Strings question

Chalky

I've got 3 335s and I noticed that one seemed to have notably stiffer strings. But when I measure all 3 with a micrometer, they are all standard 10-46 gauge. I can tell the two thinner feeling ones are Daddario and Gibson Britewires by the ball ends colours. The mystery stiffer strings are silver ball ends.  Any ideas which string makers could it be?

darthed1981

Why not just change the strings for a brand you prefer and resolve the issue?

mart

Does one have a trapeze tailpiece?

pintspiller

Which strings feel better to you? You only need to know the brand of the unidentified set if you really want to replace like for like.

Chalky

The stiffer ones feel better to me, and I assumed they were a larger gauge until I measured them. All three are hardtail not trapeze.

Funkfingers

Not all string gauges are assembled equally. Some have more core mass and less wrap (or vice versa). Some manufacturers print tension load information on their set packaging.

On a set neck guitar, headstock pitch, neck pitch, bridge elevation and several tailpiece issues all contribute to the overall string tension. The whole point of the stop bar tailpiece is that you can raise or lower it to adjust the string tension.

Chalky

All three stopbars are tight to the body. I just wanted to know which string makers use silver ball ends?

ICBM

My first thought was Gibson, but you say not...

Newtones do, although they definitely don't feel stiff.

And at the other end of the price range, so do Alice strings!

What do the ball ends look like? (Other than being silver .) Are they square-cornered, rounded, rounded with flat sides, or something else? Is  the silver very shiny 'chrome' looking, or duller 'nickel' looking?