Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

[B2D]

I've been a .010-.052 user for about the past 4 years or so. I've been thinking about stepping down to a .009-.046 set or a .0095-.048 set I cooked up on nakedstrings.com.

I'm going to be in some situations that require me to be in standard tuning (I'm down 1/2 step now), and I honestly just want to see if it makes a major impact on my sound and the way I play.

Has anyone here gone down one gauge and not gone back, or decided they liked the heavier gauge better after all?

 

[ErikH]

Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

Yup. I go between 10-46 and 9-46. Only the 3 plain strings are the difference. I bend a lot and if I haven't played in a while, I'll string up with the 9's and after getting built back up, I'll switch back to the 10's.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

I started out on 10's and over a number of years I got bigger and bigger...up to a 13 or a 14 on top and a big as I could find on the bottom...often a 62 and then after a number of more years I was down to 10-52's.

However...a few years ago I switched to 10's and 11's depending on the guitar and tuning.

In my experience the change in tone is not a huge deal unless you play clean most of the time and I'm glad I made it back down...it made me a better player by putting me more in control and has let me be a more expressive player.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

Try it out and see

 

[blueman335]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

the change in tone is not a huge deal unless you play clean most of the time and I'm glad I made it back down...it made me a better player by putting me more in control and has let me be a more expressive player.

+1. To me, that's one of the big selling points of lighter gauges, besides putting less wear and tear on your fingers. You have more control over the strings, which makes more subtleties and nuances possible.

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

I have played a guitar with a set of 9s but I felt like I was going to snap them I use a 10-46 gauge on my guitar and I find the feel just fine. I try to get the same tension at all tunings but I never tune lower then Eb so 10s or 11s do fine. I would rather have a lil looser feel then tighter but some guitars just sound better with heavy strings.

 

[formula73]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

I went from 11-49 to 10-46 a few years ago when I began having joint problems. That little bit of slack made a hell of a difference on my hands and the tone is absolutely something that can be fiddled with enough to get back.

 

[B2D]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

I switched over my two guitars from .010-.052 to .009-.046 this evening and spent about an hour playing each one. Not sure yet... the tone is noticeably brighter and with slightly less bottom but I kind of expected that. I dunno if it'll work on my EC1000 as it's 24-3/4" scale and it feels a tad on the loose side, but on my Silhouette which is 25.5" it seems to be working a little better, not quite as much yield.

We'll see what happens over the next few playing sessions. I'm not ruling out my .0095-.048 set.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

I have played a guitar with a set of 9s but I felt like I was going to snap them...I would rather have a lil looser feel then tighter but some guitars just sound better with heavy strings.

Actually, 9's don't snap easily. I bend like a madman (Jimmy Page-Peter Green style) and break a high E once every year or two, and part of that is from loosening and retightening them when changing magnets. I've read posts of guys breaking 10's and 11's on a regular basis, maybe because of the greater string tension. I definitely like my strings to feel loose, where I have complete control over them (without them 'fighting back'), but I guess it depends on what we've gotten used to.

 

[Hurricane]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

10s sound to [ Plinky and Thin ] on my guitars .

Always thought it was my ears and maybe it still is since I am 62 :argh: . But since I have gone to 12s .I get a fatter tone :headbang: .

To compensate for the thicker gauge I tune down a whole step , that helps make it a lot more comfortable and more bending range too .

I do this on all my guitars - electric bass - electric - acoustic electric and nylon Spanish classical guitars .

Some places I buy strings at will split a string set so I can get smaller gauged low end strings with the thicker 11s and or 12s cause the thicker ones tend to [ THUD } rather than ring . It's a hassle getting what I want but I love the results and also the response I get from my tone from those who listen .

Recently started consistently ripping harmonic [ pinched ] notes , I do this on lead lines when I solo as well as on whole chords , it's taken me 2 years to figure it out . I don't use any kind of pick either to do this heh heh heh :18: .

I found on the thicker gauges it makes a huge difference when your going after that [ Hendrix ] harmonic Doppler feed back sound . I love it . I get it on all my guitars now ( electric bass - electrics [ both single and humbucker ] and acoustic electric and nylon guitars ) , I izzzz a happy man . Hope you izzzzzzz 2 with the string set you use .


Peace All :

Hurricane Ramon

 

[Bludave]

Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

I play as much acoustic guitar as I do electric and for me I was struggling to keep my electrics in tune. So I went up a gauge from 10's to 11's on electrics and from 12's to 13's on. Acoustic. I also feel more comfortable with higher action. I have action on my electrics like acoustics, this way when I go back and fourth it feels very similar. The added tonal benefits are great heavier string generally give you a beefier tone. On my electrics I have also replaced most of my saddles with graphite and on guitars that are whammy equipped I have a graphite nut and locking tuners. All add to tuning stability

 

[sosomething]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

I've been using 11-50s tuned to Eb standard since about 2007, but I've recently started considering moving to 10-48s or 10-46s on my 25.5" scale guitars with the thought that they'll feel more like my 24.75" guitars..

I haven't made the switch yet because I find bolt-ons especially to benefit tonally from heavier strings and I'd hate to sacrifice a part of "my sound" for the sake of a little slinkyness.

 

[JaySwear]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

I used to play 11's almost exclusively. Now I'm more of a 10's or 9's guy. Tried the smaller strings and loved them!

 

[gman128]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

Went from a 12-56 set for Drop C to a 10-52 set - much easier to play faster on - palm muted low strings sound better.
I even use an 11-54 set for B standard for the same reason!

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

Have used 10-46 for decades now, use 11-52's when going to Eb, and sometimes I use a 12-54 for one of my strats, also in Eb or D.
Mostly 10-46 though.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

Only up, aside from a few instances in which I was inching up a gauge at a time, and decided I had gone one too far...and the hardtail Strat (my first guitar) that I had strung up 15-58 for at least ten years. When rebuilding it recently, I decided to come back down from the twang/surf setup for more of a standard feel. I'm at 12's now, and will probably settle on heavy-bottom 11's, like most of my guitars. It also might get a Kahler in the not-too-distant future.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

I was using an Ernie Ball 13-56 set for a while before I switched to a 11-50 Dunlop set when I started thinking about lead guitar more. I like the feel of the 50's more anyways.

 

[B2D]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

Only up, aside from a few instances in which I was inching up a gauge at a time, and decided I had gone one too far...and the hardtail Strat (my first guitar) that I had strung up 15-58 for at least ten years. When rebuilding it recently, I decided to come back down from the twang/surf setup for more of a standard feel. I'm at 12's now, and will probably settle on heavy-bottom 11's, like most of my guitars. It also might get a Kahler in the not-too-distant future.

Jesus H Christ in a chicken basket... what the heck are your tendons made of?

Maybe it's just because I have smaller hands but I can't imagine using the kind of bridge cables some of you guys claim to prefer. .011's on up on electrics give me hand cramps if I use them for more than an hour or so but I can still PLAY them if I need to.

15's?!?! Lordy...

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

Jesus H Christ in a chicken basket... what the heck are your tendons made of?

Maybe it's just because I have smaller hands but I can't imagine using the kind of bridge cables some of you guys claim to prefer. .011's on up on electrics give me hand cramps if I use them for more than an hour or so but I can still PLAY them if I need to.

15's?!?! Lordy...

All I knew how to play on guitar at that time was surf music; I'm a bassist first. I wanted to do what Dick Dale did! My first guitar hero. I didn't really start learning guitar "properly" until about Y2K. At that point, I used the Strat with the 15's for a year or two, but eventually got another guitar – an Elitist SG – which I strung with 10-52's.

Now my "go-to" set is 11-54, with 11-48 on a few Strats and my Deans, and 10-52 w/ wound G on my LP Custom and one Strat. I keep two or three guitars with regular 10-46's on them, but to be honest, that's just because they're old and that's the way my dad kept them all the decades he owned them. Light plain strings are OK, but I really don't like the wound strings that light.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Anyone ever switch down a string gauge?

**** yes, 9s is where it's at son. Might go down to 8s.