Sacrifice for "tone" ?

[jpd]

Do you think so?

[geetaruke]

It's funny but now that I think about it, you don't hear stories anymore of guitarists calluses falling off and needing to be glued back on to finish the gig.

[RustyAxe]

If those are the strings that gives the player what he wants to hear, then those are strings he'll use. Heavy strings aren't necessarily harder on one's hands and 13's are not a big deal ... they're typically part of a medium set, which many of us use.

[mr. beaumont]

On acoustic, I say use what the manufacturer recommends, or lighter. There's physics at play, and constructional limits.

On electric, use the heaviest string you can play comfortably. If you can't play the darn thing, nobody cares how "good" your tone is.