What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

C

Chistopher

malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
I got a "new" guitar case at a yard sale yesterday and in it I found an odd set of strings. It was a GHS Zakk Wylde signature set. I forget the exact numbers, but the low e was a 70 (bartitone territory) and the high e was a 11. Now that I think about it, I think it was the high e was from their standard set of 11s, the b was from their 12s, and so on.

I don't usually mess around with string gauges, but have any of you found any sets that just seemed odd to you?
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

When we were growing up, my brother had GHS Boomers Ultra Lights on his single-bucker Yamaha for a while. This is a set that runs 8 - 38. In standard tuning, that .008 felt like a detuned 9. Actually, it felt like it wasn’t there most of the time. The wound strings couldn’t provide enough resistance to keep me from pulling them sharp when I played power chords. A very odd experience. I think that was when I realized I was always going to hit the strings fairly hard.
 
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Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

Little Pigbacon said:
When we were growing up, my brother had GHS Boomers Ultra Lights on his single-bucker Yamaha for a while. This is a set that runs 8 - 38. In standard tuning, that .008 felt like a detuned 9. Actually, it felt like it wasn’t there most of the time. The wound strings couldn’t provide enough resistance to keep me from pulling them sharp when I played power chords. A very odd experience.
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I generally don't like light strings, but a friend brought over an old Flying V. He had a real PAF in the bridge and it was strung .008-.038, super low action. It played like butter and had tone for days.

While I've tried a million different sets and custom gauges, I don't know that I've ever felt anything weird. Even that Zakk Wylde set kind of makes sense if you look at what it's made for. His regular set goes 10-60 for half step down from standard, and 11-70 for whole step down. From there, he'll drop the low string down but leave the others alone.

I used to think regular off the shelf sets were weird because of the inconsistent tension, but building your own sets is expensive and a pain in the ass, so I made my peace with it.
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

JB_From_Hell said:
I used to think regular off the shelf sets were weird because of the inconsistent tension, but building your own sets is expensive and a pain in the ass, so I made my peace with it.
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I agree with you on that, one day I'll make that perfect set, but for every day use on every guitar, I could afford it. For now I just experiment with different sets and brands and keep track of what has and hasn't worked too well and how it affected the tone of the guitar it was on.

If you ever look into one of the pockets on my guitar cases it will have a really boring list with all the information relating to that specific guitar on it, and on the back is a really boring list of its string history and how well they have worked.

It's kind of sad really.
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

Dunlop Wylde set, 10-60.

No idea why I had them.
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

PFDarkside said:
I tried those too! I swear my Epi LP hasn't been the same since.
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I went from those 10-60 to good ole 10-46 in the same guitar. It sounded clearer, more balanced and could be played effortlessly.
No idea what was going on with me.
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

I have 14-65 flats on my Dot a whole step down.
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

Pyramid flats have a .0465 low E. I guess that .0005 makes all the difference in the world.

I've done some of my own weird sets based on some hunches listening to old famous recordings - like mixing acoustic and electric strings, or using vintage nylon core for the low strings, etc. They did what I thought - exactly matched the recordings I was trying to get the tone of.
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

I used to think regular off the shelf sets were weird because of the inconsistent tension, but building your own sets is expensive and a pain in the ass, so I made my peace with it.
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I found a shop here in Finland, that sells custom sets of Curt Mangan strings online for 8€. That's same price that any regular set would cost in any regular shop around here.

I bet someone is selling similar there as well, if you look around...

EDIT: It's american manufacturer after all...
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

Chistopher said:
I agree with you on that, one day I'll make that perfect set, but for every day use on every guitar, I could afford it. For now I just experiment with different sets and brands and keep track of what has and hasn't worked too well and how it affected the tone of the guitar it was on.

If you ever look into one of the pockets on my guitar cases it will have a really boring list with all the information relating to that specific guitar on it, and on the back is a really boring list of its string history and how well they have worked.

It's kind of sad really.
Click to expand...

That's awesome. It's nuts how obsessed I used to be with finding PERFECT string tension. Now, I run 10s or 11s and just have fun playing.
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

10s.

Why play 10s when you can do more with 9s?
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

I had a friend who only would ever use an acoustic 13 set on his electric guitar.
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

Mincer said:
I had a friend who only would ever use an acoustic 13 set on his electric guitar.
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I've tried acoustic strings on electric. I liked it for a change not a regular thing I would do
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

Meh, Steve Vai (who's better than any of us) mostly uses 9's.

Tone comes from within, young padawans :D

Weirdest for me? Some set from what used to be called "Circle K" strings when I drank the koolaid.

But 11-70? I don't care how big your hand are, that is ..... f'ed up.
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

JB_From_Hell said:
I used to think regular off the shelf sets were weird because of the inconsistent tension, but building your own sets is expensive and a pain in the ass, so I made my peace with it.
Click to expand...

It takes less key-punching than it takes to type these here couple sentences.
If you buy bulk-singles from juststings.com the price will end-up being a few$ (after shipping) for custom-sets that are effectively eb slinkies.
The catch is you must buy them in individual-gauge 12pk sleeves,,,,,,,,so you end up with 12 sets at once.

I have two different sets I mainly use so when I order it's a 24 set order and it's always with a discount-code, so I get them for less than $4/set.
No hassle at all and very cheap.


edit:
Might have to make an initial order to get the discount-codes sent via-email, but I'd imagine if a first-timer simply called-in they would apply a 10% or even 15% coupon for making the switch,,,,,,,just tell them that's what it takes to earn you as a new customer.
Once you have your custom sets logged-in the system it will save them, making future orders as simple as a few key touches.

It's literally like a once every year or two thing for me.
 
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Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

When I was starting out with guitar I was into some odd bands and I played 13-68 on my Epi LP Special II and downtuned a lot. I progressively got lower gauges (11-56, 10-52, 10-46) and I'm very happy with just regular 10s now. Don't want to repeat that "phase".
 
Re: What are the weirdest gauge strings you've ever played on?

I've got a pack of these in my string box right now, just waiting to be used;

101948000000000-00-500x500.jpg


Normally I play a .010-.052 set and down 1/2 step.

I've played an SG with ernie ball .008-.038 sets before - not my thing but I could do an entire set in legato and with hammer-on/pull-offs if I wanted to. :D

I tried a Yngwie Stra that was set up with wat I believe was his preferred gauge of strings, which was .009-.048 or something like that. Coupled up with the scalloped board, it definitely took some getting used to.
 
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