[steelvibe]

I'm a subscriber to Rick's channel and saw that video the day it was released. I agree that light strings allow the player more "command" of the instrument, or at least give a greater sense of overall playing confidence. Does that matter to players or are they more likely to get used to what they like? I don't know. I also appreciate how they did the experiment and find it one of the best ever done; same room, high quality recording gear, same players, same guitar. Yes, I understand the concerns about these "scientific" approaches like mic placement, can't play the same thing exactly the same way twice, etc. But if we are splitting hairs like that we may as well talk about variations in humidity levels, or what shirts the player wore that day.

I also completely agree with Rhett's assessment about what he heard. The lighter the string gauge the more you hear of the guitar's inherent top end, and as you increase gauges you hear the pick attack more (on the medium set I can really hear it). One thing that I hear is that there is more natural compression and a softening of the sound as they moved up in gauge, especially when strumming.