Lighter gauge strings - what a revelation!!!

[aleksandar]

Some month ago I put Fender 12-52 strings on my Tele copy, to see if I could get that "tele jazz sound" that is all the rave these days, as it seems. Before that, I used to use D'Addario 11-49. It's been quite a while, maybe a whole decade and some more since I used anything lighter than 11's. So, I couldn't get a decent sound out of those 12's, no matter how much I messed with the EQ settings. It all sounded somehow one dimensional and constrained, flat sounding somehow. I tried adjusting the pickups height...nope. And on top of it all, I broke the first string, and then the third, something I haven't done in years (yeah and, SRV must've had some monster hands). Because I ran out of spare strings, I searched through my guitar junk box, and I found this thin string, I don't know if it is 8 or 9. I moved all the strings up a string and discarded the 6th, plugged the thing in - and couldn't believe my ears. The guitar now sounds like never before, very open. With the tone knob all the way down, I get this very dark, but not muddy tone, and it can go to quite bright sounding, although it has two humbuckers in it, and then everything in between.

But the key is in the light touch and light picking. That way I can get quite satisfying jazz tone. And then I have all this expression options at disposal, like wild vibratos, sudden two step bends and what not. The only problem is that the first sounds to plinky when I pick it harder and it chokes. I might go with 10's on that guitar, but no heavier than that. With 11's it was quite average sounding in comparison. And I thought that tele+light strings is a cowboy's sound...

[neatomic]

10's??? light??

step up to 07's and be a man! haha



it all depends on the guitar, the set up and the players touch..and the tone they want!

cheers

[pingu]

I confess I can't play light strings in tune
That's one of the things I loved when I discovered
TI flat 13s
I was suddenly in tune !
O Wonderous day

I'm not going back now ....
People can do it ,Brian May is so in tune
its unearthly ... just not me

[entresz]

I think Brian May's playing in general is unearthly. My jaw always falls to the floor when I hear him.

[vintagelove]

+1 on little strings.


Folks should really try TI flat 10's with an 11 high e if you need better balance. Really playable.

[Cunamara]

Both Ed Bickert (Tele) and Jim Hall liked light gauge strings, fromwhat I've read. Ed's touch was reportedly very light which seems borne out by the videos of him.

[Alder Statesman]

10's??? light??

step up to 07's and be a man! haha



it all depends on the guitar, the set up and the players touch..and the tone they want!

cheers

I tried those for a month or so. I was SO happy to restring with 12 chromes.

[Boston Joe]

.11s work for me. I can do .10s in a pinch.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I like me some elevens on a Gibson-scaled electric. I don't care for light strings and won't see the point of caring until ole Arthur catches up to me. Give me punch or give me deaf!

Or both!

Wait, what was that you said?

[339 in june]

I confess I can't play light strings in tune
That's one of the things I loved when I discovered
TI flat 13s
I was suddenly in tune !
O Wonderous day

I'm not going back now ....
People can do it ,Brian May is so in tune
its unearthly ... just not me

Same here !

Maybe we can start a new thread :"Heavier gauge strings - what a revelation!!!"

To the OP :
Strange that you broke strings on heavier gauges.
Something wrong with the strings ?
Or, more likely : the nut needed to be filed a bit wider to accommodate heavier gauge strings ?

[aleksandar]

Well, it was revelation to me because, as I said, I haven't been using light strings more than 10 years, because I couldn't play them well - playing in tune problems, I guess because I was picking too hard, I don't know. Some fellow players were amazed by the fact that I am using 12's on my LP. But, something about this guitar wasn't right for heavy gauge strings, and not just the feel, but also the sound. While with lighter ones it sounds much better, more balanced somehow.

[Woody Sound]

Kinda funny, sax players always have the same discussion/opinion/argument about reed thickness.

[jim777]

I always use 9's on my solid bodies (mostly super Strat type guitars by Ibanez and Jackson), though will use 10's in a pinch. On my hollows I always use flat 11's but will use 10's in either either round or flat in a pinch. Therefore, 10's are for pinching

SRV used heavy strings on his Strat, but he also tuned down a full step so they were pretty loose as far as I know.

[neatomic]

Both Ed Bickert (Tele) and Jim Hall liked light gauge strings, fromwhat I've read. Ed's touch was reportedly very light which seems borne out by the videos of him.

jim hall used d'aquisto flats..the 11 set..which is 11-48..tho in interviews hall said he sometimes used a 50 or 52 low e..so maybe he subbed 52 low e from 12 set


bickert used ernie ball 11-46 rounds


cheers

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

ahem

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Just because...

[Thumpalumpacus]

Well, it was revelation to me because, as I said, I haven't been using light strings more than 10 years, because I couldn't play them well - playing in tune problems, I guess because I was picking too hard, I don't know. Some fellow players were amazed by the fact that I am using 12's on my LP. But, something about this guitar wasn't right for heavy gauge strings, and not just the feel, but also the sound. While with lighter ones it sounds much better, more balanced somehow.

Yep -- it's been my experience that the best thing to do in stringing decisions is to let the guitar tell you what it wants.

I have my go-to brands and gauges for a given style of guitar. Put my favorite Ernie Ball Earthwood Silk-and-Steels in .013 on my Yamaha -- nope, it wasn't right. Experimented for a couple of months (I change strings after about 25 hours playing time) until I threw on a set of D'Ad .012s -- perfect!

Some guitars are like dogs, they'll eat anything you put in front of them; others are like cats, finicky, but will wolf down the right dish.

[bananafist]

I think the other part of the string gauges discussion, is how hard you hit them and the thickness of your pick. I play very lightly on light (9s or 10s, on a tele) with a Fender medium pick (howls of derision from the jazz majority.) On my archtops the heaviest I can play comfortably are 11-50 roundwounds. But I get a sound I am happy with. The jazz players I know, (I don't really think of myself as a 'jazz' player,) all use use tape wound cables and thick rigid picks, but they don't work for me.

[princeplanet]

Read somewhere recently that there is some kinda rule that goes something like " thick strings with thin picks, or thin strings with thick picks".

Bullshit. It's gotta be thick strings with thick picks! For me anyway . Wimpy "plinkety plink" playing gives (jazz) guitar it's reputation as a very undynamic and unexciting instrument. Certainly for Jazz, but even for a lot of fusion, blues and rock (OK, Hendrix is a notable exception!...).

[Herbie]

Billy Gibbons said in some interview that as a youngster he used thick strings because "old blues heroes had thick strings". Once his band played as a support act for BB King. At the backstage they discussed about guitars. BB King revealed that he used thinnest strings available. "Why do more work than it is needed" he said.

Then Gibbons told that King told him the trick, how to play so that thin strings would sound like thick strings and since then he has played with thinnest strings available. But the story did not tell what the trick was!!! Thinner pick? Thicker pick? Smaller pick? Furry guitars? Cheap sunglasses?

I like .010's in my Les Pauls but .013's in my ES175. Extra heavy picks, standard Fenders for rock and small teardrop for jazz. I have had problem with a too heavy right hand and the .013's don't mind that!

[princeplanet]

....But the story did not tell what the trick was!!! Thinner pick? Thicker pick? Smaller pick? Furry guitars? Cheap sunglasses? .....

Well, back in the day when I played skinny strings, but wanted to fake the sound of hitting fat strings hard, I used to serrate the edge of the pick. The friction creates an aggressive attack. I discovered this when, as a kid, I tried to emulate the cool sound of playing with one's teeth (yeah hendrix...). But because it hurt too much, the best I could do was to use a rough file on the edge of the fender medium. Somehow, I don't think too many people will take up this tip!

[Alder Statesman]

Billy Gibbons said in some interview that as a youngster he used thick strings because "old blues heroes had thick strings". Once his band played as a support act for BB King. At the backstage they discussed about guitars. BB King revealed that he used thinnest strings available. "Why do more work than it is needed" he said.

Then Gibbons told that King told him the trick, how to play so that thin strings would sound like thick strings and since then he has played with thinnest strings available. But the story did not tell what the trick was!!! Thinner pick? Thicker pick? Smaller pick? Furry guitars? Cheap sunglasses?

I like .010's in my Les Pauls but .013's in my ES175. Extra heavy picks, standard Fenders for rock and small teardrop for jazz. I have had problem with a too heavy right hand and the .013's don't mind that!

Just yesterday afternoon we traded in the Wife's Ibanez electric for an electro-classical at our local GC. The trade in had Billy's 7's on them and the clerk checking in the guitar whinced when she fretted the guitar. "Where did you get those?" Uh, right here, two weeks ago.

[GNAPPI]

"But the key is in the light touch and light picking. That way I can get quite satisfying jazz tone"

+1 there. The other benefit(s) of a light touch is you can have a lower action making less buzz, faster playing, and it's easier to finger hammer strings.