Are guitar string gauges overlooked too?

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

I know maybe I should of have added this to my previous post about picks being overlooked lol.
Some say up the gauge when u down tune because it will sound muddy or muffled and the strings will have less tension which will make your technique suffer. But Evh used 9-40 in Eb. I wonder if he used that 40 when he dropped to Db?

So anyone here does the same as Evh and gets a big tone?

 

[Dumple Stilzkin]

I prefer the sound of lighter strings for my style of playing. On my 6’s I go typically go 9-46. My 7’s are 10-59. That’s for standard tuning. For a long time I used a 9-56 set tuned to standard on my 7 and enjoyed that, but wanted a slight increase in tension. When the strings were too easy to play I found my technique became a bit more lazy. I don’t want the strings to fight me, so I upped it just a touch and it’s ideal.
I know there’s quite a few on this board that like thick strings, but for me they just don’t sound good to me when I play them.

 

[c7spheres]

I'm a fat string player 11-70 on a 7 tuned Bb standard. - I think you should get what is most beneficial for how you want things to react, feel, and play on that specific guitar. Great tone can be had with fat or thin gauges.

- I know many people that prefer thin strings and low action and still get big tones. - The main difference is how the guitar chokes out and responds to pick/hand pressure etc. Basically play lighter on thin strings. They choke out if picking to hard (especially on palm mutes), but that's another desirable tone/dynamic too. - In that case the amp pumps different than with fat strings.
-Do it with fat strings and high action and the guitar itself will punch back more rather than choke out and the amp will punch different. Basically there's a center line of dynamic you find between the guitar and it's choke point and the amps punch point too depending on the setup. This is all offset by your own playing too along with things like pickup height and pole piece height, pick gauge, material type, shape, etc.

- Everything matters.

 

[Chris Bowsman]

Sometimes I like the fat string tone, sometimes I like the bite of thin ones.

Ty Tabor is another thin strings guy. That "Dogman" tone is 9-42 tuned down to C or C# or whatever.

 

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

I also have another post where I mention that I get pain on two of my fingers when using 10s and not 9s. I asked my self these acoustic players are using a heavier gauge in standard tuning! and I can’t play with 10s!?
What I find out when using 10s is that I was still using unnecessary tension on my felt hand. So it’s been pain free for 3 days using 10s. I guess with 9s I wasn’t noticing that extra tension or something. I still have to file the nut but I won’t because I’ll be going backs to 9s because I like the feel. but hey, maybe that myth about start with acoustic and then switch to electric is true? I think, not because it will make you stronger, maybe because you will learn to play without tension? Of course a good benefit is callouses.

 

[Baelzebeard]

String gauge threads come up all the time. I don't think its "overlooked".

I think OP is having their Eureka moment with strings.

Having the right strings is critical to many guitarists. Almost every player I know is particular about some aspect of "their" strings, be it gauge, or brand, whatever.

I'm pretty picky myself. I like balanced tension, with lighter plain strings, very middle of the road gauges.
9.5, 13, 16, 26, 36, 48, 62 in B standard tuning, with standard scale length.

 

[LostTheTone]

I can't really hear a tone difference from strings, but I can sure as hell feel the difference on the neck. I like my low strings to be nice and tight, so that even a mediocre guitarist swatting at them with all the precision of a gorilla with a plectrum always finds a string where he expects one. I found that lighter strings were less forgiving of my inconsistent picking hand with fast double picked riffs and it led to things like unexpectedly missing a note here or there and never quite being able to improve on it. With tighter strings that don't flap, this is much less of a problem.

I play a 27" scale 7 string tuned to A, and I slowly migrated from the 59 gauge that it came with, to a 62, and eventually a 68 baritone set. I haven't played my 7 in a while, and I am just about to pick it back up and have a 72 gauge Winspear set coming this week to string it up. I just like it noice and toight.

 

[ZeroS1gnol]

String gauge threads come up all the time. I don't think its "overlooked".

I would even argue that it's the most discussed subject on this forum. I remember some upheaval about Jason Richardson using a .56 or something for a F# on a 26.5 inch scale. (It is bonkers tbh). It typically comes down to how hard you play. So everyone that needs fat strings to play low notes in tune, try to be a bit more gentle, you monsters... ;P

I'm an advocate for balanced tension , aiming for something between 16 and 18 pounds per string.

 

[CanserDYI]

Yeah Im a fatboi player too. 10-68 for drop A. 10-46 for bottom then at least .064-.068 for the 7th. I need at least 16 pounds on bottom, preferably 18-20.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Not on this forum they're not hahaha

But I'll throw in my 2c. I like a little less tension so I can play sparkly noodles, but I like slightly higher action so I can also Drop The Fucking Hammer.

 

[Andromalia]

I cheat: I downtune using a pitch shifter so I can keep playing with a "normal" set of strings. Varies with time but right now I'm using 9-46 on everything. I only have one guitar downtuned "for real" and it's a 27" baritone withe that 46 set, too.

Before I had the axe III I used as low as 13-68 but never lower.

 

[gnoll]

String gauge makes a big difference in both tone and feel. I like heavy strings because I can hit them hard without them going way sharp or bouncing all over the place. And also I prefer the sound.

 

[vilk]

This thread inspired me to go to the guitar shop and pick up some 9s and put them on. D'addario 9-42, tuned to Eb. Switching from 10-52

A) They sound fuckin mean
B) Holy shit, tapping is a breeze. I've never tapped this good before. I've been playing Bloodmeat by Protest the Hero lately, and now my tapping is ringing out clearer and cleaner.
3) Yeah, there's some flub on the bottom strings, but it's nothing that I can't manage. And actually it's letting my vibrato shine through on the other song I've been playing, Bewitched by Candlemass
D) My trem can go way more crazier. Now I can do some wacky Trey Azagthoth stuff

I also got some 9-46 to put on my Gibson.

 

[The Mirror]

Dude, this topic has been driving me insane for years.

Every single string set from the big companies out there ranges from "slightly wrong" to "totally unbalanced".

I've gone fully custom singles ~3 years ago and it has improved my comfort of playing in ways I couldn't imagine.

It has been a lot of experimenting until I found out that can work best with ~18 lbs on all strings (so fully balanced) or 18 lbs plain and 20 lbs wound strings for music that needs the extra snappy response of the bottom strings (looking at stuff like Gojira for example).

Well, surprise: There are basically no pre-made string sets available for that. D'Addario has some balanced tension sets that are fine if you want to play standard tuning with ~18-19 lbs but that's it.

So going back to the 18lbs top, 20lbs bottom you might say: Skinny Top / Heavy Bottom strings, just use them.

Surprise again: 10-52 pre-made sets are directly send from the deepest pits of hell to torture anyone that wants even slightly balanced wound strings.

The top is regular (10-13-17), and though a 13.5 would of course be better that's just the standard, fine by me.

The bottom is usually 30-42-52, though and whoever decided on that should have been fired on the spot.

Let's just take standard tuning as an example on a 25.5 scale. The bottom tension goes from ~26lbs D-String up to ~28 A-String down to ~23 E-String. What the hell?

I don't know if anyone even considered that for second or just threw in three strings with some randomly higher gauges that lay around on his desk at the time. It is totally bonkers.

Let's say a Skinny Top / Heavy bottom set should have ~5lbs more on the bottom compared to top strings then the set should be 28-38-52. As it stands now it is unusable.

So. Since I am just a hobby player with two bands and buy my own strings with no shop like Stringjoy available for my region I just get wildy different sets that give me roughly the gauges I need with the lowest "waste" possible.

It obviously doesn't help that I mainly play Open-C on the stuff I write and play on my own (good luck getting a 10-13-17-28w-38-58 set anywhere) but even for regular standard tuned 7-Strings I need to get two single strings at least for any pre-made string set out there.

(Hint to all string companies: the two bottom strings should be 48 and 64 for ~20lbs and not 46 and 59 or even worse that inconceivable 56 that the mad lads at Earnie Ball put in their Regular Slinky set.)

So tl;dr: Yes string gauges are overlooked. Most big string companies are the worst offenders.

 

[c7spheres]

I'm curious how everyone is deriving the lbs of tension. Is there a too for this or is it just what website calculators are saying?

 

[CanserDYI]

Curious on what people are using for C#Standard. I want a bit more slink in the bendy daddies and nice and taught on bottom. Looking for a single pack, not trying to do the split up 4 packs of strings thing anymore for this.

 

[NoodleFace]

I think people do no experimentation or think about how gauges feel. Someone once told them they needed an 84 for their 7th string tuned to A and just blindly listened

 

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

I'm curious how everyone is deriving the lbs of tension. Is there a too for this or is it just what website calculators are saying?

I think daddario website tells you that

 

[gnoll]

driving me insane

Me too. It really is crazy how it can be so bad. I use combinations of balanced tension sets and singles.

 

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

3) Yeah, there's some flub on the bottom strings, but it's nothing that I can't manage.

try the hybrid 9-46 on Eb?