Have string manufactures not caught on to the extended range market?

[TheWarAgainstTime]

Some of my 6 string guitars/tunings can get close enough with off-the-shelf sets, but I mostly build my own sets out of single strings. My lowest tuning is "only" F, so I haven't had a need to go larger than an 80, which is the largest D'addario single from what I can tell. I order from stringsandbeyond.com since they frequently run at least a 10% coupon and have a very low threshold to get free shipping

I tried LaBella years ago and was impressed by their range of options. The strings themselves were good, but I didn't like that they came in regular paper sleeves vs sealed packages like D'addario. I generally order in bulk, so some of the strings already sounded dead by the time I got to the last set. I'd be open to trying them again in a smaller quantity, though. A friend of mine will be having me set up his new 8 string Agile soon with a custom Stringjoy set, which will be my first time trying them out.

 

[theunholyguitarist]

Personally, I really only buy off the shelf if I'm desperate, I use The String Source for everything these days. I know it's a bit cliche because I'm using a brand that a friend owns, but I stand by it. He has a quality product that suits my needs after having dealt with other brands like Stringjoy sending me 4 packs of corroded strings.

 

[fantom]

what is the general consensus on strings for extended range players? Do you often find yourself not being able to find an off the shelf string pack and having to "Frankenstein" sets or buy singles?

what problems do you run into when selecting strings for down tuning, are there any particular string gauge set you wish was readily available off the shelf? or are people generally able to find exactly the set they need right off the shelf?

ERG is a bubble. Most guitar players don't use baritone scale length, extra strings, or multi scale. Most guitar players still haven't tried downtuning beyond dropped D.

Even for B standard tuning on 7 strings, standard guitar string sets make no sense at all. The tensions are all over the place. The low string in a standard Ernie Ball set is a 56 which seems absurd to me, and the 59 in D'Addario sets is barely any better. I don't think either company even offers their higher end coated strings in anything other than 10s, either.

So yeah, Stringjoy it is.

I use 10-56 Elixir packs, which have been around for more than 15-20 years now, and have no problem with the 56 tension for a low A string on 25.5". I see they make a 10-59 pack now, which I might try some day.

There was a reddit post the other day with someone complaining their Schecter 7 couldn't intonate because the string was too thick and they couldn't move the saddle back far enough to compensate. I think they were trying something like an 84 tuned to G. The bubble joined in on how Schecter and Hipshot should be ashamed for not designing their guitars for extreme string gauges and tunings that were never the intended use of the product.

Sometimes I really think we should just play bass.

 

[CleansingCarnage]

I use 10-56 Elixir packs, which have been around for more than 15-20 years now, and have no problem with the 56 tension for a low A string on 25.5". I see they make a 10-59 pack now, which I might try some day.

Glad it works for you, that's way too floppy for my tastes though. A 56 at A on a 25.5" is going to come in around 12 pounds of tension, compared to around 18-20 pounds on each string for a 6 string with a set of 10s in E standard. If you're playing in drop A, that's a pretty significant difference in tension from your low string to the others.

I just put a set of 12-52s on my six string for C standard and the low C string supposedly has about 14.6 pounds of tension. It feels alright but that's at the limit of what I like, personally. I've settled on a custom 11-68 set from Stringjoy for playing in A standard on 7 string, although I just began experimenting with 10.5-62.

 

[jephjacques]

I just buy the ernie ball 10-80 sets and call it good. 80 on a low E works fine for me, and I'm happy with a 64 on 7 strings as low as Ab.

 

[CanserDYI]

I just learned to love off the shelf sets, not sure if that's good advice or not, but after years and years of shipping times and piecing together multiple packs of strings, I finally just stopped caring so much about it and learning to play with lighter strings and I genuinely feel like a better guitarist now that I dont have that hurdle holding me back.

 

[will_shred]

I mostly play in C standard/ Drop Bb and I use custom stringjoy sets because nobody makes an off the shelf string pack that feels good for me, for that tuning. I agree that most of the "drop tuning" string packs are garbage. Stringjoy FTW! I also find that stringjoy strings stay in tune better and intonate better.

 

[phillybhatesme]

Playing with a string tension calculator makes me want to try a set of Kaliums on my Legator which has a 26.5-28" multiscale. i might go .110 on the 8 string lol.

 

[gh0styboi]

Personally, I really only buy off the shelf if I'm desperate, I use The String Source for everything these days. I know it's a bit cliche because I'm using a brand that a friend owns, but I stand by it. He has a quality product that suits my needs after having dealt with other brands like Stringjoy sending me 4 packs of corroded strings.

Never heard of them, but thanks for the heads up. Just checked out the website, and the multi-scale 8 set has a 28"+ length tolerance, which should be perfect for my 28.8" 8 string, which the normal Ernie Ball sets I get don't fit for the low F#. Gonna order a set and see how they work.

 

[fantom]

Glad it works for you, that's way too floppy for my tastes though. A 56 at A on a 25.5" is going to come in around 12 pounds of tension, compared to around 18-20 pounds on each string for a 6 string with a set of 10s in E standard. If you're playing in drop A, that's a pretty significant difference in tension from your low string to the others.

I just put a set of 12-52s on my six string for C standard and the low C string supposedly has about 14.6 pounds of tension. It feels alright but that's at the limit of what I like, personally. I've settled on a custom 11-68 set from Stringjoy for playing in A standard on 7 string, although I just began experimenting with 10.5-62.

Why do you assume Drop A? 10-46+56 full step down. Many metal bands used 10-46 in D standard for decades which is around 12-14 lbs. 11-49 works fine in C standard. This whole obsession with 18+ lbs of tension is unique to the ERG community aside from SRV lovers. That's the "bubble".

 

[crushingpetal]

Why do you assume Drop A? 10-46+56 full step down. Many metal bands used 10-46 in D standard for decades which is around 12-14 lbs. 11-49 works fine in C standard. This whole obsession with 18+ lbs of tension is unique to the ERG community aside from SRV lovers. That's the "bubble".

Word. I was fuckin' around yesterday with a 24.75 scale SG: it was tuned to C# standard with 54s. I dropped it to B and... it was totally fine. That put me at about 13 lbs. of tension, totally workable for me. (YMMV, IMHO, blah.)

 

[phillybhatesme]

I could never do 46s with drop D. My preference was always 52 and sometimes 56. And that was mostly for 2 reasons: 1) I play heavy-handed and the right hand feels better on the heavier strings. 2) NO ACCIDENTAL BENDS lol.

I've been playing with string tension calculators since my earlier post this morning, both on Stringjoy's site and Kalium's site, and there's some really useful info in the video on SJ's site.



Do you want even tension for all strings? No. You want similar tensions for plain strings and similar tensions for wound strings. There was an extra caveat for extended range given: Trying to match tension on the 7th and 8th strings will sometimes yield unwanted sonic results (string is too loud) so it's ok to curve tension down.

Edited to add: I'm mostly talking about 25.5" scale and drop D, but prior to 2010, I'd be leaning on knowledge from 24.75" scale as well.

 

[GunpointMetal]

I prefer graded tension where my High E is around 12-13lbs and low (lower) A is around 18-19. Haven't really had any issues with those low strings being any louder, but I've also been playing ERGs in some capacity for over 15 years and may have just adjusted my approach to it without thinking about it. Once I moved beyond 7 strings the off-the-shelf packs were all garbage. The middle strings on the standard EB set were all sorts of stupid and for me the regular strings didn't handle drop tuning as well in E as they did in D/C on a six string. Kalium has been my go to, I just know I need to order strings before I think I need them. I wish Stringjoy or String Source would do over .100 with a tapered ball end. But if 8s and 30" baritones are a bubble, multi-scale 9s tuned down to a low A are just a drip.

 

[Wildebeest]

Just use 9's for everything.

 

[gh0styboi]

Just use 9's for everything.

Everyone in the know knows the only way to djent or gvrn is tuning your 9s down to E1. Read pros understand.

 

[Wildebeest]

Everyone in the know knows the only way to djent or gvrn is tuning your 9s down to E1. Read pros understand.

If Lee McKinney only needs 9-42 for Drop C, why do others think they deserve thicker strings?

 

[Drew]

ERG is a bubble. Most guitar players don't use baritone scale length, extra strings, or multi scale. Most guitar players still haven't tried downtuning beyond dropped D.

I use 10-56 Elixir packs, which have been around for more than 15-20 years now, and have no problem with the 56 tension for a low A string on 25.5". I see they make a 10-59 pack now, which I might try some day.

There was a reddit post the other day with someone complaining their Schecter 7 couldn't intonate because the string was too thick and they couldn't move the saddle back far enough to compensate. I think they were trying something like an 84 tuned to G. The bubble joined in on how Schecter and Hipshot should be ashamed for not designing their guitars for extreme string gauges and tunings that were never the intended use of the product.

Sometimes I really think we should just play bass.

Yeah, I think it's easy to lose sight of the fact that, while this is a very big concern for US, maybe, this is SUCH a niche market...

I've kind of gone full circle here. I used to be very particular about string gauge, and would custom-order single Elixir strings to use as low Bs and for a while even experimented with some of their lightest bass strings as a low B, which worked well enough on double locking guitars. And then for a while compromised and just ordered whatever was the closest heavy guitar string option for my preferred low B gauge, which I think meant a 62 for a set of 10s, when for a while there I also had a non-locking-bridge option in the fleet.

And then finally said fuck it, it's too much work, and also settled with the 10-56 seven string set just because it was easiest.

And you know, it's absolutely fine. You adapt to pretty much anything pretty quickly if you let yourself. All this equal tension stuff, hey, whatever, do whatever makes you the most happy... but, like, how often are you doing precice bends on your low B? I just need enough string tension so when I'm not really thinking about it and just playing the intonation doesn't blow out on initial attack and it doesn't sound like it's flopping, and a 56 is easily in the "close enough" range.

But, think about this site - one of the pre-eminent ERG websites on the internet, right? Checking membership here, we have at present 62 members and 355 guests for 417 total users online. Even ignoring the fact a bunch of those are like automatic search engine bots and whatnot, I think we've all been in guitar shops with maybe a handful to two dozen ERGs, and easily as many six strings as we currently have users online. Heck, I'm confident I've been in shops with more than 62 Stratocasters in stock, and quite possibly more Fenders than we have current online users. We're a niche. The industry isn't going to change its entire process just to accommodate a user group that's basically a rounding error.

 

[CleansingCarnage]

Why do you assume Drop A? 10-46+56 full step down. Many metal bands used 10-46 in D standard for decades which is around 12-14 lbs. 11-49 works fine in C standard. This whole obsession with 18+ lbs of tension is unique to the ERG community aside from SRV lovers. That's the "bubble".

Very few people are probably even consciously aware of string tension as a consideration. But 10s in E standard is pretty much an industry wide default in terms of what ships on new guitars and how guitars are set up, so the majority of guitar players are most likely playing around that amount of tension even if they don't know it. That's exactly why it's strange that the big string companies seemingly arbitrarily landed on 56 or 59 as a standard seventh string gauge though, as opposed to matching the tension and feel of 10s in E standard more closely.

 

[Grindspine]

I really like DAddario NYXL for bass and wanted to load up my EHB1505ms Pacific Blue with a 50-135 set. Since that set isn't offered stock, I had to buy a pack of 50-105 and a single 135 for the low.

 

[jephjacques]

I just learned to love off the shelf sets, not sure if that's good advice or not, but after years and years of shipping times and piecing together multiple packs of strings, I finally just stopped caring so much about it and learning to play with lighter strings and I genuinely feel like a better guitarist now that I dont have that hurdle holding me back.

yeah like they might not be the Objectively Correct Tension or whatever but it's nice to be able to walk down the street to my local L&M whenever I need a new set of strings