Good thick Gauge Strings!

[Kelly91]

Anybody else find that the thicker the strings to better they play?

I find 9's and 10's horrible to play on. I currently use 12's and over. I'm a major fan of down tuning. I play drums and bass also and credit playing bass to my need for heavier strings.

But does anyone else find it though on thin strings? Especially when it comes to right hand technique?

 

[jazz_munkyy]

depending on how far down you going, lighter strings tend to suffer.
i have 10s on my seven string tuned to D with a 56 for my low A its tight enough

its all about preference

 

[eurolove]

Traditionally "shredders" or people who play those types of guitars are associated with light strings and low action, malmsteen plays 8s in e flat i think? cooley plays 9s in e flat, but then again petrucci will only go lower than 10s when he is touring for the sake of hand tiredness and quite a few guitarists believe that for the top 3 strings, going thinner sacrifices tone.

i took my ibanez into the shop the other day started listing my setup preferences and when they ask me about action they say "i suppose lowest action possible without buzz" i think there is a definite stereotype there.

personally i prefer a 10.5 in e standard and medium high action, i think it sounds better and also keeps your hands and fingers strong, gotta put a bit of effort in to get those bends, i also like the string to have a bit of resistance.

my old guitar teacher had is fender strat: massively high action and 12-58 in e flat, specifically for strength maintaining, think about it, if you can achieve a good legato technique on that then you are going to have strong hands

 

[AngstRiddenDreams]

I simply can't play on 9's, it feels like a toy in my hands. I am too use to downtuning with thick strings.

 

[broj15]

i play a set of 12's for e standard and drop D and 14's for drop C on 6 string but for my 7 string i like the d'addario light top heavy bottom 8 string set and just throw out the.74 and use the .10 - .64 for drop A I find myself doing more shreddy lead stuff on my 7 string than i do on my 6's. Perhaps because my 7 string stuff is more metal-y with more leads and melodic parts while my 6 string stuff is more basic hardcore punk and some indie/ folk rock.
I love those "light top/ heavy bottom sets" because i like my high strings to be loose for bends and shreddy stuff while i need the lower strings to be tight because the stability really helps for tremelo picking and drop A riffage. I find that when you start to use big guage strings things sound kind of dull and 'boomy" so i like to use pro steels to counter act that.
I used to be all about light guage strings and used ghs and ernie ball .09's for standard and drop D and .10's for drop C.
Then I started playing bass primarily and fell in love with the feel of having that tight tension i got when using .60-.115 for everything from e standard, drop D and e Flat standard. I just really dug the tuning stability and the high tension. Now that i have started to get back into guitar, especially metal oriented playing, I find it hard to play unless i have that extra tension on the low end.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I use 9.5s with a 59 on my Rg1527 and 10s with a 59/60 for my Schecters. I find 59 isn't thick enough for B tuning, not enough resistance when picking so it gets flubby.

I find it hard to control bends and vibrato on thin strings + they tend to cause fret buzz more IMO. I have finger tip problems but 10s feel about right for standard tuning to me.

 

[edsped]

I hate thicker strings. I'll sometimes use 10s on my Dean strat or on short scale guitars, but usually it's 9s or sometimes 8s for me. I like really wide vibrato and it's too tiring for me to do it with anything heavier than 9s, especially if I'm trying to put it on a big bend or do it with only my index finger. Same reason I use a .52 for a low B on my 7, I like doing pinch harmonics with really wide vibrato. I also tend to pick pretty hard and dig in a lot and thin strings haven't given me much trouble in that regard either.

 

[ProgShredder73]

i dont use thick strings because i down tune, i down tune because i use thick strings.

 

[The_Mop]

I generally don't downtune too far so 9's and 10s are good for me. I actually kinda miss 9s, been on 10s for a while

 

[metalocalypse93]

Other than when I first got my guitars, I don't think I've ever used lighter than 11's. Then again, unless it's my first 6 strings on my 7, I'm never in standard tuning either lol

 

[BabUShka]

I use 10-62 with my Hellraiser 26.2" scale, and its fine in standard tuning. I'd prefer 11-62 though.
With my old Ibanez S 25.5" scale I had 11-66 in drop A. I

It really depends on your guitar, scale length, tuning and preferances. I'd really play most guages without any problems, exept the deep/low B string beacuse its more sensitive do downtunings.

 

[blaaargh]

I like me some floppy strings. I tune my SG down to C standard/drop Bb with an 11-48 set and play really slow doom stuff. Sounds great. I'm still experimenting with gauges for my 7 - I just got a hybrid 10-52 set and put it on with a 64 for the bottom. I'm tuning to drop G, and I like the 64, but I think the 52 might be a little too tight. I might just get used to it though, because it sounds awesome.

 

[StupidDav]

I figured out I love string tension; my last set was 11-52 and a 66, tuned UP to F standard with a low Bb, got some 12-54s and a 68 to go on there next. This is on a 7620, blocked trem.

 

[purpledc]

On my carvin 7 im using 13-65 and not only that but they are the DDT strings from DR so they are pretty tight even when Im tuned down. I think thicker strings on some guitars is where its at. In my experience I can be a little more liberal with the presence and treble and not sound like razorblades.

 

[squid-boy]

My LTD SC607b has .013-.075 , RG2228GK has .013-.095, and my RG550 has .010-.052's.

I find them these gauges feel really nice under my fingers.

 

[AliceLG]

11-56 on my 24.75" 6-string in D, 11-64 on my 24.75" 6-string in dropped C, 10-74 on my 25.5" 7-string in A. I like plain strings with at least 12 lbs, but my wound strings need to be closer to 20 lbs, otherwise they feel to floppy for me and I do a lot of chugging and tremelo picking.

 

[Dayn]

Nope. I like thin strings. At 27" in drop E, I use .008, .011, .014, .022, .030, .042, .56, .086. The bottom is just firm enough, but the top is nice and loose. I can't stand thick strings... the sound doesn't agree with me and they're not easily playable.

 

[pantera95]

I used to use 9's in E standard. Then i started getting into drop C and changed all my guitars to 11-54's.
The other day i played a friends six with 9's and it was unbearable. They sound so thin, and feel like plastic!
It's all about what your used to totally. I was an avid 9's player, now i couldn't go anything lower than 10-52 in E standard.

 

[D1m3b4g]

I have a Mayones Regius 7 Custom (25.6'') and I use:

10.5 - C#
14 - G#
18 - D#
26 - B
36 - F#
49 - C#
64 - G#


Comes out like this:

C4# .0105" PL == 12.64#
G3# .014" PL == 12.61#
E3 .018" PL == 13.13#
B2 .026" NW == 13.01#
F2# .036" NW == 13.81#
C2# .049" NW == 13.92#
G1# .064" NW == 13.61#

Lighter at the bottom, heavier at the top, but not too heavy.
I played with a 60 as the G# on the bottom and it was just too flappy.
Anything more than a 64 feels too fat for me though.

 

[kamello]

played a While with a 0.11 set tuned to E standart, I really liked that set (52. for E string) but after a while I needed to change the first and second string to something thinner, I was going through a Huge Pink Floyd addiction after seeing Roger Waters live, so you can Imagine how much I suffered while bending


and Right now Im using Ernie ball Skinny Top Heavy bottom, I fucking love them I can go from Standart to Drop C with no problem