Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: PhilKing on April 14, 2005, 12:36:35 AM
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What guage strings is everyone using. This makes an amazing difference to the tone. Also the type of string. I am using pure nickel wound and 10-46 on Fenders and PRS's, 11-49 on Gibsons. Mostly I use D'Addario, but I also use John Pearse strings (from the USA, though he is the 'Hold Down a Chord' guy!). Pure nickels come out of the packet sounding a bit bright but after playing a couple of hours the tone is there and lasts.
I can't really get on too well with 9-42, not enough beef in there, as an old blues guy, I like the guitar to be able to fight back too 8)
Phil
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One of the recent guitar mags had a Billy Gibbons piece in it. Apparently he used heavier gauge strings for a time, believing they resulted in 'superior' tone. Then B.B. King turned him onto 8's. Between the two of them they make a pretty good case for lighter gauge strings.
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DR Pure Blues 10's.
They are pure nickel, sound fantastic, and last forever.
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I used to be really picky about strings - DR Pure Blues were one of my favorite - and still are. Thomastik make great strings too, as do Firewire, never Elixir though!!
Currently using Everly B52 strings they cost about a third the price of a set of Thomastiks, for about a 5% dip in performance, plus at this price I can change more often! I had about 70 sets, so when they're gone I'll see what else I can get at the right price.
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GHS TNTs, used them for almost 20 years, no problems :twisted:
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i use 9's. I had 10's but couldnt be bothered with them-if there was a tonal increase it was not hugely evident to me. i understand that technically speaking, heavier gauges will improve tone, but i still enjoy shredding away on my 9's. After all, Jimmy Page used 8's, didnt he?
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GHS TNTs, used them for almost 20 years, no problems :twisted:
If you get the chance, Tim, definitely check out DRs
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I have recently changed form 10s to 11s. Slinkys. Tone seems to be quite beefy compaired to 10s but bending at the twelth fret is a bit of an effort.
Was thinking of trying Skinny Top Heany Bottom (10-52). But I might be getting too clever for my own good. I'll let you know what they are like.
Chris.
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I'm pretty sure Jimmy Page used 9's, super slinky Ernie Ball.
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DR Strings High Beam Electric 10's.
I'm a big DR fan.
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DR Strings High Beam Electric 10's.
I'm a big DR fan.
Mark, you prefer the Hi Beams to the Pure Blues?
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There seems to be this 'bigger gauges are for REAL players' kind of vibe, not specifically here, but just genarally amongst players. Toni Iommi used light gauge strings (8s I do believe) and his tone was without a doubt one of the defining metal tones ever recorded.
I believe in using what feels best to the specific player. I use 11s tuned down 1/2 a step but the other guitar player in my band uses 10s tuned down 1/2 a step and he still gets a brutal tone.
:twisted:
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I was more interested in what people are using, especially from a tone point of view. I love the old Sabbath stuff and I know that he was playing on 8's (first time I saw him the band was called Earth - just to give you a clue to my age!).
I have been playing a lot of accoustic and I also play bass, so really light guages aren't great for me cause I press too hard :oops:
When I was playing mostly electric I used to use a set of 9, 11, 16, 26, 36,46 on Fenders and 10, 12,16, 28,38,48 on Gibsons. I also have one tele with a wound G set for rhythm work (the G is an 18 ). Oh, just remembered, when I first started I used to use the Picato set with a 7 for the top E (the ones in the plastic box, I seem to remember they always gave you a spare E & B).
I started to get beck to pure nickel in the late 80's with Scalar strings on my basses. Then I spoke to Dean Farley (the owner of Scalar), who may be to strings what Tim is to pickups! He got me back into pure nickel instead of nickel plated.
Cheers
Phil
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I used to use 10's or 11's depending on what I was up to. Once I started doing the instores and demoing for hours at a time I soon switched to 9's. I definitly don't go with the 'Heavier is best' credo, doesn't EVH only use 9's? He doesn't sound too shabby.
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I use .12-52s, D'addrio halfrounds are what I tried, but they're not too cheap. I don't think they're what "real players use!" etc but when I upped guages each time I *did* notice my sound improving, there was more volume and sustain, and the strings were still bendable but had a decent ammount of "snap". The only string that I didn't like as much was the wound 3rd, that was much harder to bend than what I previously had. I might hunt around for .11 to .52 next time, or maybe just try an unwound 3rd.
Thinner strings feel kinda flimsy to me now, when I play a guitar in a shop it's usually packing .9s and it's almost like they're not there.
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DR Strings High Beam Electric 10's.
I'm a big DR fan.
Mark, you prefer the Hi Beams to the Pure Blues?
I'm not sure I've tried them. I've got a box of DR's, so I probably have a set or two.
I'll give them a try, you're recommendation on a flight case worked out great! Thanks.
Mark
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I'll give them a try, you're recommendation on a flight case worked out great! Thanks.
Mark
You're very welcome! :D
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i use beefy slinky, 11 - 52. they feel just right for me and i cant say that bending is difficult in any way...
i actuallt use super slinkys (9's) on my encore strat as its cheap, nasty and if i use a heavier guage im sure its neck will snap :P after playing with 11's all day doing string bends on 9's is really fun :D
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10s ernie ball regular slinkies for me..
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.011 - .056 Heavy duty stringsīs my thing!
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10s ernie ball regular slinkies for me..
Do those beefy slinkies have a wound 3rd or just plain?
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I use Newtone 'Nickel Masters .010-.049' for electric and 'Masterclass .011-.050' for acoustic. They cost more but last ridiculously long, play much smoother and notes have a great attack!
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GHS Boomers, Extra Lights (9-42) on my Fenders, and Lights (10-46) on the Gibsons' and my Silverjet. I always seem to keep going back to the Boomers, after 25 years I'm guess I'm just used to the way the sound.
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Anyone tried these?... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7314984187&rd=1&rd=1
:twisted:
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10s ernie ball regular slinkies for me..
Do those beefy slinkies have a wound 3rd or just plain?
Plain to my knowledge
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Anyone tried these?... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7314984187&rd=1&rd=1
:twisted:
They look cool, how do they play?
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not sure how good those strings are but they come highly recommended by some of the Dudes over on the Les Paul forum. I'm gonna buy some of their 11-50 sets and see if they're any better than the D'Addarios I usually get.
:twisted:
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I have some 11-50 on order. I should have them next week and will fit them to my goldtop (Emerald & Mule). I am also going to get some 10-46 for my Fenders.
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not sure how good those strings are but they come highly recommended by some of the Dudes over on the Les Paul forum. I'm gonna buy some of their 11-50 sets and see if they're any better than the D'Addarios I usually get.
:twisted:
Yeah, having a .14 on your lil E sounds a bit extreme, I can't imagine using strings that heavy for anything but surf really.
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OR you're SRV!
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I like a mix of 9-42s/9-46/10-46 depending on what guitar i'm using and it's scale length.
I used to absolutely love Labella "Hard rocking steel" strings , but just not easy to get in the UK..
D'addario make a 9.5-44 set and a 10.5-48 set for players having a hard time with the transition between gauges.
We keep them in stock and they are v popular.
I tend to use 9.5s on our show guitars because someplayers will hate a guitar fitted with 9s - saying it's too loose and others wil struggle with 10s and not feel inspired by the guitar as a result. Just trying to take a centre line
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Nice to see more DR fans up here. I use DR Tite-fits 10-52 for all my 6string guitars (Epi Elite Riviera, Epi Casino, ES335) and D'Addario and Rickenbacker strings (10-46ish) for my twelves (Epi Elite Riviera 12, Rickenbacker 330-12). I would love a DR electric 12string set but the D'Addario's seem to work fine and I can get them cheap.
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I use Hybrid Slinky's (9 - 46), which I notice have been left off the poll choice! :(
I like them.
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Sorry, I was trying to think of all the gauges I could. I used to use skinny top/heavy bottoms myself, but moved into 11's. I tried to add the option for you but couldn't.
Cheers
Phil
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What guage strings is everyone using. This makes an amazing difference to the tone. Also the type of string. I am using pure nickel wound and 10-46 on Fenders and PRS's, 11-49 on Gibsons. Mostly I use D'Addario, but I also use John Pearse strings (from the USA, though he is the 'Hold Down a Chord' guy!). Pure nickels come out of the packet sounding a bit bright but after playing a couple of hours the tone is there and lasts.
I can't really get on too well with 9-42, not enough beef in there, as an old blues guy, I like the guitar to be able to fight back too 8)
Phil
8) Hey man i`m using 10-52`s GHS Boomers the strings seem to have a slightly percussive wack with `em and they seem to hold there tone longer they also feel good under the fingers try `em
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There seems to be this 'bigger gauges are for REAL players' kind of vibe, not specifically here, but just genarally amongst players. Toni Iommi used light gauge strings (8s I do believe) and his tone was without a doubt one of the defining metal tones ever recorded.
I believe in using what feels best to the specific player. I use 11s tuned down 1/2 a step but the other guitar player in my band uses 10s tuned down 1/2 a step and he still gets a brutal tone.
:twisted:
Tony used those strings because of his amputated finger tips. The man couldn't bend heavier gauges. I use D'addario 9's mostly.
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I use 10-52's mostly, I like experimenting but always come back to 10-52's, the work well with drop-d and the unwound strings don't take 3 fingers to bend, haha!
I usually prefer D'Adarrio's, for the price they are good strings.
I do like flatwounds too, I had them on my 7 string for a while, but not cheap.
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10-46 Dean Markley Blue Steel's on my No. 1 Strat, MM Axis and PRS.
11-48 Daddario's on my 50th Anniversary Strat (tuned to Eb) and Hamer Special (standard tuning).
9-46 Daddario on my HM Strat.
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I suggested on another (somewhat widdly) forum that real men used 10's and 9's were 'girly', for which I have been heavily criticised (nothing like a contentious posting to drag people out of the woodwork!!). Glad to see this forum at least is primarily real men.............
Personally, having used 9's for donkey's years (I started using Ernie Ball Slinkys in 1969), I swapped to 10's (D'Addario) about ten years ago and find them much more satisfying to use, bit more fight, but rewarding.
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I think the Fender style guitars lend themselves better for 9's while Gibson style guitars are better with 10's.
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Whatever guage you use, make sure you're not hurting yourself.
Playing 9s and actually being able to play is better than attemtping 13s and damaging your hand. Just because SRV had thick strings doesn't mean you can handle them too.
Also, it's about control as much as anything else.. what's the use if you can't coax a nice vibrato out of the string because it's too thick. If you're overbending 9s that isn't because they're too thin, that's because you can't control your bends.. pick the guage that feels right for you, and that you can handle.
I put on a set of Eric Johnson GHS yesterday.. 10-50. I'm liking them so far, but they've not really been on long enough for me to make a decision about them.
I've got another guitar with EB not even slinkies (12-56) tuned in C#.. I swapped out the unwound 24 for a 20 because I hate thick thirds..
On acoustics I'm currently using 11s
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I tried some Not Even SLinky's, that plain 3rd is horrid!, especially trying to trim the excess when you string up.
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ive allways used 11s on my les paul and 10s on my strat. i tried 10s on the LP but they had to go, they felt too flimsy and broke all the time for some reason. 10s last fine on my strat though :?
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At the minute I use Dean Markley 10-46 on all my guitars (Les Pauls, Strats and a Tele).
I'm thinking of trying an 11-49 set on a LP and a Strat though, just to see how I like them :)
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I've been using D'Addario 10-52 with a 65 bass string for my low B.
Lately I've been experimenting with SIT's and I'm pretty impressed, they seem to have a bit more of a piano-like tonality, but are a bit more abbrasive feeling.
I use the bass string because it's double wound, the guitar strings around that gauge are single wound and don't sound quite as 'solid'.
And they're harder to find :D
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i use whatever LPs come with as standard lol...
usually a 10's on strats and 11 on LPs.
Currentlly setting my LP up for some C tuned riffage, does anyone have any advice on what gauge to use to get 'normal' tuning stability etc??
Thinking 12's maybe?
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I've done drop C with 10's, no problem. I think 11's would work great for standard C. 12's for B. But then again, I use 9's on Fender style guitars and 10's for gibson style.
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Theres defintly more balls from a heavier set of strings.
All depends on the guitar though
On my Les Paul I use 10-52s mainly, but thats tuned down to D at the moment.
On the Ibby i've got 9s currently. Which felt great at first, so easy to bend and felt alot faster. However after playing alot more on the Les Paul and getting used to the strings 9s feel far too light again. So im gonna try 10s on it instead.
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I use 11s in standerd D. Now that I'm used to it I can't stand playing with any less tension on the strings... Different strokes for different folks.
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I'm thinking of trying an 11-49 set on a LP and a Strat though, just to see how I like them :)
Try them on the LP first, you will find they feel a lot like the 10's on the Strat because of the shorter scale. I use 10's on Fenders and 11's on Gibsons, and I think a lot of others do this too.