Ball&Chain
Active member
Lately, I’ve been going back and forth between 2 different string gauges on my Jackson DK2. Both sets are GHS Boomers and set 1 is 10-46 and set 2 is 11-50. I tune my guitar down a step to D standard. I used to tune down a half a step which is why I started out with 10’s to begin with. Obviously this creates less string tension and bending + vibrato become much easier though not necessarily easier to control.
I decided with the slack tension I should swap out the 10’s for a set of 11’s. I figured with what I thought would be prevailing wisdom, that while making the bends a little harder it would benefit by increasing sustain and improving tone.
After a few months of string changes and going back and forth between 2 gauge sets I’ve come to the conclusion on a few points of interest and most of it surprises me a little.
1. The thicker strings seem to have an adverse effect on tone. The difference is clearly noticeable in favor of the 10’s set. It’s not even close.
2. The sustain is also easily in favor of the 10’s and again its not even close. Fretted, bent and open notes on the 10 set seem to last forever while the 11’s set the notes just die prematurely.
3. Harmonics are much better on the 10s set. Both natural and artificial. The guitar with 10’s tends to want to scream. Ill even hit artificial harmonics accidentally without trying.
4. This is where the 11’s have a clear advantage and right now it’s the only advantage I can think of. The thicker strings plus higher tension make fast alternate picking much more accurate. On 10’s the strings have a tendency to move a bit side to side as the pick glides over making the picking motion wider, while the 11’s seem to stand ground better making for a much tighter picking range of motion. I also have a feeling that this would benefit sweep picking, but I do very little of that if any.
One of the first things I though of that could be effecting this is guitar set up. I thought higher action would help on the 11’s as well. I was having some difficulty with the nut binding the string on either gauge set for the G, B& high E strings, so I took the guitar to a tech thinking Id upgrade the nut to a graphite one. He looked it over and told me the nut on it was graphite (I kinda assumed it was plastic) but it wasn’t cut right, creating the tuning issues. So, he kept the guitar, fixed the nut and did a complete setup on it.
When I got the guitar back, the nut issues were gone and sure enough the action as I expected was set noticeably higher than I usually have it. I haven’t changed anything in the month or so I’ve had the guitar back, but the performance is really no different. The guitar just stays in tune much better now. That’s pretty much it.
Now I either need to decide what points are most important and settle on a gauge or maybe try a set that’s thicker on the bass and thinner on treble or possibly even vice versa. All points are vital really, so it’s probably going to lend some more experimentation.
I decided with the slack tension I should swap out the 10’s for a set of 11’s. I figured with what I thought would be prevailing wisdom, that while making the bends a little harder it would benefit by increasing sustain and improving tone.
After a few months of string changes and going back and forth between 2 gauge sets I’ve come to the conclusion on a few points of interest and most of it surprises me a little.
1. The thicker strings seem to have an adverse effect on tone. The difference is clearly noticeable in favor of the 10’s set. It’s not even close.
2. The sustain is also easily in favor of the 10’s and again its not even close. Fretted, bent and open notes on the 10 set seem to last forever while the 11’s set the notes just die prematurely.
3. Harmonics are much better on the 10s set. Both natural and artificial. The guitar with 10’s tends to want to scream. Ill even hit artificial harmonics accidentally without trying.
4. This is where the 11’s have a clear advantage and right now it’s the only advantage I can think of. The thicker strings plus higher tension make fast alternate picking much more accurate. On 10’s the strings have a tendency to move a bit side to side as the pick glides over making the picking motion wider, while the 11’s seem to stand ground better making for a much tighter picking range of motion. I also have a feeling that this would benefit sweep picking, but I do very little of that if any.
One of the first things I though of that could be effecting this is guitar set up. I thought higher action would help on the 11’s as well. I was having some difficulty with the nut binding the string on either gauge set for the G, B& high E strings, so I took the guitar to a tech thinking Id upgrade the nut to a graphite one. He looked it over and told me the nut on it was graphite (I kinda assumed it was plastic) but it wasn’t cut right, creating the tuning issues. So, he kept the guitar, fixed the nut and did a complete setup on it.
When I got the guitar back, the nut issues were gone and sure enough the action as I expected was set noticeably higher than I usually have it. I haven’t changed anything in the month or so I’ve had the guitar back, but the performance is really no different. The guitar just stays in tune much better now. That’s pretty much it.
Now I either need to decide what points are most important and settle on a gauge or maybe try a set that’s thicker on the bass and thinner on treble or possibly even vice versa. All points are vital really, so it’s probably going to lend some more experimentation.
