Gibson says 10's are the minimum recommended string guage

  • Thread starter Thread starter ido1957
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My friend is considering bring his LP to a different shop to get the 9's put on. If it doesn't work for whatever reason he can always change them back.
 
Stupid manufacturer's recommendations, what do they know??!! :cursing:

ido1957 said:
My friend is considering bring his LP to a different shop to get the 9's put on. If it doesn't work for whatever reason he can always change them back.
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Your "friend" hmmm? :rolleyes: ;)

You have to take it to a different shop to get them to put 9's on? :wtf:
 
Telegram Sam said:
Stupid manufacturer's recommendations, what do they know??!! :cursing:



Your "friend" hmmm? :rolleyes: ;)

You have to take it to a different shop to get them to put 9's on? :wtf:
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Yep - my friend is a member here - mjhamil.
Yep - when he took it in to get it set up he asked him to put 9's on. The tech said the 10's were rec minimum so my friend just went with his recommendation. Probably doesn't want to argue with the tech over string size. Just wants to get it done without drama...
 
I put .009s on my ST-III just to try them out again, which is a gauge I haven't played in years.

And... gross. I don't like it. I'm going back to .010. They just feel too soft.
 
Bubba po said:
Somebody told me the other day about the existence of 9.5 gauge strings. Anybody else heard of those or tried them?
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One of my guitars came with them as standard and they were the recommended gauauauuauuuaaage (that's how we spel it in ostraya) for that guitar but hard to get so I think I tried 9s and, to quote the late CMunch, thought that they were for noodle-wristed jessies, and so went back to 10s. Pretty sure they were D'Addario though, with the coloured ball ends.
 
My friend got his gibson back with the 9's on it last night. First impression is that is feels good and stays in tune. We're getting together on Saturday so I can give a first hand report after that. He traded an SG (Standard?) for this Studio and one of the reasons was the tuning and intonation was a bugger with it - it had 9's so there was some worries that he would have the same issues....but the SG has a bit different neck setup....
 
Got to play the 9's Saturday... The action was perfect and it felt great. No intonation issues. :D
 
ido1957 said:
So the tech at the guitar store is not recommending 9's on my friend's new Studio (setup). Buzz/tuning issues/ - so why a problem with 9's???? I had them on my old Gibson for years without a problem. Did they used to come cut for 9's and now it's 10's? Are they worried about the nut and saddles not working? Anyone had experience (good or bad) putting 9's on a recent Gibson that came stock with 10's? What's up with this anyway??
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I've had a few lead players use .008s on their guits. As long as it's set up right, there's no problem. Personally, I use .009s.

The key word here is: Experiment! Strings are cheap, compared to other things.
 
I've had an SG for 12 years or more. When I first got it I used 9s for everything because I was young and dumb and liked metal. Then for a lot of years I used 10s on everything. Recently I've switched to 11s. The SG has handled all of them just fine with no major set up issues. I do adjust intonation and action every year or so, but that seems to have nothing to do with the strings.

So, the moral of the story...what kind of dumbass shop won't put 9s on an SG?
 
I have tried 11s on an SG, just for the hell of it. The tone was awesome but playing bar chords was somewhat tiring. I hate 9s on anything because they are so flimsy that just fretting a note can put it out of tune by bending the string against the fret. I don't mean permanently - there are ways of installing strings so they don't go out of tune on you - but just by fretting the note a little too enthusiastically can bend it off pitch - and I don't want to lose my enthusiasm over a string gauge...

On electric guitars I almost religiously use 10s. On acoustic guitars typically 11s but sometimes 12s if the recording calls for that kind of tone. I think its a matter of what you like...
 
I used to play 11s on a Strat with the longer scale than the Gibsons... man, that was hard work...
 
'10 is always harder to bend. These strings require strong hands to play. They are better at rhythm playing but harder on bending
 
Tension is tone! No, I don't believe it has much to do with mass in any magnetic sense. It's all about tension. The strings we use sound best (somewhat subjective, I know, but general consensus...) when they are just about to snap.

I play 11s on my Fender scale guitars (well, not the Rick since I promised the guy I bought it from that I wouldn't go heavier than 10, and not the "baritone"...) and 12 on my Gibson scale critters. IIRC my mini-strat has 10s, which makes it easier on my 9-year-old just starting to play, but when I play it I tuned up to A through A so the tension is on par with the others.

When I first switched to 12s on my LP it was pretty harsh, but it's kinda like running with ankle weights. The 11s on my Fender scales are like nothing anymore!
 
"When I first switched to 12s on my LP it was pretty harsh, but it's kinda like running with ankle weights. The 11s on my Fender scales are like nothing anymore!"




Yes, experiment.
 
Yeah...it's a tone thing.

For awhile I had 11's on most of my electric guitars...and noticed that I didn't always like how chords sounded, especially if I wanted some crunch flavors. Irt was something about the fundamental VS harmonics balance with 11's that didn't always work for me. I put 10's back on and ....ahhh, there's that Rock tone I was missing. :)

I still keep 11's on a couple just for when I want a different flavor....but having been on 09's in my early guitar days....then 10's....then 11's....I find that I like the sound and feel of the 10s the most.
 
I play a Les Paul Standard and use 9's now. I use to use 10's but stepped down because of carpal tunnel pain in my fretting hand. I don't seem to have any real problems but I do notice that my Les Paul does not stay in tune nearly as well as my Strat with 9's. I just thought Les Pauls don't stay in tune as well. Also I have read that Angus Young uses a light gauge string on his SG's
 
I have a '09 Custom Shop '56 LP historic and use 9s for country and 10s for rock or jazzy stuff, I just swap gauges to suit, never bothered adjusting truss rods or intonation as the guitar has played perfectly from new. Been playing for 35 years and I'm leaning more to the 9s these days- they go well with the P90s. No idea how you guys handle 11s on an electric though, but each to their own.
 
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