Gibson says 10's are the minimum recommended string guage

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ido1957

ido1957

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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??
 
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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Just use what you like. Gibsons are shorter scale than most Fenders so a light gauge (note spelling - a before u) might seem a bit light and rubbery, but there are far too many OPINIONS in this world. :)
 
Yeah if you can get the guitar set up to your liking (height, intonation etc), they're fine. I've used 10s or 11s on my SG since I got it, but I don't doubt 09s would be just fine. You may need to do a little setup work, but that happens whenever you change gauges.
 
Maybe there isn't enough relief in the neck on your guitar, so he isn't able to adjust the neck properly without the extra tension of the heavier strings. Or he could simply be giving you his opinion on the "proper" gauge of strings that should be used.

If its the neck problem, that sucks because there is no easy kr cheap way to fix it. If its an opinion, pat the nice man on the head and do what you eat with your guitar.
 
Somebody told me the other day about the existence of 9.5 gauge strings. Anybody else heard of those or tried them?
 
Well, my friend said to the tech to do "what he recommends" so of course he put on a fresh set of 10's. No real setup required as that was the gauge it came with. I would have said do the 9's and see what happens :D. Neck relief should be okay as this is a new 2012 guitar.
 
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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friends don't let friends play 9's

I always try to advise against light gauge strings for several reasons. Especially on a short scale.
 
This sounds like weird advice. The last Gibson I bought new I took in for a setup and they told me that because of the position of the bridge, 9s were probably the target gauge and 10s (my request) required the low E saddle to go as far as it could go. Any higher (11s or up) and the saddle would have to be flipped at minimum and the bridge might even have to be plugged and drilled to get the guitar intonated properly.

Gibsons are largely cut by CNC, so I would imagine this is similar across many models.
 
Farview said:
Maybe there isn't enough relief in the neck on your guitar, so he isn't able to adjust the neck properly without the extra tension of the heavier strings. Or he could simply be giving you his opinion on the "proper" gauge of strings that should be used.

If its the neck problem, that sucks because there is no easy kr cheap way to fix it. If its an opinion, pat the nice man on the head and do what you eat with your guitar.
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Yeah....

I have a couple of guitars (not Gibsons) where the 10's are j-u-s-t enough to get some work out of the truss rod.
One of them would even misbehave with 10's at certain times of the year, as the there was no more play left in the truss rod and the 10's were not pulling on the neck enough. I put 11's on that guitar 'cuz I wanted them anyway on some guitars as an alternative, so that guitar was the logical choice.
I don't think any of my guitars were meant for 10's and above only...I think this one was just built that way and it is what it is...
...but maybe Gibson is now building their necks and setting up the truss rods with 10s in mind as the minimum...?...or just "suggesting" that anything lighter might be a problem?

I would certainly try it with 09's and see if you can set the rod where it needs to be without any issues. Then check it when it gets much colder/drier and warmer/wetter and see if it's still within adjustment specs.
 
BrentDomann said:
This sounds like weird advice. The last Gibson I bought new I took in for a setup and they told me that because of the position of the bridge, 9s were probably the target gauge and 10s (my request) required the low E saddle to go as far as it could go. Any higher (11s or up) and the saddle would have to be flipped at minimum and the bridge might even have to be plugged and drilled to get the guitar intonated properly.

Gibsons are largely cut by CNC, so I would imagine this is similar across many models.
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9's sound thin no matter what you do. Compare the same guitar with 9's, and 11's. The difference in tone is almost alarming. As far as the intonation issues, 11's are probably easier to set up. For me anyway.
 
JCH said:
9's sound thin no matter what you do. Compare the same guitar with 9's, and 11's. The difference in tone is almost alarming. As far as the intonation issues, 11's are probably easier to set up. For me anyway.
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Doesn't Billy Gibbons use .007s or something? They sound anything but thin.
 
9's are on all my guitars - I have small hands and weak fingers.
 
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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GHS Boomers. Only strings I use.

New Gibsons are set up and nuts cut with the PLEK machine for .010s. Lighter strings may set in too low.
 
Sky Blue Lou said:
GHS Boomers. Only strings I use.
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I used Boomers for like 20+ years...from back in the mid/late '70s, then in the mid/late '90s I started trying out others.
These days I'm on Curt Mangan strings...but when I use up the several dozen sets, I may switch again.
 
Bubba po said:
Doesn't Billy Gibbons use .007s or something? They sound anything but thin.
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You would have to ask Billy. I could have been more descriptive in my opinion, but I was out of town and typing on my laptop. Home now, this is much better. Bigger strings have more mass for the pickups to read. This translates to better picking dynamics, sustain, and overall tone. I won't argue that many people are fine with really light gauge strings, but my favorite tones come from heavier strings. The players I know that use 9's also use a bunch of fx, and active pickups for metal type stuff. They aren't into clean tones, so it doesn't much matter to them.
 
I don't know what gauage strings I have on my guitars, nor my basses for that matter. I do know that heavy strings don't bother me as a result of playing bass but I don't know if the gauages currently on them bother my guitars.
Yeah, I know gauge but I'm a git.
 
I have stock 9-42 on the new strat I got, and 10-52, on the Squier.. I've had for years now..

Theres a huge difference in my opinion, and its amazing, as 9 to a 10 is 1/1000th of an inch difference, but the feel is so noticeable.

like rayc, I also mess with a 25yr old bass, in addition to acoustic 12's- ?, making the 10's on the electric still feel thinner.

Did Gibson have a vote or something? Gibson isnt really a person, its a company of people..so what test did they do to arrive at this recommendation? The guitar tech said Gibson recommends 10's, I wonder what he's referring to.
 
CoolCat said:
Did Gibson have a vote or something? Gibson isnt really a person, its a company of people..so what test did they do to arrive at this recommendation? The guitar tech said Gibson recommends 10's, I wonder what he's referring to.
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That's the gauge their electrics ship with installed.
 
I had 10's on my 74 SG and the neck was falling away from the body. Even with the trussrod fully slack I couldn't get .10's to pull the neck back into shape. Switched to .11-.46 Elixers and did an intonation including raising the bridge and things are much better now and it is maintaining tuning much better. I tried to find the heavy gauge version which I think is a .12-.56 but they are only available online. I may try a set of those to see if they stay in tune better than the medium Elixers.

The guitar I play the most is a Martin D-35 so I'm used to heavier gauge strings anyway. .09's and .10's just feel too light and don't stay in tune. I agree with the previous posters that lighter strings don't have as rich a tone as heavier strings.

Also, I should add that when I did the intonation setup I had tuning problems when using the open and 12th fret method. Playing chords in first position they just didn't sound in tune. Recalibrated so I was setting things to be in tune at the 9th and 7th frets and got a much better result. Also took about a month for the guitar to settle in to the new setup. YMMV.
 
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