Best string gauges for Drop A flat?

[BlindingLight7]

Simple question, I'm currently using 10-59 and it's a bit flobby, I was playing my 7321 in B and was loving it, so should I try 11's? what gauge on the low Ab?

 

[Seebu]

.70 on Ab would be quite close to the tension of a .60 on B.

 

[jimmyshred]

Ive actually just switched to this tuning.
Im using Elixer 11's for the first 6 strings and a .66 for the A flat.
25.5" scale and it feels fine but I think the D, A, and low E could use a little more tension.

 

[cow 7 sig]

10-46+70

 

[george galatis]

take a look here -> The Official John Petrucci Web Site
and here -> Roter Custom Guitars

 

[cow 7 sig]

^^^
yes but hes asking for drop Ab

 

[george galatis]

^^^
yes but hes asking for drop Ab

so? calculate the next step

 

[metalmachine]

diadadrio has a a string tension charts on thier site. i would roll with a 70 if it was me

 

[wannabguitarist]

I use and love a 10-59

 

[BlindingLight7]

I think I'm going to try 11's with a 62 or 64

 

[SlevenSlinger13]

i would go 11-49 with a 66 or 68. plenty tight.

 

[leonardo7]

10-13-17-28-38-48-66

 

[Isan]

meh

 

[ittoa666]

Sounds like you like tight tight strings. I use 58-48-38-28-18-14-10 and I find them a little too tight for standard on my 7321. Ab sounds and feels fine to me, but I love easily pinchable strings

 

[Isan]

yeah i have 56 flat wounds in Ab and i would not go any tighter for Ab

 

[BlindingLight7]

i stuck my .68 gauge on and was initially playing around with F tuning but decided to see how it was in drop A (my fixed rg is in standard) and it was a bit tight and the "bawwwmp" sound was gone, which is my style of tone, so I think I'm going to go to a 62 and see how that goes, the rest of the string and fine in Eb, it's just the Ab, so a 62 or 62 should do it.

 

[leonardo7]

62 for A =

 

[6Christ6Denied6]

id say get a standard set of either 10s or 11 and a 68 or 70 for the G#

 

[Interloper]

I've been struggling with this myself. I have used .10-.52 on my 6 strings for years in D/drop C/C# and it works perfectly. I originally tried adding a .64 to that for B flat/drop A flat but the .52 and .42 feel too tight and the .64 feels too loose. Since I got my NT-7 I've been sticking with the .10 - .59 since I don't want to widen the slots in the nut to accommodate the .64+ strings. After a few weeks I have noticed that the tone is much better with the .59 than it is with the .64. In B flat the tension feels fine to me but when dropping it to A flat it does feel really loose. But it still sounds so much better with the .59 so I've been focusing on a more controlled attack and it's been working out for me. I may go up to a .62 and switch the .46 up to a .48 or .50 but I don't think I'm going to be using much heavier than that anymore.

 

[ellengtrgrl]

I think I'm going to try 11's with a 62 or 64

I use 10s with a .064 for the 7th string tuned to Ab. It works fine for me. But then again, I have a Schecter with a 26.5" scale length.