ajg77 Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Hi There, I've just got my first les paul, ( a rather lovely 59 vos) and am feeling it might be worth going up a string gauge from that which I use on strats, ( d'addario 10s). Would putting 11's on the les paul achieve the same tension as 10's on the strat? Any advice appreciated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigneil Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 i think that the standard string gauge on a las paul runs from 10 - 52 (light bottom heavy top) rather than the more common 10 - 46. putting 11s on your les paul will sound great and increase the string tension,. but by how much is any ones guess. you will probably have to make some adjustments to the bridge height and maybe even the neck, in order to compensate for the extra tension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigneil Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 P.S ./... i like the lower string tension from the shorter scale length on a les paul because i find it easier to play really soul filled string bends. part of the magic of les paul IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajg77 Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 Cheers bigneil, light bottom heavy top sounds like a good idea. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 When the LP was introduced in '52 the standard gauge fitted was 12 - 46. You may try that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarJunkie Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 When I was a Fender guy, I used .009s. With Gibsons, I found them to be a bit light and have been using .010s ever since. You're correct as far as the shorter scale length on the Gibson will pretty much make up for the thicker gauge. I should mention, a few weeks ago I bought a used Flying V and the previous owner had it set up for .012s. Of course I used this as a bargaining point since I'd "need to pay to get it set up for a normal gauge". I took it to rehearsal to try before restringing it and was pretty surprised with how much I liked them. The tone was much fuller, the guitar was louder, and it just sounded more... "solid", meaning you could really pound out the chords without bottoming out the strings. I play lead, and even string bending wasn't really an issue, which surprised me even more. I'm not about to switch all my Gibsons over to .012s, but I might just try .011s on a few of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinFish Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 Thick strings all the way. I use D'Addario 11 - 49. I know SRV used really thick strings. I think he used 13 - 58 gauge strings. On the other hand Hendrix used 10 - 38. I still think a heavier gauge of string sounds better though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 On the other hand Hendrix used 10 - 38. I may be wrong but I think he also tuned his guitar down a semi-tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 I should mention' date=' a few weeks ago I bought a used Flying V and the previous owner had it set up for .012s. Of course I used this as a bargaining point since I'd "need to pay to get it set up for a [i']normal[/i] gauge". I took it to rehearsal to try before restringing it and was pretty surprised with how much I liked them. The tone was much fuller, the guitar was louder, and it just sounded more... "solid", meaning you could really pound out the chords without bottoming out the strings. I play lead, and even string bending wasn't really an issue, which surprised me even more. I'm not about to switch all my Gibsons over to .012s, but I might just try .011s on a few of them. When I bought my LP the store gave me a complimentary set of strings and I chose my usual 10's. After I fitted them I realised immediately they were not as good as the heavier set I'd just taken off and I've used 11's ever since. Next change I'm going for 12's just out of curiosity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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