Do you use 9s or 10s on your electric?

[redir]

It's easier to get big bends on guitars with spring tremolos. Generally I use 10's. Anything lighter and I have a hard time playing in tune.

I'm reading a biography of Tony Iommi now. He pioneered the use of light gauge strings in a time when people thought you could never get a big sound with light strings. Funny that people thing this way still. I hazard a guess that Iommi has proved them wrong.

But I don't have enough feel to play light gauge in tune.

[blue]

Originally Posted by redir

It's easier to get big bends on guitars with spring tremolos. Generally I use 10's. Anything lighter and I have a hard time playing in tune.

It feels easier, but the trem is moving. So you are changing the pitch less for the same distance pushed. Or to put it another way, you have to push farther to get to the same pitch as a hardtail, and you may never get there because the trem will continue moving until it physically can't.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by redir

...I'm reading a biography of Tony Iommi now. He pioneered the use of light gauge strings in a time when people thought you could never get a big sound with light strings. Funny that people think this way still. I hazard a guess that Iommi has proved them wrong...

IME that's only true up to a point. While thin strings work just fine with heavier styles - high-output humbuckers, a wall of Marshall Majors run wide-open, divebomb bends, feedback harmonics, crescendo trills, et al. - I've found they don't fare too well when you clean up the tone and roll back the volume to OSHA-approved levels; in addition, if you bought a hollow/semi-hollow instrument for more than the retro looks, you want to get some natural body resonance and "wood" into your tone, and the only way that's going to happen is if you have enough string tension/vibrating mass to drive the top. FWIW the same principle works rather nicely for solidbody gutars as well: stepping up to a heavier gauge can fatten up your Fender a whole lot cheaper than a set of new pickups (you'll likely never need a bridge humbucker), a set of 12's on an LP or SG can give it legitimate jazz credentials - and a thorough pro setup minimizes the potential for physical difficulties...

[Watt]

I use nothing lighter than 11s on my ES-339 or 10s on my G&L Bluesboy (telecaster). They have the sound and feel that I prefer. I can't remember the last time that I used 9s. But they didn't stay on the guitar for long. For my use (no heavy metal, thrashing, wall of Marshalls), lighter than 9s wouldn't be worth the negligible effort of putting them on the guitar. YMMV.

[JeffreyAK]

Right, there's a sound you can get from thick strings picked very hard (e.g. Stevie Ray Vaughan) that you just can't get from thin strings. Whether or not that's important is up to you the player, but it does make a difference.

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

IME that's only true up to a point. While thin strings work just fine with heavier styles - high-output humbuckers, a wall of Marshall Majors run wide-open, divebomb bends, feedback harmonics, crescendo trills, et al. - I've found they don't fare too well when you clean up the tone and roll back the volume to OSHA-approved levels; in addition, if you bought a hollow/semi-hollow instrument for more than the retro looks, you want to get some natural body resonance and "wood" into your tone, and the only way that's going to happen is if you have enough string tension/vibrating mass to drive the top. FWIW the sam principle works rather nicely for solidbody gutars as well: stepping up to a heavier gauge can fatten up your Fender a whole lot cheaper than a set of new pickups (you'll likely never need a bridge humbucker), a set of 12's on an LP or SG can give it legitimate jazz credentials - and a thorough pro setup minimizes the potential for physical difficulties...

.011 - .049 for me on my electric, which is a Gretsch.

[s2y]

Originally Posted by Davis Webb

You don't really develop hand strength by going to heavy. You just put more wear and tear on your small finger ligaments, cartilage, tendons. I cannot see the need for anything thicker than a 9. I have tried 10s and up, of course and they just hurt. But I bend all the time. With strumming, pretty good to go. I can see that.

Then my friend lost the ability to play at all by taking up the Chapman stick and tapping for a couple years. He got it back when he sold the stick. Now grant it, tapping isn't strumming, but still, the point is tons of guitarists do get hurt each year with some kind of bad ergonomics. So its not to be taken lightly. (pun..insert grin here)



A half step down, well that's Hendrix territory....

With low action AND proper technique, I don't see how 10s are that tough on the hands.

[Hurricane Ramon]

.

12'S , as well as my acoustic - medium lights .

I like a full bodied treble sound , 10's & 9's sound " plinky " to my ears ( YMMV )

HR


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[ewalling]

I now have a set of 9-46s ready for my Godin LGXT. As I mentioned earlier, 10s have been my staple on my solid electrics and 11-49s on my hollow Multiac Spectrum. The 9-46s seem interesting because the three bass strings are the same as for 10-46s - just the top three strings are lighter. Those Jimmy Page bends should certainly be more feasible now, but let's see how the strings feel otherwise ...

[ombudsman]

On most electrics .011 Thomastik jazz swing flatwounds, but with the top two strings swapped for .010 and .013, because I tune those strings a half step up from standard to F and C.

I do have an SG Junior and an old Danelectro that wear TI Superalloy rounds, same gauges.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by ewalling

I now have a set of 9-46s ready for my Godin LGXT. As I mentioned earlier, 10s have been my staple on my solid electrics and 11-49s on my hollow Multiac Spectrum. The 9-46s seem interesting because the three bass strings are the same as for 10-46s - just the top three strings are lighter. Those Jimmy Page bends should certainly be more feasible now, but let's see how the strings feel otherwise ...

Just put these on today, and I love them. Great shimmer, twang and burn on those top three strings, and they still feel to have enough tension in them. They do make a significant difference with the bends.

[whiteshadow]

You just need to match the string gauge to your hand size\strength and your style of playing.

As a general guide someone with big hands is going to struggle to play lighter strings and likewise someone with smaller hands will struggle to play with a heavier gauge.

There will always be exceptions to the rule but it's a good guideline to go with.

As for a difference in tone, I've never perceived one and I think even guitarists would struggle in a blind test to 'hear' the difference.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by whiteshadow

As a general guide someone with big hands is going to struggle to play lighter strings and likewise someone with smaller hands will struggle to play with a heavier gauge.

There will always be exceptions to the rule but it's a good guideline to go with.

That rule may apply with acoustics, but I'm less sure it's relevant to solid electric guitar players. Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were not small or weak-handed people, I think, yet they preferred very light strings because of the ease with which they could be bent up a tone and beyond. I do not think they were exceptions - I think they were typical of a generation that had started to play the electric guitar in a different way from such as Chet Atkins or George Harrison (up to and including Sgt. Pepper). I would imagine that SRV is more of an exception in playing in the style he did with heavier-gauged strings.

[Dru Edwards]

I'm a little late here but I use 9s on almost all my electrics. I still have a Gibson Les Paul that I have 10s on but I think I'll go to 9s. It's easier on my fingers.

[Davis Webb]

Originally Posted by ewalling

Just put these on today, and I love them. Great shimmer, twang and burn on those top three strings, and they still feel to have enough tension in them. They do make a significant difference with the bends.

9s win again!

Yeh, since I bend almost all the time, no way I am gonna fight a 10 set. Its just so much easier to do.