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I had 10s on my Telecaster and decided to go and get it set up for a higher gauge, and went with 12s. It also needed a setup. It is stiff now though. I can play it well, but am missing the plain G. Luckily, the tech was cool and said that I can bring it back and set it up for a lower set. From anyone's experience here, what do you think is a good, all around, versatile set? Are 11s very different from 10s? What bothers me about 10s was the high E itself. Its thinness just made it sound dead to me. I also considered flatwounds but because of the price, I think roundwound 11s might be better. I don't like to feel limited; forced to play a certain way. Thanks in advance for your input.
Last edited by zonedout245; 01-05-2010 at 12:53 AM.
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01-04-2010 11:04 PM
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I play .11s on my strat and tele, and really dig them. I hear a difference between .10s and .11s. I have not put .12s on before. I do keep .12s on my jazz guitars and acoustics though. I do plenty of bending on the tele an strat, so .11s give me a fatter tone, but allow me to bend easily.
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The fatter tone is exactly what I was going for. I could have gotten used to the 10s, but the sound wasn't right. It's my only electric, so I need to be able to cover as many genres as I'd like to play. It seems like 11s should be fine then. Do you have any specific you'd recommend. Pure nickel D'Addarios seem nice since the low E, A, and D are a little lighter on them, the sound should be more even. They are a bit more expensive than some others, but I don't know if the more standard gauge of string would make the guitar play strange if I feel like spending a little less for any reason. The Ernie Ball strings are the same gauges for pure and nickel-plated. Thank you for your help.
Last edited by zonedout245; 03-11-2010 at 11:09 AM.
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I also think 11's are a versatile compromise. I have roundwound 11's (D'Aquisto #340 - less than $4 a set) on my Tele as well. (I used to use 10's.) The 11's sound fatter and feel more firm to my picking hand - which I like - but are still quite bendable.
Edit: I like the D'Aquistos (they're nickel plated steel .011 - .048) better than the D'Addario or Ernie Ball pure nickels, which I did try when first making the conversion from 10's.Last edited by Tom Karol; 01-06-2010 at 09:31 AM.
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Some ten years or so ago, I tentatively researched various string brands available in the U.S. My "tentative" conclusion at that time was that there were a couple of string manufacturers in the U.S. about six in China, perhaps two in Europe and all the other "brands" were basically distributors. (i.e. minor variations on the same theme ...)
I wonder if anything has changed - has the manufacturing base become more diverse or actually more restricted?
cheers,
randyc
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If you go to the .11's you can still have the unwound G depending on the brand you buy.
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I use power slinkys, 11's with a plain G, which you can allways do by the way up to at least .24
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Randy, I've heard the same thing you said several times. Right now the only thing that inspires brand loyalty for me is price and proper gauging. Actually, for flatwounds, I'm back to D'Addario Chromes. But for "rock 'n' roll," acoustic, bass, and classical strings, I've arrived at GHS.
To the OP, There is a difference between 10's and 11's and pretty much every company offers 11's with a plain G. If you're really picky about gaguing (like me), GHS and D'Addario offer 10.5 gagues. I have a Gibson ES-135 that I went back & forth between 10's and 11's, then found the GHS 10.5 gauge. I'm not sure that 5/10,000ths of an inch really makes a difference (other than psychological), but I'm really happy with them.
As a friendly piece of advice to everyone here while we're on this topic, as Randy mentioned and I've heard also, there's only a few different actual string manufacturers. If you're cost-conscious and use roundwounds, go to JustStrings.com - Strings for guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and other musical instruments and go to their 'bulk strings' section. You can order a dozen of one gauge of string (12 .009's or 12 .052's or whatever). These strings are their 'house brand' for lack of a better term, and are "manufactured by a major string maker." Anyway, to make a short story long, you piece together your preferred set, and get a dozen sets for slightly more than $3, including S&H. They only have stainless steel wrap and nickel-plated steel wrap, no pure nickel or flatwound.
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13-56 round wound Dadario's all the way around (including Tele) except 12-52 on the old ES-175. I love the feel of heavy strings, but mainly it's a better tone.
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A lot of things influence the "feel" or stiffness of the strings.
Formost of course the scale-length, the same gauge on a 25.5" scale feels much stiffer then on a 24.75 scale.
But also the 'afterlength' (length of string after the bridge to the tailpiece) of the string affects the feel of the string: the more afterlength, the more loose a string feels.
Also the angle the strings make after the nut and bridge: the greater the angel the stiffer the string feels (especially a stop-tailpiece à la Les Paul or ES335 can make a great difference by turning it up or all the way down!). But also leaving some extra turns on the tuning-post, thus slackening the angle after the top-nut can make a difference.
Worth experimenting!
Personally, I like .012s on a 24.75" scale (most Gibsons) and .011 on a 25.5" scale (tele, strat). Flatwounds with wound G on my archtops, but I never adjusted a tele or strat for playing jazz with heavier flatwounds.Last edited by Little Jay; 01-05-2010 at 09:32 AM.
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From what I have heard Randy, you are spot on. In addtion, most of these manufacturers are buying their wire from the same company. So when D'Addario makes strings for other brands, they do so with that company's specs, but still same machines and same wire used by DA.
Originally Posted by randyc
Much less difference between string brands than people realize. Kinda like car batteries and tires. Only a few actually makers, tons of different brands.
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What Randy said was equally true in the late 70s early 80s. Before that I dont know.
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Because I play all sorts of music I think 10's are the best all around size for me on my Tele. I have used thicker strings and missed being able to do the country bending. If bends aren't a big part of your playing then bigger strings might be great for you. Everyone is different, ymmv. Originally Posted by zonedout245
=-) PJ
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You all may want to know that Peter Infeld, current CEO of Thomastik-Infeld and grandson of the cofounder of the company, died recently at age 64.
He was an art collector, music producer and promoter, and opera singer, in addition to his work for the company.
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When I was younger, 64 sounded like a ripe old age. At 48, 64 sounds way too young. Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
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Gosh. At 38 that sounds too young too.
I started playing in my teens and picked it up again about five years ago. Next I'll be complaining the Thomastik Infeld 14's are hurting my hands!
As a bit of a tribute to his strings and to heavy guages....
My strat has Chromes - 13 to 56's on it.
My Peerless and Ibanez wear TI 14's.
I don't change the TI's very often - well I'll be honest they have both been on over a year - they just don't rust you see, so well worth the money.
The strat, well the plain strings get a fine sand with wet/dry paper when they start to corrode....they have been on for about 18 months. I have to say, I have never been at a better place in terms of tone.
Got a newbie coming though.....a Squier Master Series Thinline Tele with humbuckers, set neck , 24 3/4 scale......ordered some TI's to restring it though (g).
You heard of Seasick Steve? Well I'm "Pukin' Pete" Old is Gold (LOL)
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I've been following bkdavidson's practise (also using the online distributor that he uses) for about two years now. My guitars don't get much of a workout these days so many of them don't get their strings changed often, maybe every two years. The three instruments that are close to hand get the flatwounds changed annually.
When I bought my first guitar (Danelectro) in 1960 I can't recall any string manufacturer other than Black Diamond. Gibson had their brand of strings, so did Gretsch, I think, but it was widely believed at the time that Black Diamond made all of the brands. (Looking back, I doubt that, since Black Diamond expired many years ago.)
I bought a Les Paul in 1961, Black Diamonds on that one too, except that I'd discovered the Chuck Berry trick of replacing the third string with a second string. I don't recall what diameter the strings were back then - we played what the manufacturer gave us, there weren't any options other than flat-wound and nickel-wound.
By today's standards, the strings were very expensive, about $5.00 in 1960 money. Being a high-school student, it was my practise (don't recall where the idea originated) to remove the strings and boil them in a solution of water + ammonia about once a month. I'm not sure if the sound was improved but it gave me a good opportunity to clean and wax the Les Paul
During active playing years a couple of decades later (I played a LOT of "pop", using variously a Strat, Les Paul, Ovation Custom Legend and a Carvin) the working guitars got a new set of roundwounds every week, the cheapest that I could find (Ernie Ball, as I recall). Quality of those strings was sketchy, I'd lose one of the top strings every other week or so ... sometimes even a second string would snap!
I've come full circle now - back to the heavy strings that I used as a teen. They seem to be better strings, but that's a questionable opinion too. My memory is not so good and my guitars are WAY better than what I owned in the sixties, LOL.
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A man after my own heart - I thought I was bad about changing strings, but I have to concede the prize on reading this! Some people change strings once a week or more you know! Originally Posted by FWBO
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For flatwounds, I sort of go the FWBO route also. I don't fine sand the plain strings, but I do keep a container of GHS Fast Fret handy. That stuff is awesome. I'm not really a fan of how new flatwounds sound, so I leave them on for a year or so. I don't know if I've ever gone 18 months, but I've probably come close. Roundwounds get changed every couple of months.
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Due to all the playing that I have to do lately... I use Elixer 10's on all my guitars...They last 3X5 longer than most strings a little brite and tight at first, but after a while they warm up , loosen up just fine...I also find that 10 's are the most versatile gauge for me(perfect) ...No string squak on the wound strings due to the coating I find that I like to playing more on the warm brite side than the warm dark side...No more finger pain.
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Over on the other guitar forum I read (the Tele forum TDRPI) The perennial gauge question is: 9 or 10? Heh. Then someone suggests using the .0095s
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I used to use flat wound 9s (GHS makes them.) I couldn't barre the first fret of my guitar--despite my local guitar tech's assurances that the set up was perfect--consistently. Then I read an article about overly high nut slots. Long story short, I bought some nut files from Stew-Mac and now I'm comfortably playing with Thomasik-Infeld Jazz Swing 12s. All of this took within the last week. I never thought that I'd be playing in standard tuning with 12s.
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The first step - and one of the most critical - in guitar setup is adjusting the nut. A guitar "tech" that doesn't understand that should probably seek another career path. Beware: you're starting a dangerous path when you commence working on these things yourself
If you are already past the warning stage, then welcome to the addictive and highly rewarding aspect of getting the most out of your instrument with your own hands!
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It's just a humble Ibanez ASF75T, that I got on Craigslist for a song. I wouldn't have dared to hack away at the nut on my "good" guitars. I'd already replaced the Bigsby with a trapeze, put locking tuners on it (both of which involved drilling), replaced the roller/tune-o-matic bridge with a rosewood one and replaced the neck pup with a Stew-Mac Golden Age one. So, the prospect of tempting fate one more time wasn't that daunting. Originally Posted by randyc
Beware: you're starting a dangerous path when you commence working on these things yourself
I had never replaced a pick-up in my life, and there I was soldering wires and fishing the guts of the guitar back into place with dental floss. I don't know what got into me.
Oddly, this is my favorite guy now (especially since I bought a Fender Champion 600, which sounds very much more jazzy than my crappy solid state practice amp) ... and because I'm getting way into jazz guitar and this is, as yet, my only arch-top...albeit a too thin one.
Edit: As to the guitar tech, I'd previously mentioned the problem to him. He took some measurements and told me that the nut slots couldn't be lowered. Well, they are lower now, I can play the thing quite comfortably and nothing is buzzing. So, I'm good.Last edited by Hoopskidoodle; 01-11-2010 at 01:39 AM.
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Nice work - you're well started on the path most of us follow, LOL !
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