Are guitar string gauges overlooked too?

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

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

I remember when I started I was using 10-46 for drop D. Then I read on a forum where they recommend to try 10-52 which I did and couldn’t play felt so uncomfortable that I went back.

 

[c7spheres]

I think daddario website tells you that

I wonder how they do it. I found this cool little book though, but they never say how they physically mearure the tension/what tool is used.


https://www.daddario.com/globalassets/pdfs/accessories/tension_chart_13934.pdf

 

[CanserDYI]

Why no one makes a 10-13-17-26-34-48-68 is beyond me. It's very balanced feeling and would prevent me from having to buy 3 sets of strings every time. Luckily I use the others for other guitars I have but starting to think stringjoy might actually save me some money....does anyone use their custom string monthly set?

 

[InfinityCollision]

There are far too many avenues for purchasing single strings to justify mix and matching sets nowadays. Stringsbymail, Stringjoy, a lot of string companies both large and small sell singles direct...

 

[CanserDYI]

There are far too many avenues for purchasing single strings to justify mix and matching sets nowadays. Stringsbymail, Stringjoy, a lot of string companies both large and small sell singles direct...

Hence why I asked in the post if anyone had good experience with them ...? Also, after I get done mixing and matching sets, I have extra strings for other guitars/projects/spares for friends. A pack of strings from stringjoy is more than twice my normal pack, and I don't get the benefit of extra strings at the end of it.

 

[InfinityCollision]

Point was more that Stringjoy isn't the only game in town, and that it's worth shopping around. Can't comment on Stringjoy in particular, but I only pay like $1 more for my custom 8 set over a prebuilt set via Stringsbymail. Some smaller companies charge by string either way.

If you're getting full use out of all those strings then fair game, if not it's worth thinking about your specific needs and asking who fits that best. I go with SBM because I can also get my custom acoustic & classical sets there as well + I use a different make for my top string.

 

[Willyjacksonjs22-7]

Just found out that James hetfield uses 11-48 on his 24,75 scale guitars tune to Eb for live shows. I think that will be like using 10s on a 25” scale guitar tune to Eb.

 

[elkoki]

I'm honestly surprised how low some people down tune with such light gauges. I've heard of people using 10-46's on C STANDARD. Can anyone tell me what's the advantage of doing this? Wouldn't strings that light be noodles ? You will run into intonation problems too.

 

[NoodleFace]

Why no one makes a 10-13-17-26-34-48-68 is beyond me. It's very balanced feeling and would prevent me from having to buy 3 sets of strings every time. Luckily I use the others for other guitars I have but starting to think stringjoy might actually save me some money....does anyone use their custom string monthly set?

I use Stringjoy for everything. I don't do the monthly thing though. Really nice strings, no hassle trying to find what gauges you want.

 

[The Mirror]

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?

In the end it is just maths (http://www.bangzero.org/stringtension/), so you can find a lot of calculators out there to do it for you.

My go to has been the one from Stringjoy (https://tension.stringjoy.com/).

 

[TheDandy]

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.

I tuned to C# on my JP7 for quite a while with a low F#. I used the D’addario 11-56 pack and it worked perfectly, I think with a single 70 for the bottom. Definite recommend, just enough tension to stay in tune firmly while still feeling nice and light to play.

 

[Ross82]

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.

I've used 10-52 (EB Skinny Top Heavy Bottom for example) for drop C/C standard for years with no issues. Taught enough in the bass strings and still malleable enough in the trebles. The only caveat I've made to this is doing double duty with a guitar for C standard/drop B when I've gone to 10-54 (such as EB Beefy Slinky) just for a bit of extra tension on the 6th.

 

[bostjan]

Billy Gibbons used (uses?) .007's and Dick Dale used .016's (!!). They both tuned standard and had a huge tone. I'm not sure how Dick Dale could even get his neck to keep from snapping with that much tension on it, but whatever.

I think the strings in-and-of-themselves don't really have an effect on tone like you'd think. Thinner strings sound brighter and thicker strings sound more mid-heavy. Depending on your picking technique, your pickups, your rig, etc., you might get a massive tone from a string set that another player will find too disappointing to bother with. I'd be willing to bet dollars to donuts that Dick Dale (or SRV, who used .013's tuned to Eb, or pretty much any other widely known guitarist using ultra-high tension) used a much heavier picking and fretting technique than Gibbons or Yngwie or EVH.

You adapt your gear to your playing, and vice-versa, until you find a "saddle-point," at which small adjustments result in poorer results.

 

[ErockRPh]

Why no one makes a 10-13-17-26-34-48-68 is beyond me. It's very balanced feeling and would prevent me from having to buy 3 sets of strings every time. Luckily I use the others for other guitars I have but starting to think stringjoy might actually save me some money....does anyone use their custom string monthly set?

I've been doing a lot of string gauge testing with Stringjoy recently. Their strings are great, as is their customer service. The whole "balanced string tension" thing doesn't really work for me, but the ability to hone in on string gauge on a string-by-string basis to decide is definitely a journey worth taking. It didn't take long for me to realize that feel is definitely worth the tradeoff with any potential tuning stability issues. I just wish they made coated strings, because it's going to be expensive going back to Black Beauties and needing to mix and match sets to build a custom set.

 

[vilk]

I'm honestly surprised how low some people down tune with such light gauges. I've heard of people using 10-46's on C STANDARD. Can anyone tell me what's the advantage of doing this? Wouldn't strings that light be noodles ? You will run into intonation problems too.

I did that a long time ago, before I understood things like string tension, in order to play No One Knows by QOTSA. The strings are indeed floppy... But it's not a Slayer track. You don't need to do aggressive high speed palm mute riffs or tremolo picking. Same for those C# standard songs that Iommi was playing with 8s—they're just not that fast, so floppy strings don't really matter so much.

Also, thinner strings give you a little bit more tonal "bite" (up to a certain point). I was in a band that played in C standard (and yes by that time I knew to use heavier strings), but the bassist for whatever reason didn't want to change his bass, which was his only bass that he had been playing for like 20 years or something. So he just detuned and played with normal strings. It sounded fine, but the other guitarist and I were always giving him shit like "how can you play like that?" "Just bite the bullet and take it in to be set up for C" etc. Before we recorded, the other guitarist (who was the band boss) more or less made him do it, and he understood and didn't complain or anything. But guess what? It didn't sound as good. I feel like he lost too much bite. Maybe he just went too heavy? Idk, but his tone was better when he was playing noodles. We were a doom metal band, so again, it's not like we were playing very fast.

 

[JohnnyG]

On my 7 string Chapman, with 26.5 diapason i put elixir 10-52 + 68 in a drop A tuning.
Even with that, i must have a controled technique on the low A to stay in tune.
Too much pressure with left hand or strong attack with the right one and it's out if tune...