String suggestion for.......
 

Ibanez AM93 that I have on order. I know strings are very subjective, but, I would appreciate any opinions from forum members. This is a semi hollow, smaller body size with Super 58 humbuckers. I would prefer nothing larger than 10’s due to arthritic hands. What sounds good to your ears? Just looking for a starting point as I intend to experiment with various brands. Also, as fairly new to this, does the string material, and wound, unwound, half round, etc., make that much of a difference? Point me in the right direction! Thanks for any replies.

D’Addario EXL 110 Regular Light Gauge 10-46 is the best selling electric guitar set from this high quality manufacturer. Nickel Wound old standard very smooth feel.

I'll borrow a quote from the Archtop forum that I find rather apropos here:

- and in case you wondered how those '50s jazzers and rockabilly cats were able to rip off those blazing licks with 12- and 13-gauge strings, this is the secret...

What Steve D. says regarding thicker strings is certainly true, however...

..having gone down this path myself, I found that lowering the action doesn't change the tension of the strings, and that's an important point. It does feel different, easier, at first but after a few days my hands were saying to me "hey, these are still 11s." I LOVE how they feel, but personally found that instead of adjusting to them my hands gradually tired of them. Given what you said about your hands, I tend to doubt this is a good path for you but might still be worth tying. Of course so much of this depends on what you play, and if you are open to tuning down, etc.

Bear in mind that people keep going on about Stevie Ray playing mammoth piano-wire strings, and he did that early on and on some strings, but definitely by the end of his time with us (when he was sober again) he was regularly playing .011s tuned down a half-step.

FWIW, on my 24 3/4"-scale guitar (Tom Anderson Cobra) I've settled on Curt Mangan NickelWound (plain third) 9.5-44, in standard tuning at A440. I play mostly loud, heavier rock with lots of riffs, solos, bending. They're easy to find online, including at Amazon. "Juststrings" in Memphis is a good source too.

I use 9's or 10's on all my electrics, including my semi. (They're just a great medium and feel right for me).

Not too fussed either on the brand like I am with acoustic strings, although I normally use D'Addario's.

FWIW I like GHS Boomers on all my electrics. They're also available in 1/2 gauges if you really want to fine-tune playability/action. It depends what style of music; the boomers are quite bright, loud and have a rough edge to the tone, great for blues & rock, however if a cleaner tone is preferred, you might try GHS 'Progressives', which are also quite loud sounding but with a bit more transparency & less 'fur' in the tone.

I think a lot depends on the kind of music you play. If you're into blues and like to bend, 10s will be good. Some people prefer heavier strings on semi's because they put a little more meat behind the acoustic tone, but with those pickups you won't hear the difference unless you're playing quietly. Jazz will call for heavier strings to get that pop. Bear in mind, this is a short/Gibson scale guitar so the tension is going to be lower and a gauge higher may feel right and cut down on fret slap. Balanced tension sets are another option if you don't like floppy low strings. All told, you're going to have to just try several gauges/finishes and see what works best for you on that guitar. I'd try a few different sets of D'Addario's regular XLs (they're cheap) and when you settle on a gauge, spring for a set of NYXLs for 3-4x the lifespan.

Steve makes a good point upthread, but one that assumes that you don't do sideways vibrato by bending. Low action and heavy tension strings make that much more difficult. Of course the classic bebop era jazzers weren't about the B B King style wiggles and wavers.

On my variety of electrics I tend to use Ernie Ball's 009. - .046 Slinky set. I keep a couple of Teles and my Jimi Hendrix reverse Strat with old-school nickel wound string set similar to the Fender 150 nickel-wrap lights of the 60s and 70s which are a weird mix (.010 to .038). Pure nickel wrap tends to be a little less bright, and works particularly well with single coils (and they are the strings Jimi used). The Slinkys work well with a wide variety of guitars, are priced reasonably, available everywhere, and their bright sound is where I generally want to start with electric guitar tone.

For other nickel wrapped strings, I've used DR Pure Blues which also use a round wire center core (most strings use a hex core wire inside the wrapped strings). They are a tiny bit less resistant to bending per diameter on the wound strings than hex core strings. Also a bit more mellow than the Slinkys. Be sure to follow the round-core string kink and bring to tension before cutting advice if you try them.

On my big electric archtop I use Tomastik-Infeld Jazz Swing flats (.011-047 or .012-050, I forget, I used to use the .012 but my old fingers may have moved to .011) and I've always meant to try them on something else again someday. Kind of like the Fender "Jimi Used 'em" set it's kind of a medium top, light bottom set, and TI's tension per diameter philosophy is easier bending/lighter tension than just about any electric guitar string out there. TI also makes a round-wrap string. These are both nickel and have a round core, and (alas) like all TI strings. are very pricey. But they last seem to last a long time and sound super mellow. Flats feel and, I'll warn you, sound very different from conventional electric guitar strings, and they are ill suited to the timbres most electric guitars seek. If this sounds interesting to you, and you're willing to pay the cost of a set, maybe try the TI Jazz Bebop round-wound set and see if works well with your desires and guitar, and if you like it and want more, consider the flats.

If you are after conventional modern electric guitar tone and want to try something just a bit easier to bend or barre, the Fender Jimi Hendrix .010-038 or the more conventional in diameters but slightly lower tension round-core string DR Pure Blues set would be worth a try.

Enjoy your new guitar!

D'Addario NY-XL
 

I put a set of these strings on my 335 that I was to the point of selling. The guitar was dull and lifeless. These strings turned it from going down the road to my #1. Have never had a set of strings that changed the sound of one guitar this much in my life. They are bright! Seem to last a long time before going dull.
To me, worth the little extra they cost.
Good luck with your search!
Rev

+1 on the NY-XL's. I don't usually use NY-XL's but tried several sets this past year based on a recommendation from another forum. They do sound and play wonderfully and at a very reasonable price.

My go to string for electric (solid, semi and full archtop) is Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Be-bops and Jazz Swings (round wounds and flat woulds respectively). I mix my sets to achieve a very heavy top (high E and B) with a relatively lighter bottom (i.e. wound strings). I do this to get what my ears consider a more balanced tone across the fretboard.

Having said that I think the lightest set they make these days starts with an .011 so sounds like that might be outside of your range. Just had to mention them because I love them so much...but the NY-XL's would be an awesome set and certainly available in the gauge you prefer.

If you're not planning on any wild string bending, I like the D'Addario 11-49 set. I have them on a Yamaha AES-1500, which is a thin hollow body model.

NYXL1149 even on my X7

I prefer a wound G string. D'Addario has them in the EXL110W and EXL115W sets.

I like 12’s, and flat wounds on a hollow body.
The wind makes a significant difference. If you are bending 2-3 steps they might be a lot of work.
Can’t beat the feeling of that flat wound- and the mellow tone is sweet.