Who said light strings are not good for blues and slide? Billy Gibbons uses .07's so that about blows those statements out of the water. Strings are a preference thing and that is about it. Sure it's easier to bend certain strings and some sound longer but you can hand me a big jazz box with .13 round wounds and with in five minutes I'd be perfectly comfortable with it and have an idea of whats going to work and how much effort it will take.
Hmm extra light strings, easier to bend, but not so good for slide? I dunno, Im new to this, never tried other than standard strings. I like blues so would extra lights be no good for that? Strings are a mystery to me!
It's all how you like playing. For me...now this is for ME, mind you...I just can't get the taste from my fingers out of heavy gauge sets. My bends stop short, my vibrato doesn't reach the right bookends, and the harmonics just don't get to the top of the ladder. But that's ME, talkin' here. For the life of me I can't even think of a .13 as a high E...unless I'm around a campfire trying Koom Bayh Ah and I want Bigfoot to hear it! :roll:
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
Cat, I'm just curious.....you buy strings in bulk, yes? So how much do you actually pay per set? Don't worry about posting it in Australian Dollars, there are plenty of free currency converters on the 'net.
I know professional gigging musicians have new strings for every gig....must be hard work being Keef's (to take a random example) roadie, he uses anything up to 10 guitars per gig.
Now at the moment, I'm at the extreme low end of the poverty line....looking for a job, but there aren't many about. I'm on jobseekers allowance, and I'm getting the princely sum of £50.17 per week to live on. About £15 of that is going on electric and gas, and another £10 on phone/broadband/TV (going halves with my daughter.) Said daughter is giving me money for food and rent, but after necessary outgoings I'm left with about £10 per week for luxuries....a set of strings is £6. How often do you think I can afford to change strings on two guitars?
At the moment, I have exactly one good pair of shoes, two pairs of jeans - and with a 36" inside leg measurement, I can only get Wranglers or Levis to fit me. They cost around £50 a pair over here. I have got one decent coat....praying the current sunny weather holds up for a couple of days so's I can wash and dry it.
I do have a small pension I've been cashing in since I was 50 - works out at £10 per week, I take it twice yearly in January and July. For the last few years, it's been my guitar money....new amp, new strings, whatever. This year, due to my much reduced circumstances, it'll have to go on clothing and overdue bills. I'll be lucky if I can afford two new sets of strings by the time I've finished!
So you see, you've got to understand how the other half lives. I couldn't live without my guitars....but it's hard work finding the money for essentials, never mind new strings every few hours. I'm not jealous of your success - you've worked hard for it, you deserve it, and as they say in your part of the world, "good on yer, mate!"
But try and remember not all of us have the luxury of being able to change strings willy-nilly after every few hours of wear - it's not just the unemployed (unemployable, feels like at the moment!) like me, it's the people with mortgages and kids (and maybe ex-wives and alimony) and bills to pay who are feeling the pinch at the moment.
:D :D :D
(Still smiling even though we're in the grip of a recession and a conservative government....)
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Difficult times indeed.
I buy my strings in bulk. I like nickle strings and that is about my only requirement (besides relative gauge) so I shop around and see who has deals going on, sometimes factory direct sometimes promotions but usually juststrings.com. With shipping I pay about $2.50 a set or about 1.60 GBP. Guiatr fetish has inexpensive single sets but probably not overseas. If I might suggest, Whenever I buy anything at a guitar store I make them throw in some strings, the more money I spend the more strings I ask for. I recently picked up an old synth and I low-balled the guy, when he came back with his number I said, Okay but you'll have to throw in some strings. And I ended up with a 6 set pack of Fenders which probably cost the store all of $10.
Cat, I'm just curious.....you buy strings in bulk, yes? So how much do you actually pay per set? ....but it's hard work finding the money for essentials, never mind new strings every few hours. But try and remember not all of us have the luxury of being able to change strings willy-nilly after every few hours of wear - it's not just the unemployed (unemployable, feels like at the moment!) like me, it's the people with mortgages and kids (and maybe ex-wives and alimony) and bills to pay who are feeling the pinch at the moment.
Hiya, Vic...
Answers, one by one, I guess:
$4.96 per set of six strings...$10.92 for 12 string sets...(in AuD) times 100 units each...PLUS 10% GST on that...but it's all a deduction due to the tax write down on all consumables. Geez, Vic, maybe 50 or 60% of them I have for other session players to use (.009 and .10 too) of which I re-sell for $25 a set on their billings. (Mind you, I couldn't get these prices until I sent a bona fide letter that I was not a retailer...but the "in house" sales are quite okay.)
"Willy nilly"??? Nope. It's a recording studio business. That's what ya need so that's what ya get. You just can NOT re-EQ things EXACTLY as they were before without just simply replacing the strings...it's easier, and at five bucks...less spent that way than on studio time.
Take a good listen to ANYBODY that's got something out on the charts...ALL new strings. On everything. BELIEVE THIS: If you are in a studio and you fully realize that what you are going to put down is going "out there" to millions...and you will be hearing it on the radio for the rest of your life...you WILL use new strings.
Besides...super lights don't have ANY longevity...zip...nada...zilch. It's a pain in the nether region to change them out so often...but, yet again...it's a business. Like a butcher sharpening his knife so often or like Madame Fifi douching in between "customers"!
Your point's well taken, Matey. I've been there...on a couch or on a basement sofa...or living in a parachute in the desert. Other than doing my music...I know I'm an uneducated bum...and thank Ye Olde Gods that I can actually get paid for writing stuff that is actually annoying...but sells crap, anyway! Actually, yeah...lucky...grateful...all those things that still cause me to shake my head and maybe wake up out of a dream. Yep. The money's good. But don't think I got here any other way than The Braille Method!!! I was a dumb hippy when opportunity knocked...and I answered the door...that's all. Geez, I'm 61 now, Vic!
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
Sorry about your hard times Vic. Hope the economy turns for you.
Cat,
So I tried the extra slinkys on both my Tele and LP, and I think I'm happy with the way the Tele plays with the extra lights, the "bend-a-bility" is awesome! But I'm thinking about going up to Hybrid or super slinky on the LP for the heavier sound.
To me, the sheilded humbucker needs to be "hit" a little harder for that hard rock sound anyway. Again I'm just ameture level, so new strings are nice but not crucial.
You need to sort out more precise gauges...which is why I usually dig into the 12-string sets to come up with the right metal mass for the pickup I use: ARP Avatar, EAD/GBE split pickup...panned far L & R...where I usually need a heavier D. Somewhere previous in this thread Iisted Ernie's gauges and set numbers.
There's a point to understand...if you are up to sorting through gauges to suit what you intend upon playing...you are decidedly in a good place with your guitar playing, matey!
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
There's a point to understand...if you are up to sorting through gauges to suit what you intend upon playing...you are decidedly in a good place with your guitar playing, matey!
If "touch sensitivity" equals "a good place with your guitar playing," then yes....
If you string with .008s and can't play a guitar with .009s, are you any better off than someone like me who strings with .012s and can't play with .009s?
Take a good listen to ANYBODY that's got something out on the charts...ALL new strings. On everything. BELIEVE THIS: If you are in a studio and you fully realize that what you are going to put down is going "out there" to millions...and you will be hearing it on the radio for the rest of your life...you WILL use new strings.
Nope. I don't believe that, at least. It is strictly a matter of taste. (Unless you're using spider webs for strings, or you're even more obsessive-compulsive than I am, in which case you will need to change them after every take.)
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
I noticed that when I restrung my Fender acoustic after a long lay off I really noticed a difference in tone! And the strings were old Fender standards that came free with the guitar when bought in 2004!
If I go blind guide me. If I go deaf shoot me
http://mymusictree.blogspot.co.uk
Take a good listen to ANYBODY that's got something out on the charts...ALL new strings. On everything. BELIEVE THIS: If you are in a studio and you fully realize that what you are going to put down is going "out there" to millions...and you will be hearing it on the radio for the rest of your life...you WILL use new strings.
New strings to me, make a Guitar come alive with brightness and tone. Like after changing strings I find myself saying "I can't believe how much better this thing sounds"....like evey time
New strings to me, make a Guitar come alive with brightness and tone. Like after changing strings I find myself saying "I can't believe how much better this thing sounds"....like evey time
No question about it. New .012s on my guitars are a wonderful experience. It lasts about 45 minutes. Then they start to fade. Do they fade enough to matter on a top-10 single? I really don't know. The difference however between old .012s and old .008s needs no discussion, I think.
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
Well your certainly right about that, .008s been on guitar about 2-3mos now and they're sounding seriously bad.
Unfortunately they go to crap pretty quick. It's a big down side, but...there ya go! You CAN wipe them down with a linen cloth (no lint) and isopropyl but don't get any on the fretboard (slide cardboard under the strings). Still, change-outs are usally easier.
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
......in which case you will need to change them after every take.
Well, not EVERY take...but pretty often, maybe a half-hour of playing. When the engineer starts re-EQing the board because the guitar's dulling a bit...a change-out's due. Hey, this is what a pro does.
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
I know the new Roto's come with an extra E string. And it really, to me, is the unwound strings that spoil the punch first. But, cats right on. In a studio session I change before we start, and most often halfway through too. I can absolutely hear the difference in the strings from the first take to, say the forth take. Being accustomed to playing freshy's makes playing fading strings unbearable. On the otherhand if my guitar is sitting around the house I can play it for some time without it bothering me, but not through an amp. Like many things with guitars; if your getting by without it, you don't need it.
