Guitar Strings

[just strum]

Okay, most of the Washburn gang know this is my favorite subject (not).

I noticed in a number of posts, here and elsewhere, that a lot of people string their Strats and Teles with 9's, but the rest of their guitars with 10's or 11's. Does anyone know the reason for stringing the Stats and Teles with 9's?

 

[markb]

I've always used 10s on Fenders but recently went back to 9s after many years. I like them. My tele has a very unforgiving neck and the extra give in the strings seems to help. The strat just feels faster and hasn't really suffered tone-wise. I think Fenders can feel quite "stiff" generally, it's probably what gives rise to the widely held belief that Fenders are harder (or more tactile) to play.

On the other hand all shredders seem to use superstrat style guitars so they can't be that much more hard work

 

[Katastrophe]

It has to do mainly with scale length and string tension. 9s on a 25.5" scale guitar should feel roughly the same as 10s on a 24.75" scale guitar.

For a while, I kept all my guitars (which were all the 25.5" scale) strung with 10s. Here lately it's only been 9s on the Strat, and they sound fine to me.

 

[warren0728]

i have 10's on all my electrics....

 

[Guitar-Chris]

It has to do mainly with scale length and string tension. 9s on a 25.5" scale guitar should feel roughly the same as 10s on a 24.75" scale guitar.

For a while, I kept all my guitars (which were all the 25.5" scale) strung with 10s. Here lately it's only been 9s on the Strat, and they sound fine to me.

I think you're right with that scale reason.

After using 9's on my strat type guitars for years, I began to string them all with d'Addario 9.5's. It's just that little difference between the 9's and the 10's that make them ideal for me.

My Les Paul Copy with the shorter scale has 10's on it.

 

[araT]

It has to do mainly with scale length and string tension. 9s on a 25.5" scale guitar should feel roughly the same as 10s on a 24.75" scale guitar..

Spot on, I keep my Teles on 9-42s, And the Rick 360/12 on 10-42s, but string everything else with 10-52s (excluding the bass & classical guitar).

 

[just strum]

Spot on, I keep my Teles on 9-42s, And the Rick 360/12 on 10-42s, but string everything else with 10-52s (excluding the bass & classical guitar).

That seems to be the logical consensus. I've asked others outside of this forum and get the same response.

It makes sense.

 

[Guitar-Chris]

I've asked others outside of this forum and get the same response.

You do have communication with people outside of this forum? Are you kidding?

 

[just strum]

You do have communication with people outside of this forum? Are you kidding?

Yes, but it's only in other forums. I have not had face-to-face contact with humans since 2006.

 

[Guitar-Chris]

Yes, but it's only in other forums. I have not had face-to-face contact with humans since 2006.

You don't have a webcam?oke:

Ok, back on topic....

 

[just strum]

You don't have a webcam?oke:

Ok, back on topic....

I think the topic has run its course.

No, don't have a webcam. I read an article that aliens from other planets use them as a portal to our world. I have to agree that this is possible, as I have noted on a few occasions the strange actions of Tot.

I'm just saying...

 

[sunvalleylaw]

It has to do mainly with scale length and string tension. 9s on a 25.5" scale guitar should feel roughly the same as 10s on a 24.75" scale guitar.

For a while, I kept all my guitars (which were all the 25.5" scale) strung with 10s. Here lately it's only been 9s on the Strat, and they sound fine to me.

I get that reasoning. But I started on a strat, and 9's felt too loose to me, so I do 10's. The Hagstrom came with 10's so that is how it has stayed so far. I guess I could try a set of those 9.5's on my strat, but I have a bunch of 10's I bought on close out when our local guitar store closed to use up first.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

I think the topic has run its course.

No, don't have a webcam. I read an article that aliens from other planets use them as a portal to our world. I have to agree that this is possible, as I have noted on a few occasions the strange actions of Tot.

I'm just saying...

Webcam portals are for wussies. We use brainwaves...you're safe strummy.

 

[Spudman]

Years ago I switched to 10s on everything. It did make a big difference in the quality of my sound and I liked it. It took a bit more muscle to wrangle 10s on my Strats but the sound improvement was worth the effort. I do play a lot of single string solos and the 10s stand out in a mix much better than 9s which seem to get lost in the sound of the band or even just the imbalance with the other strings on the guitar.

A few of the new long scale guitars I've recently gotten sound pretty good with 9s on them though so I'm enjoying the easier playability with the lighter strings and the sound doesn't seem to suffer much from the lighter gauge in some cases. Then I tried 10s on one of those same guitars and yes the tone was much better but the guitar became too hard to play.

I don't know what it is exactly but some of my Strats are fine with 9s and some play easy with 10s. However, all my shorter scale guitars stay with 10s and feel great and easy to play. I've even got 2 Les Paul types that I'm considering 11s on because they play so easy with 10s.

 

[just strum]

Webcam portals are for wussies. We use brainwaves...you're safe strummy.

touché

 

[wingsdad]

The scale-length thing makes technical sense, but

Years ago I switched to 10s on everything. It did make a big difference in the quality of my sound and I liked it. ....

I've always used 10's (10-46) on all electric 6-strings whether 'Fender' or 'Gibson' scale'. Not just for the same reason as Spud (absolutely fatter high-string tone) but I'd found that with 9's on Strats or Teles more so than an LPR or 335, I had a tendency to 'squeeze' chords out-of-tune.

 

[just strum]

I've even got 2 Les Paul types that I'm considering 11s on because they play so easy with 10s.

Spud, I have 11's on my Wildkat and really like them for the tone quality (although never having 10's on the guitar I have no reference point). It took a little getting use to (days), but I like them and plan on putting new 11's on soon. I thought about putting them on my Dot, but undecided for the moment.

I switched the Washburn Idol from 9's to 10's yesterday and it made a difference in tone and playability. Since I've been playing the 11's so much, I was wrapping those 9's all the way to the back of the neck

 

[marnold]

I had a tendency to 'squeeze' chords out-of-tune.

That's also why I use 10-46 sets. Having said that, that's probably a technique problem that could be corrected in other ways, but I like it and it works.

I use 45-105 on my bass

 

[Katastrophe]

No, don't have a webcam. I read an article that aliens from other planets use them as a portal to our world. I have to agree that this is possible, as I have noted on a few occasions the strange actions of Tot.

I'm just saying...

Dude, don't you know that you can block the webcam portal thing by just wearing a hat made from aluminum foil? The catch is that you have to post a pic of you wearing said hat so the aliens will know it's you, and leave you alone out of fear of your aluminumness.

 

[just strum]

Dude, don't you know that you can block the webcam portal thing by just wearing a hat made from aluminum foil? The catch is that you have to post a pic of you wearing said hat so the aliens will know it's you, and leave you alone out of fear of your aluminumness.

Geez, and some people think this is just a guitar forum. There is a wealth of information here.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

Dude, don't you know that you can block the webcam portal thing by just wearing a hat made from aluminum foil? The catch is that you have to post a pic of you wearing said hat so the aliens will know it's you, and leave you alone out of fear of your aluminumness.

That army helmet he's wearing is aluminum.

I use 10s on my Gibson scale guitars (I don't have one with a Fender scale yet.)

I have 12s currently on my Godin 5th Avenue with P90. It's an archtop with a 24.84" scale (a wee bit longer than Gibson). I'm gonna try 13s to drive the top more.

 

[R.B. Huckleberry]

Well, my Reverend and PRS came set up with 9's, so I kept them that way. My Hamer and G&L had 10's. so I lft them that way.

For the most part, I've been following the rule: "That's what she was wearing when we met, and it felt fiiiiiiine."


The lone exception: My American Series Telecaster. Took months to concede, but when she went in for a set up (poor thing hung in the store unloved for a year) I had the strings beefed up to 10's. Just didn't feel like all the Tele it could be until I did that.

 

[Fab4]

I haven't tried any 9.5s, but after reading that Brent Mason uses a 9 set with heavy low E and A strings, I tried EB Hybrid Slinkys on my Tele/Strat guitars. They have 9-set gauges on the three unwound strings and 10-set gauges on the three wound strings. On the long-scale guitars, they give you a firmer low register for stronger rhythm work and a more wiry low lead sound. It sounds like one of those "best of both worlds" compromises that usually don't work, but in this case the Hydrid set works great for me (although they're still too floppy on a shorter scale like on a Les Paul.)

If I have to tune down a half step, I'll use 10s on a Strat/Tele and a Heavy Bottom set on a Gibson.

There are lots of string options out there these days. They offer a cheap, non-destructive way to change the feel of an instrument, so don't be shy about experimenting outside the 9s/10s box.

 

[ShortBuSX]

It has to do mainly with scale length and string tension. 9s on a 25.5" scale guitar should feel roughly the same as 10s on a 24.75" scale guitar.

I think you may have it backwards...my Tele and my Strat strung with 10s, the Tele is always easier(less effort) to bend the strings...I would think that this means less string tension, so it makes sense to me, to think that 11s would be needed to get(the tele) closer to the same string tension.(as a strat with 10s)

I tried 9s recently on my Strat thinking it would be easier...less surface area hurts worse in my opinion.

 

[marnold]

I think you may have it backwards...my Tele and my Strat strung with 10s, the Tele is always easier(less effort) to bend the strings...I would think that this means less string tension, so it makes sense to me, to think that 11s would be needed to get(the tele) closer to the same string tension.(as a strat with 10s)

He's got it right. Teles and Strats are both 25.5" scale, so that really doesn't play in there. Both my guitars are 25.5" and both are strung with 10s. It's easier to bend on the Floyd, partially because the trem is floating so it has some "give" to it. The bad part is that bending pulls the other strings slightly out of tune.

I know that people have reported that some guitars just seem to "play easier" for them regardless of scale length. I'm sure there's some logical explanation, although I'm not sure what that would be. Maybe that's what you're experiencing too.

 

[Fab4]

One of the reasons I use the hybrid sets is to keep string bending easier on the high strings of a Tele, while still getting a meaty sound on the lower strings. I play Strats, Teles, Gibsons, Gretsches, you name it, and I like the way different guitars feel. But I also know if you play one scale length or neck type all the time, the slightest difference can feel really huge.

I recently met a Tele player friend of mine (an absolutely BLAZING country player) at a guitar store here. I handed him the Strat I was trying out and he thought it must be strung with 11s or something. It had 10s, but he wasn't used to the trem pulling up as he bent a string, so he had to bend a lot farther than he was used to to get the bent note up to pitch. That made the guitar feel stiff to him, even though it had the same string tension that he always played. The devils are always in the details.

 

[ShortBuSX]

It's easier to bend on the Floyd, partially because the trem is floating so it has some "give" to it...Maybe that's what you're experiencing too.

Nah, my Trems are blocked and using 5 springs too.
Teles have always seemed to bend easier to me.

 

[Fab4]

There's a good article about scale length in the December 08 issue of Guitar Player (the new one with Santana on the cover). There's plenty of juicy stuff in there about how scale length impacts feel, tone and string tension.

Of course, no matter how much technical persnickitiness you get into about string gauges and guitar construction, what really matters is the subjective stuff: How does it feel to YOU? How does it sound to YOU? How much does it inspire YOU to practice, play and create.

In the end, no matter how you set up your instrument, what you want is your optimum Personal YEE HAW Factor (PYHF)...and that'll be different for everybody. So follow "the rules," break 'em or make up your own to you heart's content. It's all good.

 

[Duff]

Super Slinky's

I recently read on a site about keeping Floyd Rose trems in tune that it is not recommeneded to use EB super slinky strings on them, maybe slinky's in general, because they are too elastic and the strings are way more difficult to stay in tune.

I have used a lot of EB's on my strats and have not noticed this but maybe some of you more experienced guys have noticed this characteristic to the slinky's. I'm quite sure the dude didn't say they were too elastic for Floyd Rose's on his website, assumably an expert on set up, unless he felt that there was some meaning to what he was saying about the elasticity and tuning stability.

I like 9' because they are easy to bend but have 10s on a few guitars, even flat wound ones on a LP and another guitar, which are heavier guage than 9 and exert a lot of tension. But they sound nice and deep, mellow and sweet; but have almost no crispyness. It's just another tone option that I like.

I'm going to put flatwounds on my P bass and leave roundwounds with their crispyness on my new J bass for the brighter tones. I want the deep mellow thump for the P bass, even though I think my zoom bass pedal emulates flatwound strings, there is nothing like the real thing.

I also read that using as pure nickel wound bass strings as you can find will make your bass sound warmer even with round wound strings. I think Fender makes pure nickel wound bass strings. Just an idea for those looking for more tone. I think my next set for my J bass will be round wound pure nickel strings; flatwounds for the P bass with as much nickel as I can find. Most flatwounds are stainless or chrome as far as I can tell. Probably because of the tension. Real expensive rotosounds and other expensive ones might be different but maybe worth it.

After playing the bass playing 9's is really different and really easy to do bends, etc. Good way to practice bends if you are not good at them; play a bass for about an hour then play a 9's and it will be like super easy to bend those strings all really well.

Duffy

 

[Ch0jin]

Well the scale length doesn't factor into the equation for me because both my Matons have 25.5" necks as does, obviously, my Strat.

All three cop Ernie Ball Slinkies in 10-46. (fluro green pack)

Maton use Elixir strings from the factory because they can take a lot of use before losing their edge. I -loved- the feel of these strings, so smooth and silky and easy to play, and they did last quite some time before they needed changing, but when I found out my local guitar store didn't stock them, I threw EB Slinkies on it and whilst they felt like sandpaper under my fingers after the elixir's, I liked the tone better. The Elxirs were a little too smooth sounding, the EB's gave me back some bite.

Bass wise I restrung recently with whatever the green packet EB Slinkies for Bass are (It'd been so long between changes I'd forgot what was on there originally)