I used to like strings super stiff and hard. I was using 12-56 in standard for a long time. Now I'm into super floppy, loose feeling strings. 10-46 in D flat / C Sharp or even C. I've found over the years that, while it's fun to beat the shit out of the strings and not get warble, I like the rumble on palm mutes with looser feeling strings. I also dig how easy bends are, though with my ape-grip I have to be careful or I bend out of tune on chords. Pinch harmonics are a breeze too. If I ever got back into floppy bridges, I'm sure it'd make that more fun too.
Any a you bros had any string preference changes over the years?
Wait. You thought I was talking about something else, didn't you?
9-46 in standard
10-52 in drop c
11-58 in drop b on my 25.5” guitars
12-60 in drop b on my shorter scales…which is really just the 25” on my OG Bauer V.
Using stringjoy exclusively these days, my drop b sets are customized.
I like 5150s. The rest of you bullshit amps can get fucked.
I've gone up and down on string gauge and have always settled back to 10-46. So I don't bother fucking around anymore. The thing that makes it matter the least is playing a lot of acoustic guitar. That keeps my hands strong.
I use 9-42 on 25.5 scale guitars and 10-46 on 24.75 scale guitars. E standard most of the time. I play in Drop D sometimes but not often.
I've been thinking about going 9-42 on everything just to make things easier. My playing is not very sensitive to string gauge tbh. I can play pretty much the same way on anything from 8s to 11. But oddly enough, I like the sound of thinner strings better. Being a rock guy for the most part, I don't need a lot of low end and sometimes thicker strings sound too boomy for my taste, especially with humbuckers and gain. With singles and a cleaner amp, thick strings can be cool. the whole SRV thing, but I rarely play that way.
Guitarbilly wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 4:51 pm
I use 9-42 on 25.5 scale guitars and 10-46 on 24.75 scale guitars. E standard most of the time. I play in Drop D sometimes but not often.
I've been thinking about going 9-42 on everything just to make things easier. My playing is not very sensitive to string gauge tbh. I can play pretty much the same way on anything from 8s to 11. But oddly enough, I like the sound of thinner strings better. Being a rock guy for the most part, I don't need a lot of low end and sometimes thicker strings sound too boomy for my taste, especially with humbuckers and gain. With singles and a cleaner amp, thick strings can be cool. the whole SRV thing, but I rarely play that way.
Yeah, I've really found that high gain playing works better with lighter/brighter strings. You can still dial bass in at the amp, but things get boomy quick with heavier strings.
I still like a 12-56 set for big, fat cleans. They just suck when you click over to the drive channel.
Sorta weird mess to how I view strings. Overall they are all rather standard or slightly heavy, but I prefer more tension at HIGHER tunings vs low. I rarely tune standard but after setting up a 1000 guitars in standard E with 10s, that really does feel good and give good tone.
In E flat mainly use 10-50. DR has a standard with those gauges. Or The EB Ultra slinky 10-48 will work.
My other main tuning is D flat and I use 11-54. With the top 3 being 11, 14 (or 15), 18(or 19 if it’s GHS). So in a way it’s sorta like a 9-46 set. But prolly more like a 9-44… So if you followed my math, lol, you’ll see I dont try and emulate the tension thru all different tunings and string gauge.
In E standard I settled on 9-46's over the past few years since I have not been playing as much. I use a Drop pedal for lower tunings. However, might go back to 10-46's on the hardtail Chubtone. That thing is just slinky!
I used to set it to 9-46 and 10-48/49. Basically, the 10 set would be 10 for the unwound strings, while the wound strings would be from an 11 set. I didn't care for the drastic jump between a 9-46 set and a 10-52 set.
Now, I use a semi modded 9-42 and 10-46 sets. I swap out the G and B strings on the 9 set for 15 and 12. I swap out the G string on the 10 set for a 16. This keeps the strings more even tension wise between themselves and also in comparison to the other tuning I use. IE, the unwound strings feel even between E B and G, regardless of using 9s in E or 10s in Eb. The same for the wound strings as well.
The 9-12-15-24-32-42 and 10-13-16-26-36-46 sets were done to try and cut down on the differences between tunings, gauges, and guitars as much as realistically possible.
Guitarbilly wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 5:57 pm
I don't think I ever used 9-46 but I can see myself liking that as a good compromise between 9s and 10s. I'll buy a few sets and see if I like them.
I like the slightly heavier bottom for when I go to drop D. The low E stays tighter.
