I don't want to be that "heavy string guy"...

[ghostmaker]

Always go with whatever works for you, and forget what anyone else thinks.

I've tried so many gauges but I always come back to 10-52's. I love the feel of palm muting the lower strings and how solid they are when picking fast with a heavy gauge pick. To my hands it's like the difference between handling a toy and handling a power tool.

[richard parker]

In theory, yes "anyone can play heavy strings", but not necessarily play the style we want. I constantly bend strings, with a lot deep bends combined with fast vibrato (Peter Green style). I can't do that with thick strings. There's been many posts here of guys with hand pain that have switched to lighter strings. I see no inherent virtue in having strings that 'fight back.'

I play 10 - 46 which I guess is 'medium'. I've used 11s but found the low E and A a little 'clanky' so I switched back. And, Rick, I DO like my strings to fight back a bit. For me it makes bending sound better if it feels and sounds like you're having to work for it. This could well be a deficiency in my playing but it works for me. As long it sounds good it doesn't matter how you do it.

To everyone in this thread: when I made the remark about EVH using girl strings it was a joke - forgive me for making frivolous remarks about this profoundly important subject.

[ItsaBass]

Yup. To me, it is very hard to go down in gauge again once I have gone up.

I have inched the gauge up set by set, realized I'd gone one too far, and then come back down with the next set of strings. But for the most part, once I go up a gauge or two, I don't come back down.

[crusty philtrum]

If you don't want to be a heavy string guy, there are two ways to deal with it ....

a) Go on a diet and lose some weight

b) Have a sex change.

[cohibacris]

On a slight side note, isn't it funny when something is a choice (ice cream flavors, string gauges) camps divide up and taunt, jeer & throw rocks at one another (figuratively of course!)?

Just thinking aloud...

There's been a bunch of cool stories shared in this thread; thanks apar111 for kicking it off...

[Bludave]

I use 11's on all electric guitars & 13's on all acoustic guitars. In my case I was using 12's on acoustics but I noticed when I tuned to open D or open G the strings got really sloppy, so I bumped up to 13's. It took a little time to get used to it but I did and I am glad I did. I still suffer from a sore index, thumb combination if I play for 2 hours straight, but other then that minor inconvenience it was well worth it.

Once I got used to it I noticed going from acoustic to electric was causing me a nightmare in keeping my guitars in tune. My guitars tuning stability is usually excellent, but I found I was squeezing the neck more firmly and this was knocking my electrics out of tune. So on the advise of a friend and fellow forum member(Wattage) I bumped my electrics up to 11's. never looked back. they stay in tune better, they have a warmer more rounded tone & I can bend them as well as anything I had used previously. I did this about 10 years ago & I still use 11's & 13's.

[blueman335]

On a slight side note, isn't it funny when something is a choice (ice cream flavors, string gauges) camps divide up and taunt, jeer & throw rocks at one another (figuratively of course!)?

That's the beauty of this forum. We'll have knock down, drag-out fights over minute details that would put 99.9% of the world to sleep. Gotta love it.

[STRATDELUXER97]

I always loved Trevor Rabin's stuff with Yes...I read where he used .008s also...Killer player!

[wahwah]

I moved up to 11-48 about 18 years ago, at a point where the styles I was playing demanded a very broad dynamic range, and the bands I was working with were improving all around me. Under those conditions, the lighter gauges simply didn't cut it any more, and I found myself playing through the strings without getting the impact required from them. The first two weeks were difficult, but the sonic and dynamic results came immediately. Playing with solid rhythm sections of excellent players and working constantly dictated that I meet the challenge head on, and shifting up the string gauge was one of the most effective modifications to facilitate that. There was instantly more substance, more string to dig into, and a jump up in the fatness of the tone. Interestingly, nothing was lost in terms of finesse, in fact the extra effort involved in bending and sustaining and voicing vibrato gave an added sense of urgency and intensity to those expressive techniques, which only enhanced their effectiveness.




Cheers..................................... wahwah

[hareek]

That's the beauty of this forum. We'll have knock down, drag-out fights over minute details that would put 99.9% of the world to sleep. Gotta love it.

Yep! Men being men! One time in college, we got into a heated argument over which would be better to have in a fight: a crowbar or a hammer. 45 minutes into it I think we made the entire dining hall get up and leave.

[ItsaBass]

Hammer. More maneuverable and accurate to aim, and quicker to swing. OTOH, land one good shot with the crobar, and end of fight. It's kind of like the longbow vs. crossbow argument.

[hareek]

Hammer. More maneuverable and accurate to aim, and quicker to swing. OTOH, land one good shot with the crobar, and end of fight. It's kind of like the longbow vs. crossbow argument.

I went with a hammer for the reasons you listed. You can do much more damage with less effort whereas the crowbar has a more even weight distribution so you need to exert more power to inflict the same damage. I still can't see how the crowbar is better haha! The fight continues!

[ItsaBass]

A crobar would work just as well as a hammer if you were an extremely strong person who could wield it with the same finesse with which a person of more average build could wield a hammer. Or if you managed to get in a good first shot. But for the average Joe, I think the hammer would be the more user-friendly, and hence more effective, bludgeon.

[hareek]

A crobar would work just as well as a hammer if you were an extremely strong person who could wield it with the same finesse with which a person of more average build could wield a hammer. Or if you managed to get in a good first shot. But for the average Joe, I think the hammer would be the more user-friendly, and hence more effective, bludgeon.

True if you wield it properly, the sharp edges of the crowbar end could inflict much more serious damage. But yeah now you can see how we easily argued about this for an hour. With 7 guys pretty much evenly split, the debate raged. It was fun. We used to do that all the time. I wish I could think of some of the other debate topics we had.

[ItsaBass]

What kind of donut is Tattoo's favorite?

[aleclee]

just call your friends p*ssies and limp fingered nancy boys.

that'll sort your problem right out.

And that's the crux of the "heavy string guy" argument. The way some guys argue the point, you'd think there was a correlation between a guy's preferred string gauge and the size of his wedding tackle.

if only there was a 9-52 set, that would be heaven.

Big City Strings will let you replace the plain strings in any set that GHS makes. They're my source of 9.5-46 sets. Naked Strings offers even more custom gauge options but they don't offer different alloy choices and I found their strings to be on the stiff side.

[Markk]

Crowbar, definately cro....ummm, go for the 11s and stick with it, and then build up some speed and chops so it won't be a total embarrassment to be with them.

Like a poster said earlier, heavier strings should not be an excuse for not being able to play with at least a bit of speed. No need for a million notes a minute, but no point in only being able to play at turtle speeds.

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Well I am "That heavy string guy".....

I use 13-62 on 25.5" scales, 14-65 on some Gibson scales or a combination of the two. I use plain G strings not wound.

You get used to bending on those, I bend them all the time, you just have to build the callus. I find them a lot easier to play than lighter strings, they don't bend between the fret or bend when the pick hits them. I also have been known to play quite fast and have been accused of being a "shredder", though not the neo-metal kind; I don't use much gain and often shred with a clean tone.

Don't buy into the whole "well everyone else plays 9s and 10s so I guess that is what I should play" thing. I did that for 20 years and hated it; once I went heavy I never went back. Find what works for you and use it.

[cohibacris]

That's the beauty of this forum. We'll have knock down, drag-out fights over minute details that would put 99.9% of the world to sleep. Gotta love it.

True if you wield it properly, the sharp edges of the crowbar end could inflict much more serious damage. But yeah now you can see how we easily argued about this for an hour. With 7 guys pretty much evenly split, the debate raged. It was fun. We used to do that all the time. I wish I could think of some of the other debate topics we had.

I laughed so hard I thought I'd pissed myself a bit hareek and bluman335; guess I'm in a safe place! Too delicate a constitution makes for a suck arse forum

[cohibacris]

What kind of donut is Tattoo's favorite?

I'll trip over the wire; "What kind is it?"