When did narrow guage guitar strings first come on the market?

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shedshrine

shedshrine

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Did the appearance of narrower string gauges happen to coincide with the coming of Hendrix and Clapton solos upon the scene, or are the thinner string guages a much newer phenomenon?

Or put another way, when did the "old days" end with the arrival of a wider selection of gauges? Who were some of the first guitarists to exploit them?
 
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The history of string technology and manufacture is a fascinating one. Right from the early days of the renaissance the quest for better sounding and more consistent string material has been a goal of both players and makers.

In the situation you describe the cause has more to do with use than availability. Fine gauge wire had been available for quite a while. The reason it wasn't used on guitar was that they just are not load enough without amplification. The players in big bands needed lots of punch and projection, heavier strings made that possible. As amplification became the norm the string gauge commonly used could and was reduced.

For proof look to the mandolin that has used light gauge strings for some time as have other stringed instruments. The real developments in string technology have traditionally been made on winding techniques and more recently polishing of synthetic materials like nylon mono's
 
The electric guitar was viewed for years as an amplified acoustic guitar, that barely started to change in the 50's, obviously, the big difference was in the 60's, when it was finally recognized that it was a separate instrument (once combined with an amp, of course) with a largely different set of capabilities and weaknesses.

It was in the sixties, I believe, when players first started experimenting with lighter gauge strings. As befitted an acoustic instrument, the standard gauge was 12's, still called "medium" by most manufacturers, with 11's offered for students or those with weaker hands.

Ernie Ball was the first person to sell light (10) and extra light (09) sets, according to his site. he tried to get Fender to offer the lighter gauges as standard, since he saw so many players changing over, but Leo claimed a guitar couldn't be intonated properly with such skinny wire. As late as the early sevevties, Iommi had to make up his sets from banjo strings.
 
ermghoti said:
The electric guitar was viewed for years as an amplified acoustic guitar, that barely started to change in the 50's, obviously, the big difference was in the 60's, when it was finally recognized that it was a separate instrument (once combined with an amp, of course) with a largely different set of capabilities and weaknesses.

It was in the sixties, I believe, when players first started experimenting with lighter gauge strings. As befitted an acoustic instrument, the standard gauge was 12's, still called "medium" by most manufacturers, with 11's offered for students or those with weaker hands.

Ernie Ball was the first person to sell light (10) and extra light (09) sets, according to his site. he tried to get Fender to offer the lighter gauges as standard, since he saw so many players changing over, but Leo claimed a guitar couldn't be intonated properly with such skinny wire. As late as the early sevevties, Iommi had to make up his sets from banjo strings.
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12's = Light not mediums. Always has been. D'addario produced 10's before Ernie Ball.
 
I always thought it had something to do with floating trem's.. 12's are just 'medium' ?? Maybe on a fixed bridge. Is anyone playing 12's on a floating trem?

I tried to put 12's on a Jackson with a floyd rose to tune it to B or C so I could jam with a Carcass cd once years ago. Even with all 5 springs in, when I was tightening the strings, by the time it was up to A, the bridge was sticking straight out so the action was so high it was un-playable.. So I fooled around with low drop-G or something for a few days before I got sick of it and got a set of 10's and re-tried..
 
Chet Atkins bought banjo strings in the '50s to get light enough strings for his playing style. ermghoti is right about the historic aspect. Guitar players were expected to be real man in those days: I've read of archtop players using sets with .016 high E and wound B strings.

Ernie Ball may not have been first (I wasn't playing guitar when he started out) but he was certainly the most successful at marketing his "Slinky" -- thin gauge -- strings to players. I think he basically followed Don Randall's strategy at Fender (which was fairly close by) in aiming his product at younger players, in the expectation that older players would be reluctant to change.

He leveraged his guitar store and his string business into a pretty robust outfit.
 
Going to a plain G so it wouldn't break while bending might have had something to do with it.
 
suprstar said:
I always thought it had something to do with floating trem's.. 12's are just 'medium' ?? Maybe on a fixed bridge. Is anyone playing 12's on a floating trem?
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Never done 12's, but I've gone as high as 11-68 on a seven string with a Floyd. These days I'm running 10-68, and have been for maybe 2-3 years. I've just gotten used to it.
 
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