27" scale up 2 semitones (to F#4) - 8 gauge ideal?

[_RH_]

Hey all, hope you had a great New Years. A question about string tension and durability: I'm hoping to tune a 27" scale up to F#4.

The Stringjoy calculator says gauge 8 leads to 16.1lbs, 8.5 leads to 18.2lbs, 9 leads to 20.4lbs, and 9.5 leads to 22.7lbs. For someone who plays with a relatively light touch and doesn't often bend more than half steps, which would you suggest to maximize string life (to a unit of months rather than hours)? My limited experience makes me think 8 would be susceptible to burrs, kinks, etc. Thanks!

 

[JimF]

I haven't tried this myself, however I did do a similar spot of research.
I too have a 27" seven string guitar and was looking to use it in my bands tuning of Drop C but with an extra high string - tuned CGCFADG. I think that equates to being 3 semitones up.
I believe the gauge I ended up with for the high string was a .0075 to match the same feel as 0.009 tuned to E on a 25.5" scale.
So I ended up presuming I'd use a 0.008 for that and most likely not noticed the difference, but I ended up using that guitar to re-record some A-standard tracks, so didn't experiment with the tuning.

I'm not familiar with the Stringjoy calculator, but this is the one I've been using:

Winspear Gauge Wizard

www.winspearinstrumental.com

 

[Winspear]

The lower poundage load is directly corelated with increased weakness of the string. Not to say there might not be some real world differences in durability, but theoretically any string will be at the same % of its breaking tension so use whatever feels and sounds good. I'd go for the 8 as anything else will be too tight for me. I found individually adjustable polepieces very useful to counteract the low volume below 9 gauge.