EvanPC Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I've come across different schools of thought on this. I'm of the school which believes (feels) string gauge affects tone. What are your thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreslauer Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 i think everything affects tone. good or bad may be a matter of opinion. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad1 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 How could it not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Simplest way to put it is, I agree with Don. Different types of strings, too... m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre S Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 My ear may not be fully developed to notice all these subtle changes but I think it does. When I switched from 10s to 11s last week, the tone became a lot heavier and you could say darker and I found more focused whereas the 10s in comparison were not as focused I much prefer the 11s. Top wrapped of course. But thats another story and poll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvanPC Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 How could it not? That's my question. I'm just saying...there are those out there who feel it makes no difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Years ago I had a couple sets of nine's laying around. I decided to use them, and strung my Les Paul and Strat with them. The playing was a bit easier. The Les Paul sounded a little weak, but still pretty cool. A few months later, I went back to tens. Tuned up my Strat, and when I kicked it up through the amp it BARKED! More mass in a magnetic field = stronger signal. Seems that the weaker field from the little single coil benefited the most. Been a 10 guy ever since. Played 12s on other people's guitars - couldn't get into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvanPC Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Years ago I had a couple sets of nine's laying around. I decided to use them, and strung my Les Paul and Strat with them. The playing was a bit easier. The Les Paul sounded a little weak, but still pretty cool. A few months later, I went back to tens. Tuned up my Strat, and when I kicked it up through the amp it BARKED! More mass in a magnetic field = stronger signal. Seems that the weaker field from the little single coil benefited the most. Been a 10 guy ever since. Played 12s on other people's guitars - couldn't get into it. A similar scenario is what sparked my curiousity on the general consensus. I recently purchased my first Fender Strat, which came with the factory standard 9's on it. Right off the bat, I wanted 10's on it, which is what I'm used to on my LP. It's taken me a while to get used to the feel of the 9's. I feel like I have to be gentle with them or I'll bend too far, or incidentally bend or contort chord shapes out of tune. At the same time, I almost feel as though the lighter gauge strings lend (positively) to that distinct single coil sound. Almost as if they compliment the single coils more so than 10's or higher would. I'm sort of torn on whether or not to jump up to 10's on the Strat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WahKeen Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 They have to, based on their composition in combination with the pickups. About two years ago I changed from 9s to 10s. I do a lot of bendings and the 10s fit the bill, plus the tone is thicker than the 9s. I'm not going back to thinner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketman Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 A few months later, I went back to tens.Tuned up my Strat, and when I kicked it up through the amp it BARKED! SRV took it up to 13's for that fat Strat tone. That's just nuts! I heard that he back off later in life because of the constant finger bleeding. I like 9's on my Strat and 10's on everything else. But then again I never tried 10's on my Strat. You've piqued my interest so I'll try it someday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I switched to 11s over ten years ago and have not looked back. I don't know how anyone, outside of super light touch finesse players, can play anything lighter. Even then you'll find them w/ active pickups and super processed rack unit systems. The more organic your tone, the more you need heavier strings for those full, rich ringing sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy R Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Years ago I had a couple sets of nine's laying around. I decided to use them, and strung my Les Paul and Strat with them. The playing was a bit easier. The Les Paul sounded a little weak, but still pretty cool. A few months later, I went back to tens. Tuned up my Strat, and when I kicked it up through the amp it BARKED! More mass in a magnetic field = stronger signal. Seems that the weaker field from the little single coil benefited the most. Been a 10 guy ever since. Played 12s on other people's guitars - couldn't get into it. Not trying to be a turd NEO but... "More mass in a magnetic field = stronger signal. Seems that the weaker field from the little single coil benefited the most." and again not disagreeing, but you can hear a noticeable tone difference between a few 100ths of an inch on a string vibrating in that magnetic field but don't believe that having a chunk of metal surrounding your pickup interacting with that same magnetic field could not have a noticeable effect on your tone?? Just saying.... Not trying to pick at you but consider this for a minute... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Right. Bigger string - more than a 10% increase on metal within the field. It was most obvious to me on the Strat - definitely louder. Oh - and the covers are plastic on Strat single coils. Pole pieces are not masked or shrouded - but exposed to the whole wide world. That MUST be it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Evol wrote: "I don't know how anyone, outside of super light touch finesse players, can play anything lighter." If I played differently, I'm not quite certain what I'd do. But for now, I love my 9-42s for fingerpicking just about anything on steel strings from Bach to cowboy to a lot of fat-chord standards in what I tend to call a combination of piano bar and elevator music - although I used to bang out rock and hard country. My mid 1970s Guild SG-type wore 8-38 when I bought her new, and she's handled just about anything too, with those super lights, even when I used a flatpick. OTOH, she's also got what amounts to a roller-type tunomatic sort of bridge which probably helps keep that light a set of strings from breaking even with only bare finger technique. I bend the heck out of strings on some stuff. Now... if I were to be playing more flatpick or said the heck with it and used thumb and finger picks for a Carter Family Scratch and bang out bluegrass type stuff? Definitely heavier strings. Tone? Yeah, I'd get more depth with heavier strings. No question. But the amp and multi-effect box help fill in for some of that both on the magnetic and A-E pickups. Perfect, no, but... I guess that's why I love certain sorts of necks that help me play what I sorta hear in my head, and I'm less concerned with seeking that "perfect tone." m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I found this from professor strings; http://professorstring.com/string_FAQs.php#Q49 http://www.professorstring.com/string_physics.php Does anyone else remember the old jazz guys "boiling" strings? My teacher who started playing in the 1940s did ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Oh man, it's a huge, way noticeable difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Oh man, it's a huge, way noticeable difference. It sure does, IMHO it has more to do with the overtones... try a set of heavys on a resonator and you will know right now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 It sure does, IMHO it has more to do with the overtones... try a set of heavys on a resonator and you will know right now... Even on an electric there seems to be a lot more sympathetic-harmonic stuff going on. I changed, gradually, from .009s (through tens) to .011s and much prefer them. Probably a lot more noticeable if you play relatively 'clean'. I'm not sure if anyone who plays with the gain turned well-up would notice too much difference. The only downside is if I don't get much chance to play hard and frequently it can take a while to get the fingertips/callouses back in shape. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieman15061 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Doesn't Billy Gibbons play super light gauges and ZZtop got a pretty heavy guitar tone so I don't know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimbabig Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 There was a point where I was using gauge 13's tuned up to standard, with high action. Must be I'm left handed and that's the hand I fret with, I'm not saying I was doing crazy solos with them but I could manage fairly well. ' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Doesn't Billy Gibbons play super light gauges and ZZtop got a pretty heavy guitar tone so I don't know? A good point. Others have managed light strings and heavy tone as well... Hendrix, Van Halen, Iommi However we have no comparison as to what their tone might have been with heavier strings. From my own experience, lighter strings sound thinner. I'm sure I could I find other ways to beef up the tone and keep my strings light... But I've been on 11's for years so I'll stick with them. In addition to tone, I'm a bit heavy handed and will pull things sharp with light strings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I currently use 9's on Strat and LP Junior 10's on 335 type semis Never got to grips with 11's 12's on fat jazz archtop 13's in the past on archtops but did suffer from skin peels 14's in the past influenced by Pat Martino, similar skin peels problem but great tone....!! I have 2 similar LP Juniors...one with 9's and one with 10's....the difference is huge in touch and tone terms.... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69 Son Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Sure it affects tone but the materials used for the wrap maybe moreso. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryUK Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I think the thicker string = harder to bend = More effort = better tone. If the string is too thin you have to think not to put too much effort in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 My un-scientific opinion is that gauge does effect tone, but only slightly. Especially when just jumping up one size, like say 9s to 10s, or 10s to 11s. Now go from say 8s to 11s and your ears might really hear the difference. My friend has an old 82' Strat with a super thin blade neck and he strings it with 8s! Talk about thin! Again, just my amateur opinion, but I think more than likely heavier or lighter strings affect the way the player plays the guitar, and THAT has an influence on the sound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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