What gauge strings?

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philbagg

philbagg

Just Killing Time
...and why? Electric and/or acoustic.

I find lower gauge can sound out of tune if fretted/strummed to hard, but they're easier to play.

Just curious as to what gauge strings you guys use.
 
philbagg said:
...and why? Electric and/or acoustic.

I find lower gauge can sound out of tune if fretted/strummed to hard, but they're easier to play.

Just curious as to what gauge strings you guys use.
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11's for my electrics, 12's for my acoustics.
 
Boomer 9.5s. A little slinkier than 10s. I tried them on a suggestion and never looked back. Good combination of feel and sound.


lou
 
I use 11s on my Gibson electric and am going down to 10s on my G&L Legacy. I think I have 12s on my acoustic. I used 10s for a long time, but I switched over to 11s just to see and I like the way they sound better. They seem a bit brighter and just overall have more tone to them. As a nice side effect, they also seem to last longer. I can't deal with anything less than 10, though. Too bendy. I'm using 10s on the G&L because it's got a longer scale length, so the tension of 11s seems to be a bit too much, especially since it's newer and the frets are bigger than the Gibson (the Gibson is from the late 70s, so the frets are quite worn down).
 
The brand makes a difference, too. Experiment, find a sound and feel you like.
 
I like medium lights for the most part, for bass and guitar. Brand, D'addario, consistently good, cheap enough that I don't have to fart around boiling strings (common for the bass) and I much prefer to simply put on a new set than boil an old set of expensive strings. They never really sound as good the second time. Never met a set of Rotosounds that I liked. Always got at least one dead string out of the pack, and always broke at least one string per set, no other string has had that issue. I want to try the EMP coated strings, good for one use, but apparently they go one for ages.
 
10's for my 25.5" scale gits and 11's for my 24.75" scale gits.
 
Acoustic: 0.012s. Martin recommends that gauge, I'm fine with that.

Electric: all over the map. I have/will play anything from 0.009 to 0.013 in standard tuning. I usually like 0.010 for heavy rock-metal, 0.011 for hard/alt rock-blues. The 0.011 sets are more dynamic, as philbagg noted, you can hit them harder without getting that momentary "blyooong" out of tune bend as the pick strikes the strings, and a fully muted strum with overdrive yields a meaty percussive chunk, versus the scritchier flicking sound from lighter sets.

Since heavier strings are under more tension at a given pitch, they have a more pronounced attack, lighter strings have a smoother attack. Alternatively, under heavy distortion, the wider range of the heavier strings is compressed away, and the lighter stings thud better when palm muted.

I make a guitar-by-guitar decision, using my ears. Each guitar has a favored gauge or two.
 
philbagg said:
Any particular reason? :drunk:
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Well, yes; I tried a lot of alternatives and those (11's for electric, 12's for acoustic) are what I have settled on. As you say, lighter gauge strings are easier to pull sharp over the frets but easier to bend on purpose, while heavier strings have a meatier sound to my ears and enable lower action. Since I am relying on string mass for volume on my acoustics, I use a bit heavier string than on my electrics.
 
10s for electric, 12s for acoustic.

Over the years, for electric I've used 09s, 10s, 11s and then eventually back to 10s.
Currently, all my electric guitars have 10s…Curt Mangan strings are my go-to brand.
I find the 09s just too soft for my playing, but that's what I played for many years in my younger days, and then once I switched to 10s, I never went back to 09s.

The 11s have a nice big sound, with a bold fundamental note...but that's also what I don't always like about them, as the overtones/harmonics are not as rich/balanced as I get with 10s. The 11s work great for some things where you want the big, clean fundamental notes, but I find the 10s to be the "best" overall gauge for a wider variety of sounds.
That said, I miss the 11s for some stuff...so I've been thinking about putting 11s on at least a couple of my guitars just to have the additional option. :)

On acoustics I've tried lighter gauges, mainly 'cuz I'm not a regular acoustic player, and the lighter gauges were a bit easier...but they sounded like shit. Even tried electric strings on acoustic…which give a brighter/jangly sound.
I find that 12s are the best choice for me on acoustic. A little extra work than my electric guitars, but the full, rich sound makes it worthwhile.
I have a couple of odd-gauge, 11.5 string sets (Ernie Ball, I think) which I got just to try…but I’ve never put them on.
 
I use either 13"s or Baritone strings .... I tune my guitar down 2 notes (so the E is a D ) I also sometimes tune the E (D) to D (C) so I need strings that don"t flop arround ..... Pluss I have really Jumdo fretts on my ESP and the thin strings go out of tune depending on how hard I push the string .....

:D
 
I use super light top/regular bottom - 9's on the three highest strings, 10's on the lower strings. It makes it easier to do leads and bends on the higher strings because of the lower gauge, but you still have the "full" sound when you do powerchords on the low strings.
 
Jeez Philby... OK

Strat - 11s - because I like pain...
PRS - 9.5 if I can get them, 10s if I can't - recommended by PRS and seem to work OK
Ibanez RG (which I never play) 9s - for the shredding, which I can't do anyway
Les Paul 10s - came with them and found no reason to change
Burns (which I also never play) 10s - because I can't keep buying too many different string guages..

Yes, yes, I know it's not logical to have heavier strings on Strats and lighter strings on Les Pauls...

Acoustic #1 - standard tuning - 12s - normal playing, live guitar
Acoustic #2 - standard detuned a tone - 13s - compensate for lowered tension
Acoustic #3 - open tunings - new guitar, came with 12s, may move to 13s for same reasoning as #2.

Now, repeat it back to me! :)
 
13-56 acoustic, and TNT's 10-52 electric. I need and use the clean and dynamic range on the lower strings, and I'm finding my playing style has slowly merged between how I 'attack electric or the acoustic.
:eek::p
 
legionserial said:
9s on the 1st 2nd and 3rd, 10s on the 4th, 5th and 6th.
Click to expand...

I use to do just the opposite for awhile! :D
10s on the upper three and 09s on the lower three.

I wanted the upper three strings to have more punch, and to better balance out with the low end strings, which I think iare somewhat out of proportion to the high strings on most guitar string sets.
The low end has a big BOOM, while the highs are much milder and die off quick. :(

I really liked the sound I was getting, but then got tired of messing with two sets of strings and/or having to order loose strings...so I just went back to a straight 10 set. There are ready made string sets the way you have them...but no one makes the other way.

I think I'll have to try it out again now! :)
It worked really well for recording, as I'm usually having to roll off the low end if anything on guitar tracks.
 
I like 11's for electric. They have a certain growl on the wound strings that I just don't get with lighter sets. Plus I have a pretty heavy touch and they withstand a heavy attack without sounding snappy or plinky.

I like 13s for acoustic because they sound a little louder to me and I'm a fan of big dreadnaught acoustic tones.
 
all these are great points, the heavier the string, the smaller the oscillation pattern and the less likely you are going to get string buzz, enabling you to lower your action even further. I use 11's on my Electrics (especially my strat, to help compensate for the thin-sounding single-coils), and 13's for my Acoustic (phosphor bronze).
 
I use Galli Bronze Flatwound 11's on my Acoustic. If they made 10's I'd probably use them but the bronze flats only come in 11's.

I currently have DADDARIO EXL115W [wound G] 11's on my electric which are roundwound but am about to trial Galli Flatwound 10's for my electric in the next week or two.

The 11's are a little too resistive to bending, I like the wound G, but I prefer flats to rounds.
 
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