I did a search to avoid re-posting what I thought may have been discussed already, but did not find anything quite like this...
I am curious as to what strings, in your experience, bring out what quality in tone, use and in general in an electric. For example, I use Ernie Ball Beefy Slinky (11/54) and have always loved the tone and heavy chunk it brings out for rhythm. I found it harder to play leads, though, as much as I love the tone. It is just seems to make it more difficult with a heavier string. I don't know if it is my inexperience (only been playing hardcore two years, less focus on electric lead since I am usually a soloist) makes it harder to hit those notes with a more beefy string, or if it is just how it works with such an intense string.
Any ideas or thoughts on strings, not just in the box of this comment, would be great to hear. Spill that knowlede!
-MG
well, the heavier the string the greater the tension and thus the greater difficulty in bending strings. that said, Stevie Ray Vaughan used 13's and he didn't seem to have any problem beinding a tone and a half....
I used 10's because I'm into blues and I'm into tone. Apparently heavier strings = better tone, though there's undoubtedl other people on this forum who could explain the physics behind that better than I. I'd like to move up to 11's at least, but I have too much trouble bending strings with my wussy girl hands. :lol:
I use Ernie Ball Slinkys because they last the longest, in my experience. I was fortunate enough to be given a whole box of Fender Bullets a few years back, for my strat (the ball-end is a bullet-end instead and is supposed to help tuning stability, and tone, since there's less friction between string and bridge), and I much preferred how they felt to play, but they snapped more easily than my Slinkys (again, my experience, others may find differently) and they'd, um, 'die' more quickly than the Slinkys, but they sounded better than the Slinkys when they were still fresh. I just can't afford to be replacing my strings as frequently as Bullets would force me to.
A whole bunch of players use 9's, including my fave axeman, Jeff Beck. I'm pretty sure my first guitar was strung with 9's, but since making the move to 10's ages ago, 9's feel really loose and sound weedy to me - I feel like the guitar is strung with elastic bands, lol. But, for some reason, they sound fine when Jeff Beck uses them. :roll:
And for the record, Hendrix must have used 10s, or 11s - he criticised JB's use of 9's and I'm sure I've read things which referred to him usin 10s or 11s. I'm pretty certain he didn't use 9's though.
As for acoustic, I'm still searing - the D'Addario 80/20's that my Ibanez came with sounded killer at first, realy dark and moody. But after a week or so they'd died completely, so I'm probably gonna experiment with some other brands. I've got some Ernie Ball Acoustic strings which will be the replacement strings I use.
Strings!
Ooh, I can't wait for this thread to get goin'! :twisted:
Hmmmm - Yeah... Heavier is suppose to = more TONE.
I've not found that to be the case, personally.
When I was playing a lot (in my early 20's), I had moved up to 11's on my Strat
and had pushed the action up even furthur than most people have their slide guitars set up with.
It was quite frankly, a tonal disapointment.
Not to mention extremely exhausting to play for any length of time.
To my ear, heavier strings have a 'thuddy' sound to them.... They lack the crispness of thinner strings.
I want something that goes - 'Chuka Chuka', like Joe Walsh in the James Gang....
Not 'Thuda Thuda' like SRV and his [extremely] annoyingly Bassy tone.
Yes, SRV did use heavy strings.... He also detuned his guitars a 1/2 step.
Same with Cobain - very heavy strings; alternate tunings.
I would say that over the years, my favorite string gauge has been 10's (on a Fender).
I say 'on a Fender' because scale length plays an important part in determining people's preference for string gauge.
Strat/Tele's have a 25.5" scale length, where as LP/SG's have 24.75 (I believe?)
The longer the scale, the greater the tension on the string = the harder to play.
That's why Fenders are said to be notoriously harder to play than Gibbos.
If you had a Strat and a Les Paul, chances are that you might like 10's on yer Strat and 11's on yer LP.
To better understand how this works - Take a Strat and detune it a full step, then place a capo up two frets to bring it back
to standard concert pitch.... Much easier to play.
By doing that, you've effectively shortened the scale length of the guitar.
And there's probably going to be a change in the tonality as well.
Anyway - Each guitar needs to be set up properly to play at the desired 'action' for each different string gauge.
If your guitar came with 9's and you liked how it 'played', then switch to 10's and find it harder to play.... you need only
to adjust the action to make it easier to play.
I can adjust my Strat to play as easy as can be.... I can't play it that way because I'll press down too hard on the strings
when making chords and push it all out of tune, and when playing leads I'll end up doing quaduple bends!
So I adjust till I have a bit of 'fight' in my bends.... That's how I like it.
Doesn't matter what the string gauge is - I can get it to that perfect point.
It's the tonal difference that leads me to play thinner strings.
I'm with Scrybe - I DO NOT like Fender Bullet strings.
They break way too easy for some reason.... Besides, I don't need them; they're made to stay in tune better when used with
Strat vibrato tails.... which I have on my Strat's, I just don't utilize them.
As far as string material goes - I like PURE NICKEL half rounds.
They have less of that cheap tinny sound that most people associate with thinner strings.
And the half rounds feel nicer to the touch.
As for acoustics - I use DR 'Rare' Phosphor-Bronze Hex core Compression wound Lite/Med strings.
Anything lighter is too cheap sounding, anything heavier is too thuddy.
My acoustic has a 25.25" scale.
They sound incredible!
They don't last too long though.
Anyway - I've rattled on long enough....
I'm sure lot's of people will have lots to say here 8)
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
"Heavier strings = better tone" isn't true always.
I believed that stuff for years and on my Johnson Tricone resonator I went all the way up to a custom set I put together with each string gauged as big as I thought I could get away with at the pitch (or the higher of the two pitches where they differed) it would be tuned to in Open D or Open G. Ended up being .017-.070". Funny thing, it didn't sound any better, have more volume or significantly better sustain than with lighter strings like the .016-.056" Martin Bluegrass Resonator Guitar strings I'd previously used. As I've been used to using nickel 12s on my electrics, I decided to put some of those on the tricone. Lo and behold, it sounded better to me than it did with any of the heavier strings! Heavier string gauge = increased tension at any given pitch. Greater string tension = greater download force on the cone(s) of a resonator guitar (or the top of an acoustic guitar.) Heavier download force preloading the cone(s) or top means that the compliance of the cone(s) (or top) is reduced, so the movement produced by a given vibrational force of the string is less. It's also an asymmetrical effect with the compliance reduced more in downward deflection than upward, so it produces increased second harmonic distortion that you may or may not like, but it definitely decreases bass response a bunch. There's an ideal amount of preload force, and I think it's often less than you think. I have an Epiphone Blues Master parlor guitar that sounds terrific with 9s on it. My Gibson SJ-200 Pete Townshend Special Edition was shipped to me strung with 10s, and Gibson packed 10 extra sets of 10s in with it. Obviously they think that's the optimal gauge for a big Jumbo. At the moment I have 12s on it that I put on for ease of sliding, but I can't tell that the bigger strings produced any sort of improvement in tone or volume.
On an electric guitar fatter strings produce a stronger signal in the pickup than skinny ones. That lets you set the pickups lower for the same signal strength, and you'll generally get a clearer tone with a greater distance between the strings and pickups. But they're harder to fret and bend, and you have to set the action higher to keep them from buzzing, which makes fretting and bending even harder.
There are a couple of situations where light gauge strings are disadvantageous. If they're slack enough, the bass strings get hard to tune just right, buzz easily on the fretboard and generally sound flabby. Also, rather slack strings when picked hard go considerably sharp right after the pick attack, with the pitch descending as the vibration decays. That happens with EVERY plucked string, but it's more noticeable as the string tension decreases. For similar reasons, the overtones of a string go progressively sharper relative to the fundamental frequency as they go up the harmonic series. That's more noticeable in slack strings and the harmonics are most closely in tune right before the string is stretched to the breaking point. Some golden eared tone freaks may be able to hear that.
But generally, string gauge seems to be a good thing to practice moderation on, and on the light side of moderate may be better in many cases.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Good notes about tuning down... I think a lot of people forget that the most extreme users of heavy strings (11+) detune. Nice thing is, you can generally capo up and end up right back in standard, which I do a lot on my acoustics. I like that deep, low tone of dropping down a whole step with heavy Martin Marquis on... I don't always play that way, but I do it enough to mention.
-MG
I like D'Addario blues/rock 11's on my Teles.
Great tone and they stay in tune & don't break.
JJ
Ok, this is a strings thread. (no pun intended)
Anyone else want to give a dissertation on strings?
My God, if I ever go beyond 10's I think I will be struck by lightening!
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
nice notes Ricochet, made for an interesting read.
I got the JB comment wrong, btw, he did used to use 9's but I read somewhere the other day he's since moved up to 11-49
I tried a highway 1 tele last week which had been strung with 9's and it made for a terrible experience - the guitar felt like garbage anyway, but the strings were abysmal. they felt like elastic bands and they did create a noticebly (sp?) thin tone.
I think I'll stick with 10's by and large, maybe some 11's for my Epi LP and acoustics.
