String gauge comparison....

Re: String gauge comparison....

PFDarkside said:
For electric I think it’s more about feel than tone, especially recorded.
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There is a difference in recorded sound between heavy and light gauge strings, but you're right . . . I use .11s on my electrics in standard tuning not because of tone, but because the strings are easier for me to control and less floppy. Tried 12s and they are too much for me. 10s are OK, but not ideal. 8s are impossible to play.


PFDarkside said:
One of my pet peeves is people using light strings on an acoustic. 10s in any acoustic and 11s on Dreads sounds so plinky and dead. Gotta get tension on the top and get it moving!
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I think this depends on the guitar you've got. My dad has a lovely 60 year old cedar top dreadnought, with Brazilian rosewood sides and back and a lightly braced top . . . it's acoustically very loud and it sounds much better with 11s than 12s. 12s choke out the sound, it gets some kind of weird compression thing if you use a pick at all.

I've played my Taylor GA with 12s and 11s. Honestly, I didn't think there was much difference in sound, maybe a touch more volume with the bigger strings. (Phosphor Bronze vs 80/20 is a HUUUGE difference though.)
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

mojosman said:
https://youtu.be/wGXj_NQONYM

I stumbled across this video, and I found it interesting. They compare various string gauges in terms of tone. I was surprised by the results. I’ve always thought heavier gauges = better tone. It just something I was told, and just always believed. Then recently a local store started carrying those Billy Gibbons strings, and some other brands of really small electric strings. They say folks are buying them too.

I recently bought a used Eric Johnson Strat, and it came with a brand new set of tiny strings on it. I don’t know what gauge they were no bigger than 8’s maybe even smaller. They felt strange to me, I’ve owned Strats since I started playing, and I’ve never played anything smaller than 9’s. I didn’t care for the feel of them, and put on 10’s.

Check out this video and see what your ears tell you. To me, the heavier strings had more power to them, and sounded ballsier. However, I didn’t hate the tone of the lighter strings, but you could hear the difference. What did you think?


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BILLY Gibbons plays 7 gauge strings, also the link didn't work for me either
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

I didn’t watch the video, but it’s obvious that all other things being equal, heavier strings will induce more output from the pickup. Output has more effect on “tone” than does many other factors. It affects how hard your amp gets hit, therefore how much it compresses and distorts. That’s why I need low output pickups. I use 11s most of the time (for feel), played hard, into relatively low headroom amps.
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

rammer69 said:
BILLY Gibbons plays 7 gauge strings,
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Here's a quote from the Reverend himself. “I was about 22 and just starting out with ZZ Top,” he says. “I was in the dressing room and BB said to me, ‘Can I play your guitar?’ I said, ‘Sure man.’ He strummed it a few times and handed it back to me. He looked at me rather quizzically and said, ‘Why you working so hard?’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Those strings. You got real heavy, heavy strings.’ I said, ‘Well, isn’t that how to get the heavy, heavy sound?’ He said, ‘No! Don’t be working so hard!’ From this article https://www.musicradar.com/news/bil...-quizzically-and-said-why-you-working-so-hard
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

I like 10,13,18w,28,38,50(or 48) for Eb
10.5,14,20w,30,40,52(or 50) for D-standard

For standard E I would use a 9-46 set.
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

PFDarkside said:
For electric I think it’s more about feel than tone, especially recorded.

I’ve tried everything from 9s to 11-54 on my Strat. When I’ve been playing a lot, I like 10-52, lots of spank and the low notes don’t go out of tune. When it’s been a while I like 9-46. I play with a heavy right hand, so the lighter strings flub out. The high notes are fine with lighter strings and easier to bend, but then there’s a volume mismatch if you go too out of whack. I think 10-49 would be ideal, too bad they aren’t available in Elixir.

One of my pet peeves is people using light strings on an acoustic. 10s in any acoustic and 11s on Dreads sounds so plinky and dead. Gotta get tension on the top and get it moving!
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I agree with that.

Another thing : thicker strings gives you the option to downtune (with 10-52 or even 10-46 works well in both E and D#)

On Strat, Tele and the like I use 10 but one the shorter SG I use 10,5 and on my 7 string (26"5) I use 9.
 
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Re: String gauge comparison....

I used 10's for decades. Then I had to have my wrist reconstructed after a bike accident. I had to go to 9's, I thought, until I rebuilt my strength. That's not going to happen. I'm staying with 9's on all my 25.5" scale guitars. I can still use 10's on Gibson scale guitars, but I'm liking the 9's.

I just switched my SSS strat to 9's, probably permanently. It's less bold toned, but in a good way. It's more spanky and stratty but with more pleasant airy highs.
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

I've used a regular 9 set for a very long time. I'd hate to have to keep assembling my own sets.
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

The higher up in gauge you go, the less drastic of a hi-pass filter effect will happen to the overall tone.
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

9's on 25.5", 10's on 24.75", heavier for my guitar that stays permanently in D standard. It's all about the feel: too heavy and it slows down your left hand; too light and it neuters your right hand.

If you're so worried about tone that you're willing to sacrifice your playing, you need to reassess your priorities and maybe get a new amp.

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Re: String gauge comparison....

bigcupholder said:
9's on 25.5", 10's on 24.75", heavier for my guitar that stays permanently in D standard. It's all about the feel: too heavy and it slows down your left hand; too light and it neuters your right hand.

If you're so worried about tone that you're willing to sacrifice your playing, you need to reassess your priorities and maybe get a new amp.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk
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Very well put. Couldn't agree more
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

My apologies for bringing up an older thread, but there was a thought that struck me some time back, at a time when I was too busy to visit forums, that I would like to add:

I see that there are a few people here who say that the strings lose bass and/or output when lighter strings are used. Is the change, in our opinion, merely a matter of loss, or is something audible also gained, which one would gradually lose by using heavier strings?
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

I liked the light guage strings for finger picking, and the heavy ones for strumming on that particular guitar. But that's on that guitar. My experience has been that different acoustics seem to behave differently with strings . . . some seem to sound better with lighter strings, some with heavier.
 
Re: String gauge comparison....

Heavier strings, in my experience, are louder on an acoustic
They produce more vibrations and thus move more air

The lighter strings, conversely, are softer

My Hummingbird came with 12s and was a rocker
It was also harder to play with it's high action and taunt strings

The 10s made it much easier to fret and also made the action more reasonable

The volume of the guitar went down noticeably

If that is what is being refered to as tone, then yes big strings big tone

And like Steve said, it's much better for fingerpicking
 
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