Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: Mr. Air on September 25, 2012, 07:49:26 PM
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I just watched a couple of rig rundown videos yesterday out boredom and found it quite amusing that Phil Collen of Def Leppard uses 13s or 14s on his guitars while Billy Gibbons uses 7s and 8s on a single guitar. SEVENS!!! and I thought 9s very thin and flimsy :?
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So does Brian May (008s).
I change my tring preferences every once in a while. sometimes 9-46s. Sometimes 10-46s.Sometimes 9-42s. Recently I settled on DR .095-44s - kinda in between and nice tone overall.
I read that Gary Moore used 10s and a high action on his guitars, for tone reasons. My action is higher these days than it used to. I can't stand anymore if the strings buzz or get choked, and I do enjoy if I can get my fingers under the strings for bending.
Maybe I should try 008s once just for the giggles.
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9s always feel wrong to me. I haven't tried anything thicker than 10s, but they suit me fine in E standard. Currently I got me LP clone in Eb and I think 11s would suit that tuning. It's definitely too wobbly on the low E string when dropped to C# :D
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I think a lot of the old-school guys (now in their sixties) grew up in the days before light strings were even available, so as soon as they could get them they jumped at the chance. And they still use them. And still sound great.
Of course there's Tony Iommi, who uses incredibly light strings (because of his fingers) and still manages to sound heavy as hell.
Then there was the exact opposite, the SRV era of "the bigger the better", even though they were impossible to bend and ripped your fingers to pieces.
I've always used 10s, never mind the scale length. Sometimes I think about trying 11s, that little bit of extra tension would be good, but I don't think my fingers are strong enough.
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I use .011s on my LPs (or any other short scale length guitars) and 10s on my long scale length guitars (strats/ibanez etc.).
I've always prefered the weight and feel of 0.011s... they allow for a really nice and strong vibrato whereas with 9s and 10s the strings almost bend on their own and whilst this allows for great playabilty it feels "too easy".
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I use .011s on my LPs (or any other short scale length guitars) and 10s on my long scale length guitars (strats/ibanez etc.).
I've always prefered the weight and feel of 0.011s... they allow for a really nice and strong vibrato whereas with 9s and 10s the strings almost bend on their own and whilst this allows for great playabilty it feels "too easy".
+1, 11's for me have the perfect amount of fight to them where it's so easy to control the bend but not impossible to kinda get crazy. And high action too.
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Another vote for 11s from me. I had used 10s for years but when I got a PRS DGT I found the 11s felt really good and I especially loved the (to my ears) clearer tone from them. I've now got 11s on all my guitars, including the 25.5" scale length ones. I even got Jonathan at Feline to refret my Tele with bigger fret wire to make the 11s more manageable. Safe to say I'm a total convert.
In terms of famous players, I think both Robin Trower and Paul Gilbert use 11s.
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I know Judas Priest use 7s and 8s. I've often thought about trying a set for giggles.
I believe Michael Schenker uses 9s.
Isnt there some story about how Billy Gibbons was using big strings for big tone and was advised by an old blues master to drop a few gauges and turn his amp up?
As for myself I use 11s exclusively. I quite like 9s actually, but for some reason have never got on with 10s. Tonally, you can compensate between thick and thin strings with amp settings according to a number of accounts. I like the feel of 11s which I why I use them.. The gymnastics (bends/taps etc) I can pull off when dropping to 9s are quite something though :)
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I know karl sanders of nile uses 10-70 in drop A, paul ryan of Origin uses 10-52 in drop B, and james hetfield uses 10-46, except for some bizarre rumour that he changed to 10.5-48 for an album called 'St Anger', which confuses me as no such album exists.
And I know 2 of those guitarists arent 'stars', but they are to me, damnit!
I use 12-56 in drop A#. Splitting the difference between nile and origin in all ways but talent :lol:
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I went to 11s originally since I thought they might reduce string breakages on my first electric - I was snapping low Es and As every week. I think they helped a bit actually. Am less ferocious in my picking and changed that old Epiphone tuneomatic now though which I'm sure has helped much more!
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Isnt there some story about how Billy Gibbons was using big strings for big tone and was advised by an old blues master to drop a few gauges and turn his amp up?
I believe it was B B King who told him that.
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I think a lot of the old-school guys (now in their sixties) grew up in the days before light strings were even available, so as soon as they could get them they jumped at the chance. And they still use them. And still sound great.
Yes before light gauges were available they used to use a banjo string for the top E and fit the E string on B, B on G etc and discard the bottom E. This also gave them an unwound G which wasn't part of most string sets then.
Jeff Beck changed to heavier gauge strings after Hendrix had a jam on his guitar and told him "you can't play with those rubber bands".
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On my strats and tele's I change the 00.95 sets to 10's last year (standardtuning). A subtle change. Mids and bass are a bit fuller.
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Isnt there some story about how Billy Gibbons was using big strings for big tone and was advised by an old blues master to drop a few gauges and turn his amp up?
I believe it was B B King who told him that.
Yep, I believe it was.
I played 13s, 12s, 11s and 10s on my Strat when I was learning - I was a big SRV fan back in the day. It now lives in Eb with 11s.
My Modern Eagle currently sports D'Addario 9.5s, but everything else uses D'Addario 10-46 - basically because they feel good to me across all my guitars and I can buy them in packs of 10 easily and cheaply.
I find bigger strings = a bolder and "cleaner" tone. Great for that SRV/Gary Moore thing, not so good for Gorham/Robertson/Gibbons.
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11-52 in Std tuning
I've only got Gibson scale guitars so this suits me just fine. A nice balance between tension and tone.. When is used to play in a down-tuned metal band, I used 11-54 (the plain 22 on the G was like a rod of steel!)
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I've read the occasional anecdote about big-name players - who have long gaps between tours - starting tours (or rehearsals) with a light gauge, then moving up a gauge after a few gigs when they're back in the swing of things and their fingers have got a little stronger.
Also I've heard people say they use a slightly heavier gauge live than they would at home or in the studio, because the extra adrenaline on stage was making them over-bend the lighter strings.
In contrast I heard that SRV (him again!) would start a tour with those huge thick strings, but later possibly drop down a gauge or two because they were simply taking too much of a toll on his fingers.
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I started off with 11s - it wasn't an SRV thing - it was just what I was used to. Over the years I have gone down to 10s and 9s as I like the zing that thinner gauges have over the bassiness of 11s. The recent flatwound experiment on my Jaguar has convinced me that 12 flats are the right guage for 24" scale guitars.
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I think for every famous "freak" player (7s, 8s, 13s, 14s...) out there, there are at least 10 "normal" gauge famous players.
I just go with what feels and sounds best, depending on the guitar. I was quite interested in the Jimmy Dunlop Jr interview a while ago in Guitarist, in which they said that the different type of string, even with the same gauge, can feel and sound quite different. That means there's more to experiment for me! :D
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wow I didn't know a 9.5 string set existed until reading this, that sounds perfect, I've always felt 9s are too thin and 10 too thick. You learn something new here everyday
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I'd just like to mention that, in my experience, playing the piano has REALLY helped in terms of string tension for me.
You don't even need to be good at it or practise a lot. All you need is about 20 minutes a day of playing big stretchy chords and within a week strings will be so much easier to bend. I have know idea why... but it works and it stunned me when i started... at first i though there was something wrong with my strings!
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In contrast I heard that SRV (him again!) would start a tour with those huge thick strings, but later possibly drop down a gauge or two because they were simply taking too much of a toll on his fingers.
Stevie use to play 13's, but came of the stage several times with bleeding fingertops. His tech advised him to drop down to 11's, which he at last did.
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I'd just like to mention that, in my experience, playing the piano has REALLY helped in terms of string tension for me.
You don't even need to be good at it or practise a lot. All you need is about 20 minutes a day of playing big stretchy chords and within a week strings will be so much easier to bend. I have know idea why... but it works and it stunned me when i started... at first i though there was something wrong with my strings!
I've found a similar thing trying to play bass.... not that I can play bass to save my life, but after a little while mucking about with those heavy strings and 34" scale a guitar feels like a toy!
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I've just moved up to using 11-49s on my Explorer, they just feel right, somehow.
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An 11-54 set for me, but with a twelve top. An old country player once advised me to go "one bigger" on the top string for a given set, and I've pretty much stuck at it. I use the heavier bottoms because I spent years playing a VooDoo strat, and got used to the higher tension on the bass side.
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I've found a similar thing trying to play bass.... not that I can play bass to save my life, but after a little while mucking about with those heavy strings and 34" scale a guitar feels like a toy!
+1, my guitars feel effortless after a few minutes on the bass! I'm still not getting the hang of bass either, my picking seems so inconsistent on it with those thick strings :(
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^
One thing I've found on bass, you have to get quite a lot of energy into those big strings to actually get the thing to work.
I once had a cheap Fender Precision Lite with a basswood(?) body, and if you played fingerstyle the thing literally did not resonate at all - you had to play with a pick to get any sound out of it. It was bizarre.
It was the first bass I ever played and I thought it must be some weird property of basses in general, but happily I didn't have the same problem with the other basses I've owned subsequently!
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wow I didn't know a 9.5 string set existed until reading this, that sounds perfect, I've always felt 9s are too thin and 10 too thick. You learn something new here everyday
They exist from several makers. Have tried GHS and DR and while I always value the presence of GHS strings in general, I really really like the DRs.
http://www.thomann.de/de/ghs_ghs_gb_9_12_boomers.htm
http://www.thomann.de/de/dr_tite_fit_half_tite_ht_95.htm
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When I used only DRs (after going trying several makers) I had 10s on the electrics and 11s on the acoustic. When I switched to Newtone though, I could go up to 11s which previously were too hard to move, but feld nice thickness wise. I currently am in the transitioning period, as 10s just donīt put up enough of a fight when I get into it even a little bit.
What all that trying around and the switch to newtone made me realize is that the the material and the construction is just as important as the gauge. Like Ernie Balls feel so freaking wobbly to me, I canīt stand it.
A very important and often overlooked thing is the core wire gauge!
Going to Newtone my higher string gauge went up, while it went down on the low strings. Still I have more tension on them cause while the overall gauge is reduced the core gauge is increased. Bloody great difference.
Previously to get the tension I wanted strings became far too thick, so thick that they screwed with my tone. Now, all good. Normal thickness, more tension.
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I use D'Addario 9.5s on my Modern Eagle. PRS also have a 9.5s set, made to their spec by D'Addario.
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I use D'Addario 9.5s on my Modern Eagle. PRS also have a 9.5s set, made to their spec by D'Addario.
So are PRS strings generally made by D'Addario?
If those 3 free sets which came with the "care package" are D'Addario, it suits me fine. :)