String Gauge and Tone and Feel

[frankencat]

I have been thinking about this for a while and it seems to me that all things being equal, different string gauges have a different sound and obviously a different feel. For instance, I went to 10's years ago because I liked the fatter louder tone I got from them and I have been playing them ever since. Before that I used 9's and I have some recordings from back then and one of the things I noticed is that the notes in chords blend together better and they sound less in your face overall which in certain cases works really well with overdrive. Maybe even better than heavier strings. 10's on the other hand give me more of an immediate sound, more spank and you can hear more string in the sound even with heavy od. I like the way 10's feel and I am very used to them but I played a couple of guitars lately with 9's and I can definitely see where it would be an advantage to have lighter strings for certain stuff like really fast legato style playing especially with lots of bends. Not that it can't be done on heavier strings. In fact, I do it all the time. Which brings me to my point, what if we started looking as string gauges as another tool to be used for a different approach maybe as opposed to the old mindset of using the heaviest string gauge you can comfortably play for "better" tone. If we can try to stay away from the notion of one gauge being "better" than another, let's have a conversation about what the differences are and what impact and uses it might have on our own playing styles, etc. What say you?

[CheezerRox]

Well, I started out with 9's because it was what my guitar came with. I kept the 9's for one more string change, and then got 11's. Little bit different, I guess, and I probably just don't have well enough trained ears, but I don't think string gauge makes much of a difference. I guess I'm just a bad tone freak, haha.

Would love to hear others' opinions, though, because it's an interesting topic and my opinion is just my opinion.

[JoeyHarley]

string guage (and tension) makes a HUGE difference in tone. bigger strings=more tone...there's more metal moving causing more vibrations in the air. and since they're at a higher tension, it's actually easier to bend. you don't have to move the string as far to go the same interval. so once you get your hand strength up, you'll be able to bend farther.

small strings...sound small. and weak to me. and after years and years of playing 11's and 12's i either break them with the pick or pull them apart bending. and there's no sound you can get out of 9's that I can't get out of 11's, it's all in the way you attack the string.

btw, when i say 11's i'm speaking .011-.054's. i'd rather use .011-.064, but i can't find 'em except for with a wound g. don't want a wound g.

[chervokas]

I don't agree that it's inherently true that "bigger strings=more tone."

Personally I hate the feel of .09s... I play .010s and .011-.050s variously on different guitars and I find the difference in tone between those gauges not that different (however I need at least .011-.050 to get good action and intonation on guitars I tune down even just to open G). I found a much bigger difference in tone (and feel) came from going from steel wound to pure nickel wound, and from hex core to round core.

The more nickel in the winding on the wound strings the less they magnetically drive the pickups, the more steel the more they drive the pickups. There's a continuum of "hotness" from low to high when go from pure nickel, to nickel wrapped, to steel. A pure nickel set of .011s will sound much less "hot" than a steel wound set of .010s and probably even .09s (at least without pickup height adjustment).

Also when wound strings are wound on round core instead of hex core they're much slinkier for a given gauge. Round core .050 low Es are way slinky and easy to bend, pop and chicken pick, for example. Everything makes a difference of course, but it all acts as a system--action adjustments at the bridge and truss rod, string gauge, pickup height, pickup output, string composition, a given player's attack, pick gauge, etc. I don't think you can make sweeping generalizations about string gauge and tone especially on electric guitars. Plenty of players with great tone play .010s and even .09s. Others like to rock .013s.

[thesjkexperienc]

I disagree with the bigger strings more tone. Different tone, yes.

Big strings are snappy and piano like, huge output, but dont sustain as well.

Small strings are rubbery and fat sounding, lower output and sustain well.

I like the typical 10 set on the plain strings and an 11 set on the wound strings, but since it is such a pita I go with a 10 set.

[JoeyHarley]

cher-->totally right about materials and cores. i should've worded it differently to include that the wrap and core's on the theoretical strings i'm comparing are identical.

andthes...big strings don't sustain well? what've you been smoking and not sharing? string gauge has nothing to do with sustainability. setup and technique are what give you sustain.

guys, it's a simple scientific fact (assuming wrap and core materials are the same)...more string=more mass=more material vibrating the air=more moving air=more sound/tone

am i saying you have bad tone with light strings? by no means. hendrix played with .008's from what i've read. stevie 13's. mike mccready and stone gossard with 11's. i think gilmour uses 10's, but don't quote me. so good tone doesn't come from heavier strings, but more tone does. notice the more....if your tone's bad, then you're gonna get more bad tone out of heavier strings.

[250k]

I use to subscribe to the "only heavy strings sound good" rule. I have since learned that some guitars respond better with lighter strings. I have many different guitars and use all different gauges. On some guitars, like my strat for instance, 11's don't work on that guitar as well as 10's. 11's make the notes sound dull and choked. They don't sustain as long. Put 10's on that guitar and it comes to life in every way. On my Gibson es225 10's sound puny and thin. 11's wake that guitar up. On my Silvertone 1464 flatwounds sound better than roundwound 10's. 10's work on my pauls and teles. and on and on. I think it's a guitar by guitar basis.

[wcmiller]

so good tone doesn't come from heavier strings, but more tone does. notice the more....if your tone's bad, then you're gonna get more bad tone out of heavier strings.

Interesting, very spinal tap-esque, well done.

[Lolaviola]

I think 10's are good for me. I also think you need to pay attention to pick thickness when switching to heavier strings; do you need a heavier pick?

[gigs]

I think 10's are good for me. I also think you need to pay attention to pick thickness when switching to heavier strings; do you need a heavier pick?

I use 11-50 (GHS) strings on my strat and les paul. They have a better sound than thinner strings and stay in tune better when bending alot. I really like the way 11's bend, they kind of push-back on you which lets me control bends better. Allows me to be very aggressive with pick attack and bends. I use the heaviest tortex pick from dunlop (the purple one).

Only problem is, when I play guitars in shops or from friends, the lighter strings feel like wet noodles and I have to adjust how I play or it gets out of control. If a guitar has 9's on them, I just put it down.

[Jef Bardsley]

I'm not sure that you can't get equal tone from lighter strings simply by raising the pickups.

And if you've reached the point where tone is in your fingers, then more control over lighter strings should give you even more tone. If you haven't, why make it harder?

Granted, simply changing from 9's to 10's may produce a better sound, but if just changing strings with no other adjustments is the limit of your skills, then you have a way to go. And for you youngun's on an SRV kick, you haven't heard the whole story - he didn't live long enough to get arthritis or tendonitus.

[itgoesto11uc]

Good points, 250k. I use 11's with 24.75" scale and 10's with 25.5" scale but I noticed something a while back when I changed the strings on an SG I bought. The SG had lighter strings on it when I got it and after changing to 11's, it does seem to have less sustain although I haven't switched back to lighter strings yet to see.

[DøøG]

Totally a 9 guy here. Played some LP's with 10's, can hang with that, but still like the 9's better. I tried all sorts of gauges (even 12's for a year or so), and 9's work for me the best. I do a bit of legato playing and a lot of multiple string bending, so it works for me. Difference in tone, you bet. I like 9's for me more....

[JoeyHarley]

lola-->use the heaviest pick you can, regardless of string size. the thicker the pick, the less "snapback" you get, and that gives you more dynamic control. by "snapback" i mean..how to explain without visuals...take a skinny pick, and start to bend it at the tip. you'll notice you reach a certain point where the pick snaps out of the bend and goes back to straight. this happens on your strings as you attack them too. there's a point where it doesn't matter how much pressure you're using, you're gonna get the same action from your pick as it "snaps". heavier picks don't do this, giving you far more dynamic control in your picking hand. try it, you'll be surprised!

gigs-->same here on guitar shop guitars. everytime i'm serious about buying one, first thing i ask is "can i put some real strings on here?". and isn't the purple one the 1.14mm? I'm using 2.0's and they're black??

jef->raising the pickups has the oppisite effect. the closer you put the pickups to the strings, the more the magnets pull the string in one direction. it makes them vibrate less, taking away sound/tone and sustain.

11->you might need to drop the pickups a touch. it's not much of a difference, but 11's put on a guitar set for 9's are going to be a touch closer to the pickups. if you were already on that threshold between too close and just right, then putting on the bigger strings may have pushed you over that edge into the territory where the pickups are too close.

[jazzfromhell]

I think thicker strings only makes a positive difference if you use a clean/cleanish sound (everything from jazz up to an SRV-type tone). With distortion it just tends to get loose, muddy and woofy. Just for ME, and the type of tone I like, not saying it´s rule or anything. EVH, Ty Tabor and Dimebag all had/has some of my fave tones and they all used pretty wimpy strings. It all depends on what you´re after.

[Bluewail]

A while back I tried the GHS Eric Johnson sig set. They are Nickel Rockers, which are a rolled Nicket woud string with guages 10, 13, 18, 26, 38, 50. I do like the feel of the rolled string. What I love, and its probably not unique to this brand, is the heavier G, A and low E strings. For the way I play it's the perfect cure for what I hear as the weakness of a normal set of 10's. The G string is not wimpy and the A and E have a lot more snap. 11's overall are too much for me but this is a great compromise.

[frankencat]

Bump.

[DT7]

A while back I tried the GHS Eric Johnson sig set. They are Nickel Rockers, which are a rolled Nicket woud string with guages 10, 13, 18, 26, 38, 50. I do like the feel of the rolled string. What I love, and its probably not unique to this brand, is the heavier G, A and low E strings. For the way I play it's the perfect cure for what I hear as the weakness of a normal set of 10's. The G string is not wimpy and the A and E have a lot more snap. 11's overall are too much for me but this is a great compromise.

I've tried just about all of 'em. 9's...9/10's...10's...11's...and by just about every manufacturer out there, including Snake Oil strings. I started really listening to both the amplified and unamplified sounds of the guitar to hear what strings most completely (struggling for the right words here) reproduce what the guitar wants to say. No false highs (like the tinny sound you get with the EXL110 wound strings) and no lows with no definition of body (like you get with flat-wound strings). After this, I settled on the Nickel Rockers as having the best balance that yields the most vocal quality. Then it became a matter of fine tuning. I couldn't settle between the 10's and 11's, and was never happy with the A-string (which is a 36 in both GHS sets). Then the EJ set came out and it was spot on (10's on my Strat). The only thing I'll change is, if the pups on my guitar have a G-string pole-piece the same height as the D-string, I'll change out the plain 18 on the G-string for a plain 17. This helps even things out in that situation and brings back a little of the sting I miss when I use the 18 there. As mentioned above, the EJ set is a near-perfect cure for the weaknesses of a normal set of 10s on a Strat with vintage-stagger single coils. If your pups have a flush set of pole-pieces, the bass may become a bit overpowering with this set. A shorter scale guitar would also have a different set of ideal guages...I haven't finished working it out yet. I should also note that I have a light touch...and playing style has an effect on what strings are going to sound best for you. (In other words, YMMV.)

[kjbarnett]

11's, D'Addario pure nickel, tuned down a half step.

[Structo]

I'm waiting for the Billy Gibbons quote.

[JeffOlson]

I'm waiting for the Billy Gibbons quote.

Brian May, Ingwie Malmsteen...

[JeffOlson]

Personally, I use 9s, 10s, 11s, 12s, and 13s. It depends upon the sound and feel I am striving for. It also depends upon the guitar, its scale length, whether it is acoustic or electric and solid-body or hollow-body, the particular pickups, etc. (I use my heaviest strings on a long-scale acoustic I use for finger-style.)

Pick size and material also make a huge difference to tone.

I really don't think there are any hard-and-fast rules other than let your ears (and fingers) be your guide.