% of the time, electric string guage means very little to me now. They all feel like I can snap them without a thought.

[NinjaRaf]

I like 9s in standard. If I'm going down a half step, I will bump up to 10s, although I think a 9.5 set would be better, I just don't really do anything in these tunings, so I dunno. My favorite is D standard/Drop C, and I use 10-52s in that tuning. Perfection.

I'm not sure I've ever really noticed the tone thing unless the strings are too thin for the tuning, then they can sound kinda brash or something. And also go out of tune when I'm picking. I do find heavier gauges in the same tuning more challenging to play.

[boris the blade]

I like 9s in standard as well. I have 11's on my tele tho tuned down to C# and I like it.

[Telephant]

These days I prefer smaller strings. Hell I am using 11-50’s in C standard in ToL. I had 12’s for awhile and grew to dislike them. Especially with how weird it felt when I would use 10’s on the Rgasm and then pick up LP Trad with 12’s. Just totally awkward feeling. I mean hell the 12’s had a 24p g string. Was stupid.

I did move from 9.5’s to 10’s on my Strat cause I was sim racing so much my grip got stronger. But after playing Wolfie with 10’s in D standard I’m thinking about putting a balanced set of 9 NYXL’s on my Strat.

Speaking of I had never tried Daddario’s balanced sets until recently and I really dig them.

[Shask]

I mostly use 9-46 for E and Eb and 10-48 for D and C#. Sometimes 10-52 for short scale or lower tuned.

I think the 42 on the low end gets too tingy sounding. It is too thin and goes out of tune too much. I think 46-49 or so is a good range of crunch and fatness.

[EndTime]

Some you tubers love to do flawed vids and to claim string gauge and tone doesn't exist.. I think its ridiculous to suggest it doesn't change the tone some. Now will it be apparent in a busy metal mix, or using their favorite "tool" for analysis a Frequency analyzer? no it wont a big difference.. But it still there when stacking tracks..

But I know what you mean by saying sometimes heavier gauges feel easier, but for anyone who is bending or like myself I vibrato everything, including chords, they don't end up being easier. But I don't mind straight fast riffing on em

Lighter gauges with a heavy pick hand, actually do sound looser to me. Maybe you get a bit more crunch with smaller gauges but Id rather go too heavy than too light.. So for my personal stuff I use 10-48 Ernie Ball ultra Slinky for any 25.5 scale half step down. And I used the Dunlop Heavy core 10-48 for any scale shorter. Which only includes my HM Strat.. And speaking of heavy core vs regular, heavy cores do sound tighter and more focused a bit.. When I go to D flat standard I use 11-54 and If I go to C which is rare, I use the Dunlop Heavy core 12-54

[Marc G]

to me it's all about feel... I can for the most part dial in my rig to sound the way I want it to.... once I'm in Eb I like 11s... I just se the Ernie Ball up with 11s in Eb and it feels perfect... the one exception was my American Special Tele, I loved how it felt and sounded with the 11s in E Standard... made it even snappier

[BroSlinger]

GHS Thin Core Boomer 10-52 is been my main string for a few years. They feel smooth. They sound full and great. They have just the right bounce with the lower tension of the thin core. 52 is just right to tune to Drop D or Drop C#. I've tried other brands. Anything in the same price bracket feels rough or doesn't sound as good. Anything that works as well costs 2-3x more.

The GHS Thick cores are kind of badass for short scale guitars, but I wish they had 10-52. They only have 10-48. They still sound really cool if I'm not doing drop tunings.

[nightflameauto]

I've been all over the place string-wise over the years. Used to play 12-52 in standard, and been all the way down to 8-36 in standard on a 25" scale. What I've found for higher gain is pretty straight-forward when you think of it. How many metal dudes tune down? It sounds good, right? Less tension = bigger/fatter under gain. Lower string gauge? Lower tension? Fatter. And I've compared it through my own amps over the years and heard it with my own ears.

Clean? Yeah, bigger strings sound fatter. Under higher gain? It seems to be the opposite. It loses something with fatter strings. Like Billy said, it's probably the flub + something in the mids changes.

[ajaxlepinski]

I've been through .09-.11 over the years. Even tried some .12s' at one point. Always came back to .10s and have stopped fucking around altogether.

[Telephant]

I've been all over the place string-wise over the years. Used to play 12-52 in standard, and been all the way down to 8-36 in standard on a 25" scale. What I've found for higher gain is pretty straight-forward when you think of it. How many metal dudes tune down? It sounds good, right? Less tension = bigger/fatter under gain. Lower string gauge? Lower tension? Fatter. And I've compared it through my own amps over the years and heard it with my own ears.

Clean? Yeah, bigger strings sound fatter. Under higher gain? It seems to be the opposite. It loses something with fatter strings. Like Billy said, it's probably the flub + something in the mids changes.

I 100% agree with this. My Strat with 10’s into the ODR sounds a little fatter than the 9’s did. But my LP Trad with 11-50’s sounds way better through the SLO or Superbass than it did with 12-56’s. The low E 56 just made things muddier IMO, and it has a lot to do with the mid changes you mention. Then there is also the fact the 50 is tighter with less bass flub and seems to track faster for palm muting.

[Telephant]

I’ve also accepted I don’t like Ernie Ball strings. Especially on Les Pauls. They seem to take forever to stretch and settle but then don’t stay that way for very long. FME they just don’t hold pitch as long as other brands.

I avoided going back to Daddarios for years because they have noticeably more tension than other brands. But then it occurred to me a few months ago that’s a good thing when you want to tune down but use lighter strings.

The Daddario Balanced sets really surprised me. I actually bought them by accident at GC simply from not paying close enough attention to the box. I put them on my Wolfie (10-46) for D standard and it wasn’t until I picked up my guitar from the tech that he mentioned he was surprised how good the balanced set felt. I was like fuck me I bought the wrong strings! Thought for sure I’d hate them. Now all my guitars are being converted over.

One thing I noticed when tuning down is I found it too easy to sharpen whole step bends on the B string. Balanced sets use .5 larger B string which makes it feel more natural and I can hit the same bend without going sharp.

And the D and A strings are .02 smaller so it keeps things tight and feels more like a natural progression in thickness going down to the low E. If you haven’t tried a balanced set I recommend giving it a go. You may hate ‘em, but you may be pleasantly surprised.

[Shask]

I’ve also accepted I don’t like Ernie Ball strings. Especially on Les Pauls. They seem to take forever to stretch and settle but then don’t stay that way for very long. FME they just don’t hold pitch as long as other brands.

I avoided going back to Daddarios for years because they have noticeably more tension than other brands. But then it occurred to me a few months ago that’s a good thing when you want to tune down but use lighter strings.

The Daddario Balanced sets really surprised me. I actually bought them by accident at GC simply from not paying close enough attention to the box. I put them on my Wolfie (10-46) for D standard and it wasn’t until I picked up my guitar from the tech that he mentioned he was surprised how good the balanced set felt. I was like fuck me I bought the wrong strings! Thought for sure I’d hate them. Now all my guitars are being converted over.

One thing I noticed when tuning down is I found it too easy to sharpen whole step bends on the B string. Balanced sets use .5 larger B string which makes it feel more natural and I can hit the same bend without going sharp.

And the D and A strings are .02 smaller so it keeps things tight and feels more like a natural progression in thickness going down to the low E. If you haven’t tried a balanced set I recommend giving it a go. You may hate ‘em, but you may be pleasantly surprised.

I tried the balanced sets, but I actually liked them less. I have been moving towards the heavy bottom / light top type hybrid sets lately, and the balanced sets felt opposite to me. They were closer to light bottom heavy top.

[GuitarBilly]

Just ordered a balanced set, I didn't even know it existed.

[linthat22]

I do just regular 9's in a 6 or 7 string pack. Any time I've went heavier, the strings have a duller sound to my ears, so I've stuck with 9's.

[Devin]

To me they are harder to play AND sound worse

I use Hybrid Slinkies (9-46) for everything except my low tuned guitar

[greatmutah]

I like regular 10 - 46 on my Les Pauls/SG/Sheraton. On 25.5” scale guitars I run 9-46. I like the slinkier plain strings but a little heavier on the wound strings. Sounds tighter and meaner. My PRS guitars are all over the place. My Starla is 10-46 in Standard although I might make it 9 - 46. My Santana SE is 9 - 46 with the 24.5” scale and I love it. Just feels effortless to play and solo on. My Custom 24 is 10 - 46 but in E flat. And I really have no desire to change it.

[ke2]

Most guys claiming that the thicker strings have better tone, have a goal that is similar to Stevie, for example. And semi dirty blues licks sound good with thick strings. Hi-gain not so much (to my ears). There's a crispness that disappears. 009/0095 for me, but I also like a 046 in the bottom.

[BroSlinger]

Most guys claiming that the thicker strings have better tone, have a goal that is similar to Stevie, for example. And semi dirty blues licks sound good with thick strings. Hi-gain not so much (to my ears). There's a crispness that disappears. 009/0095 for me, but I also like a 046 in the bottom.

You're on to something here. Anything reverb heavy with a decent amount of ampy-clean tone sounds better with thick strings to my ears. ie, post-rock falls into very slow semi dirty.


FWIW, Dime used 9's tuned down to C# sometimes. So, metal = thin strings imo.

[facefirst]

I like the tone of 9s but I break them a lot. Currently going through a 24 pack of NYXL 9s and then I’m going to 9.5 or 10 gauge.

[spawnofthesith]

When I used to down tune a lot I was all about HEAVY AS POSSIBLE even on guitars I kept in standard. When I used to play 7 strings I would by 8 string packs to use for the lowest string

Now a days I put 9s on everything regardless of scale length. I haven't visited drop C/D standard in a while, if I did maybe I'd go to 10s

[primeholy]

Is someone trying to conjure up the weird pastor?

[nightflameauto]

Is someone trying to conjure up the weird pastor?

I figured we were trying to draw the SSO extended range crowd. Soon we'll be talking about inharmonicity and trying to calculate perfect gauges for everything from ukuleles to 37" basses.