What string gauge for drop C?

skunkwerx

Hey all. 

So I have a really old Ibanez Gio, thats been sat gathering dust for a couple years.

Worthless selling because I doubt I could shift it, so I figured I’d pop it down to Leigh Music co Monday to get it set up in drop c, so I can atleast play along to some stuff I havent been able to play along to in years! 

I usually play hybrid 9-46 strings on my Esp’s, Chapman and Prs in standard tuning. 

So I don’t like properly heavy and hard to bend treble strings. But I also don’t want then to be rubber bands in a lower tuning. 

I’ve been thinking 11’s something? Or is that going to be too light? 
The guitars a hardtail string thru body.

I usually play Ernie Balls, and I need to buy some anyway, so I was planning on picking a set up on my way and taking them in with the guitar. 

I would also like to be able to raise the Low E (or C in this case) up to D, so I can play in standard Dgcfad tuning too. 

I guess this would have been less complicated to say, I want it set up in Dgcfad but able to drop the D string to C on occasion. Lol. 

Any advices? 

(I’ve tried and failed many times to set a guitar up, I don’t know why or what it is, I just can’t do it, nothing works out). 
 

octatonic

Try 11's or 12's.

ICBM

11s in standard D are about the same tension as 9s in standard E, so 11-52 should be OK even if you drop the bottom string to C.

The problem you may find is that the nut grooves might not be wide enough for those, especially the low strings.

BloodEagle

52-11 if you like light strings, 56-11 if you like something with a bit more fight 

skunkwerx

Thanks all. Ah yes, I forgot the nut... 

Will take it along and see what can be done! 

grungebob

I use beefy slinky’s 11-54, all my guitars are tuned Eb but I regularly drop C# and B with ease, 

svejk

10 to 52 hybrid set is good (light top heavy bottom). I use dadario on one of my guitars that spends a lot of time in open c. Works great and top strings still feel normal.

skullfunkerry

I used to use standard D'addario 11s when I was in drop C. Didn't need to adjust the nut or anything, just strung up and played

skunkwerx

Well today I gave it a thorough clean, polished the frets of their sticky tarnish with 0000 steel wool, oiled the board and found a pack of beefy slinkys which have got to be about 4 years old, so strung it up.. 

The set up is terrible, but hopefully that can be sorted. 

The nut slot width seems ok, but there appears to be something I never noticed before, which is weird. The G string seems to sit a lot higher than the rest. 

The neck relief seems minimal, but the action is highish, yet certain strings, the g, b and maybe d seem to choke past the 12th fret.. but if those strings are raised, I feel like the action would be way too high.. 

Then again the bridge, which is like a fender style 6 saddle job, probably isnt radius’d very well either. 


Hmmm. I was hoping a basic set up would see it all good, but I aint holding my breath now! 

skunkwerx

The upside is, beefy slinkys feel ok. I like the tension on the lower strings, the higher strings maybe a little tight for my weak ass fingers, but I have a feeling 10’s could feel a little too loose.. 

guitarfishbay

I like the D’Addario 11-56 set 

But the easiest thing is to use www.stringtensionpro.com and work out what will be close to what you’re used to. It’s based on D’Addario strings but should roughly translate like for like construction.

My issue with the heavier Ernie Ball sets is they often do an overly thick plain 3rd string, for my own tastes a .019 is the thickest plain string I like. When you get to .020 and above the attack starts getting a bit duller, at least that’s how I feel about it. Most noticeable on the Not Even Slinky set which has a plain .024. It’s all personal taste at the end of the day though

skunkwerx

guitarfishbay said:

I like the D’Addario 11-56 set 

But the easiest thing is to use www.stringtensionpro.com and work out what will be close to what you’re used to. It’s based on D’Addario strings but should roughly translate like for like construction.

My issue with the heavier Ernie Ball sets is they often do an overly thick plain 3rd string, for my own tastes a .019 is the thickest plain string I like. When you get to .020 and above the attack starts getting a bit duller, at least that’s how I feel about it. Most noticeable on the Not Even Slinky set which has a plain .024. It’s all personal taste at the end of the day though

Thats interesting! Those d’adds you mentioned might be what I’m looking for. They have a heavier 3 bass strings, but a slightly lighter g and b string, the e/.11 being the same. 

So medium top extra heavy bottoms are looking good. 

MattFGBI

I use the D'Addario 11-56 set for drop C and drop C#.  I don't think anything thinner works. 

DPC

I use 10 to 52 on my Tele for open C. Tension-wise it feels like a set of 10s in standard tuning (to me).