String gauge of the pros

[Mr. Air]

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  :?

[hunter]

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.

[Mr. Air]

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

[Philly Q]

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.

[itamar101]

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".

[TheyCallMeVolume]

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.

[Andrew W]

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.

[gwEm]

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 :)

[MDV]

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:

[gwEm]

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!

[Andrew W]

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.

[Tellboy]

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".

[Telerocker]

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.

[Twinfan]

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.

[bucketshred]

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!)