TommyK Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Absolutely it does. When I got my Yamaha new, it sounded like a cheap guitar. I upgraded to medium strings and it sounded like a whole different guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Big string = Big Fat tone. I have a Tele I keep string with 10's and I used to have another one strung with 13's. Strings are were most of the mojo happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 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. Sorry, I keep thinking of flatpick playing. I am not much of a fingerpicker, but I would imagine you could milk a lot more different tones with your hand than just a pick. 9s make me think of the years I spent breaking destroying strings with my ham handed playing; not unlike a bull in a china shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! 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? That guy's tone is so tube saturated it does not matter. To my ears he always sounds like a no-master-volume, 5watt tube amp turned up all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 This is what fingers on strings sounds like. Steve Vai learned every thing he knows from this guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick. Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 1 pair of strings will NEVER sound the exact same. Even if it's the same company, gauge, everything... So you could really say that each pack of strings has their own tone, whether you can hear it or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian 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? Gibbon uses eights.......He talks about tone a lot.........He has tone.. I use tens on Strats, nines and tens on LPs, and nines on most my others......Tens on my slide guitars..... Does gauge affect tone ? Yes................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 As for light strings on acoustics... They'll sound so different to your ear at first; you'll likely wanna cut 'em off immediately with a side cutter. But... If you light-finger 'em, and realize you're hearing the guitar from above 'stedda what somebody else might be hearing... play appropriately... it's a pretty nice, rather than "cheap guitar" sound. On an A-E you can mess with eq a bit, too... Again, style of pickin' will make a huge difference. On electric... Even I have to be a bit more careful on the old solidbody with the 8-38 to keep from pulling on the strings. Gotta get the fingers going more straight downward to fret 'em. It's easier to bend way far outa tune when you don't want to do so. But... as I've said, that guitar has worn the same size "clothes" for getting increasingly close to 40 years and she's sung blues, jazz, rock and country... m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPguitarman Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Definitely... years ago I switched from 9's to 10's. Big difference. BTW, I can't remember the last time I broke a string with 10's. Happened occasionally with 9's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverside Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Fender guitars are factory delivered with 10s. The longer scale results in higher tension than found on most Gibsons. That siad, I prefer 9's on the Gibsons and 10s on the Fenders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvanPC Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Fender guitars are factory delivered with 10s. The longer scale results in higher tension than found on most Gibsons. That siad, I prefer 9's on the Gibsons and 10s on the Fenders. You sure about that? Could have sworn it was 9's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverside Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 You sure about that? Could have sworn it was 9's. After looking around, I think you're right. The Fender website shows 9's on their new guitars. But I could swear my Fenders from a few years back came with 10s. Oh well. I still like 10s on the Fenders... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Strats come with 9's Teles with 10's I know it to be true..... V...(Picks the Light Fantastic) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverside Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Strats come with 9's Teles with 10's I know it to be true..... V...(Picks the Light Fantastic) The Fender website says that the Am Std Tele comes with 9's... I'm thinking that they changed some things recently... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAS44 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I love me some 11s, I find 9s sound way too wiry, I'm considering going up to 12s at some point but I'll wait at least until my 11 stock is depleted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Definitely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Strats come with 9's Teles with 10's My American Standard Strat came with 9s. Of course, this was 1993.... Same for my Ash Tele, I believe.... I coulda sworn it came from the factory wearing 9s - in 2004. I have no idea what the norm is now, or what changes have been made over the years. Never paid much attention, I pretty much put 10s on everything I buy outta habit. Set 'em up for it as soon as I buy 'em and never look back. To me, having the same string gauge on different guitars reveals more of their relative character. I know some older guys (who can seriously rock n roll) who usually use 9s. They know what guitars, amps, effects and techniques work for them - and it WORKS. I know some younger guys who do the macho 12 or 13 thing. A few of them sound decent, most do not. Mainly because they've never played without effects and they have what I call "digital" tone. I've always had 12s on acoustics because I like the fullness (or loudness) of the tone. Stiff fingering though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvanPC Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 My 09 Am Std Strat, bought new 2 months ago, came with 9's on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 My American Standard Strat came with 9s. Of course, this was 1993.... Same for my Ash Tele, I believe.... I coulda sworn it came from the factory wearing 9s - in 2004. I have no idea what the norm is now, or what changes have been made over the years. Never paid much attention, I pretty much put 10s on everything I buy outta habit. Set 'em up for it as soon as I buy 'em and never look back. To me, having the same string gauge on different guitars reveals more of their relative character. I know some older guys (who can seriously rock n roll) who usually use 9s. They know what guitars, amps, effects and techniques work for them - and it WORKS. I know some younger guys who do the macho 12 or 13 thing. A few of them sound decent, most do not. Mainly because they've never played without effects and they have what I call "digital" tone. I've always had 12s on acoustics because I like the fullness (or loudness) of the tone. Stiff fingering though... While they tend to put 9's on Strats and 10's on Teles, they also use whatever they have an overstock of. If fender has too many 9' this quarter they string everything with 9's. It cracks me up when kids put 13's on on their guitar because their favorite did. "SRV used 13's so I will". First off, SRV may have used 13's a few times, but he typically used 12's tuned down to E flat, which feel like 11's tuned to standard 440. So he's really just using the equivalent of 11's. Add to that his unusually large hands and muscular fingers, you have SRV playing 12's with ease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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