9s, 10s, or beyond?

[Hellraiser6502]

Used to be 9's on everything.

Over the years as I improved, I started breaking a lot of strings.

So I switched to 10-52's and never looked back.

I just bought an OEM (D'Addario) 144 set bulk package...so I guess I'm 'set' for awhile.

[mr426]

I went to 10s about 20 years ago and stayed there. Last year I was in a band that tunned to drop C and the 10s did not stay in tune well, so I went to 12's. I liked how they sounded, but bending them was lame. Im not in that band and we play half step down so I went back to 10s and love them. Another thing was when I would play hard with the 12s on my string thrus, they would pop out of the saddle.Bah....

[vampire dark]

well from my little experience the 10s are not the ones to use if you would like to be playing rock n roll and heavy metalunless you are a rythm guitarist ......it makes it easier for you with 9s to go soloing and 10s feel like not that flexible causing pain at your fingers

[VitaminG]

I use 9s on my 25 1/2 scales, 10s on my 24 3/4 scales.

me too. Although I have 11s on my Model 1A tuned down a half-step.

well from my little experience the 10s are not the ones to use if you would like to be playing rock n roll and heavy metalunless you are a rythm guitarist ......it makes it easier for you with 9s to go soloing and 10s feel like not that flexible causing pain at your fingers

That's why I always have a guitar tech standing just off stage. When I switch from playing rhythm to lead, I hand off my guitar strung with 12s tuned down to G# and he hands me a guitar strung with 8s. As you can imagine, it gets REALLY busy on songs where I'm playing a lot of fills! I do the same thing with picks, because as EVERYONE knows, 3.0mm Stubbies are teh shit for lead playing, but I have to grab an .88 when I go back to rhythm playing. The tech just tucks the appropriate pick under the strings of each guitar as he hands them to me.

[vector]

I use 10's on all my floyds. l dig the feel and tone. TBH though, I actually think floyds work best with 9's. l'm sure others will beg to differ but.....thats what l have found and l have only ever played gits with floyds.....

+1. All my guits are Floyd-ed and all but 2 are tuned down to D #. I use 9's on all of 'em except a project RR Ex. That has 9's with a 52 for the E and sounds heavy as shit.
FWIW- playing style and tonal preference dictate which string gauge to go with.

[1994]

Guitarist magazine has a running feature on string gauges. On the back of an interview with Billy Gibbons (who revealed he uses 8s) 3 writers have changed from their regular string gauge to something different. None of them decided to make a permanent change to a new gauge - most of us are creatures of habit (I have always use 9s). But having said that I'm thinking of setting up an old Ibanez up with 11s and tuning down a whole step as an experiment.

[Patt]

I started using 9's in the old days then moved to 10's when i joined a group that plays in e flat. Now I use 11's in e flat and love it. Took a while to get used to it but I love the stiffer feel and think it helps alternate picking.

Now I use 11's on everything despite the tuning: Jacksons, Teles, Grestches, etc. Never got into the bigger gauge=better tone thing but like the feel.

Patt

[aggro242]

I always had 10s on my Strat. And 9s on my Jackson.
I use the Strat to play classical and blues. The Jackson for the heavier stuff.
I decided to try a set of my 9s on the Strat.
I ended up still satisfied with the tone and have decided to keep them.

[alphadog808]

Thanks for the input guys...I'm still not 100% sure the strings are 10s or 9s, but they really feel like the 10s I have on the Gibson...but I've been wrong before...Besides the possible tone change, I'm just kinda worried I'll get so used to 9s that when I got back to the lps, I'll hate the 10s...?

Also, kinda surprised that some guys here said that going to 9s made their tone chunkier. I always thought thicker was chunkier...maybe I've been looking at it wrong..

9 is the stock strings for the charvels, right?

[toejam]

Also, kinda surprised that some guys here said that going to 9s made their tone chunkier. I always thought thicker was chunkier...maybe I've been looking at it wrong..

9 is the stock strings for the charvels, right?

Jacksons and Charvels should come stock with 9s. I also believe the thicker the gauge, the thicker the tone. Also, with thinner gauge strings, the more buzzing you'll have than with thicker gauges.

[neptoess]

Tite Fit 10-52 E Standard for any scale length. Also, the guitar does resonate better and intonate better with higher string tension. The light top heavy bottom thing is entirely preference though. I like it better.

[themisfit138]

I use 9s on my 25 1/2 scales, 10s on my 24 3/4 scales.

I second this!

[neptoess]

Unless you play really light, 9s are gonna be too floppy to get nice action. I was so glad switching to 10s on my ibanez

[chuckbat]

9'S on Floyd guitars, 10'S or thicker on fixed bridge deals...

[ginsambo]

9's on a 25 1/2 and 10's on a Gibson/BC Rich/Fusion Scale x 3

...And five (New and tight) inline springs on the trem and a brass block.