What Gauge Strings do you use? And what do you play with em?

red_ice

Hey guys, what string Gauge do you play with and why? I have different gauge strings on different guitars coz i feel each guitar has a certain playing style attached to them, what do you use for your guitars?

I have a low action on my strat, so i use a light gauge(9's i think). I find it gives me a much softer tone - makes playing effortless imo, id play more melodic rythem(riffs) rather than full chords and so on

On my epiphone(hollowbody) i have a medium gauge with a not so low action(low enough), i find my playing gets alot more gritty, and i would generally use this for rythem with full chords or a quick shred

My acustic has a low action, i use a medium gauge, and i just play rythem on it.

My kay has a low action, i use a soft gauge, and i never play it. (played it once since i got it 4/5 month ago).


Your turn!

Johnny Storm

Generally 9-46 cos they have nice thick lower strings so you can give them a good wallop when needed and nice thin bendy upper strings. Unfortunately they are a bit harder to find (esp in Fender bullets).
I have 9-42 on my Parker cos they just seem to suit that guitar. I also used to use stainless steel strings on my Steinberger. They had a nice feel but I found they were wearing away the frets at an alarming rate so now I use 9-46 D'addarios

disgruntled

I use 9-42 myself but I like the sound of 9-46, I think I might try a set of them.

Giblet

Mostly a standard 10 set of Ernie Balls.

John

11s with a mind to move up to a higher gauge.

Giblet

Oh, I play ev erything...

pbsuxok1znja4r

Personally I dislike playing anything lighter than jazz-gauge 13's...
I don't play many solos or bendy lead-work, at all. So these strings give me the heavyness and fullness of sound for playing chords and riffs. I've relatively high action too. Feel the roar.
Oh, and I go for the cheapo D'addarios

LundiMardi

ugh!

I have 9's on my strat, but i usually stick 11's on the Orville for different tunings etc..

I feel playing lead with a set of 11's really help when going back to 9's, it's like lifting weights for fingers:)

feylya

10-56's or 9-46's

Rustar

45 to 105, although I've played as heavy as 120's.

Oh! You meant guitar.
9's to 11's, depending on my mood. (Do I feel like BB King this month, or Stevie Ray?)

And always DR strings on all my axes. I've been beating the crap out of my DR bass strings for 3 weeks now and they still sound like they just came out of the package.

Ancient1

I'm on 10s with medium high action, just enough for me to dig in and get that clear ringing tone. I'm not sure if my nut can accomodate a higher gauge unless I file it down more. I can't get my hands on a decent set of files though. I bought the smallest set of files I could find in a hardware shop and they're still too big. I was thinking of fashioning the feeler gauge into a file set, but don't know how to get those teeth in....any ideas?

Rustar, what's DR man?

Karl Hungus

Many different guages for different tunings and guitars really. I play mostly Metal, so it's nothing to do with different styles, just that there's so many tunings that bands I like use. I'll use anything from 9's to 12's depending on guitar and tuning. Action is generally as close as possible without buzzing, so it can differ from guitar to guitar.

Rustar

Ancient1 wrote:

Rustar, what's DR man?

DR Handmades, http://www.drstrings.com/ .

Quite a few famous people use them, like Marcus Miller, Sting, Jonas Hellborg, Bootsy Collins, Daryl Jones, Jeff Healey, Trey Anastasia, and when he was alive, Dimebag Darryl.

I just use 'em because they last so long. They also come in colors now, I have Peacock Blue on my bass.

John

Ancient1 wrote:

I can't get my hands on a decent set of files though. I bought the smallest set of files I could find in a hardware shop and they're still too big.

Try a scale model shop like Marks Models beside the Screen cinema or one of those Games Workshop shops. They do very small files.

dwightshowman

small files? you mean paedofiles?

Ancient1

Rustar wrote:

DR Handmades, http://www.drstrings.com/

Oh of course...I misread your post, didn't know you were referring to DR strings (don't know how I managed that). Haven't tried them though.

John2 - that's an excellent idea, never thought of trying a scale model shop. Good thinking Batman!

Briony Noh

I've been using 08s for as long as I can remember. Don't know what that is down at the bass end. I'm probably lazy, but I find the trade-off of tone against slinkiness worth it for lead playing. I have them on my acoustics as well, which I'm starting to think is probably a bad idea. How often do I play lead on an acoustic?

Couple of years ago I tried picking loosies to get the slinkiness I needed mid- and high-end with chunkiness down at the bass, but I didn't take notes and I haven't done it since. Anyone else have success with custom selections?

DamienH

tbh don't think i'd fancy 08's at all. Especially on an acoustic, you could get some pretty strange bends though.... hmmm

Savman

Daddario 009's on Electric
Elixir 010's on Acoustic

Why make life hard?

It wasn't me!

Ernie Ball Regular Slinky .10's on the Les Paul
Elixir .12's on the Simon and Patrick

.10's have the right balance of meat and easy playing for a Les Paul methinks. I'd like to play .12's, but just couldn't play them easily enough.

loveducati

i use 7's to 34 or 36 on my lead and i use 9's on my steiny, trying to get 8's for steins, can anyone help?

Johnny Storm

Are you talking about double ball-end for your Steinberger?
If so, LaBella make this set according to their website:-
Set S838 Ultra Light $14.00 008-011-014-020w-030w-038w
I dont know where you'd get them, though.

deaddonkey

webstrings 11-50s on pretty much everything

except on my tele, that gets 14-58s.

goran, use the feeler gauges and strike across them horizontally with a v-shaped needle file. it takes time but it works great.

david

Anyone use the Harley Benton valuestrings? They're only €1.05 a pack so they couldnt be that bad... I was thinking of getting some 10's for gigging not recording.. €6.99 is a bit too much to pay for strings at least once a week.

Parsley

.45 - .130 Ernie Ball Slinkies. Cost me €40.

pbsuxok1znja4r

deaddonkey wrote:

except on my tele, that gets 14-58s.

Ooh sounds nice, where do you buy the 14's?

deaddonkey

scouser.tommy wrote:

Ooh sounds nice, where do you buy the 14's?

i buy a medium set for a 7 string guitar from webstrings.com

and i use the 6 heavier strings and have a high e left over from each set (.011) that i use on my other guitars.

i recommend webstrings btw, cheap, pretty good and fast shipping, it sure beats 8 smackers a set here.

fish-head

I use Ernie Ball Super Slinky .11's but I may just move up to .12's..