Down the string gauge rabbit hole

HandwrittenHero

I had wrote a longer post but it bored me reading it back so I've trimmed the fat!

Got an SG Junior thanks to @guitars4you (I'll pop a NGD up once past the honeymoon period so I don't just gush like a teenager etc) and he'd strung it with 9.5s. I didn't necessarily want to like 9.5s because they're harder to get, limited choice of brands etc.

I thought I was a 10s man and pure nickel all the way (rotosound being the particular easy choice)...but I've wound up questioning that and now my Les Paul is sat with some 9.5s on which are just bedding in for proper testing, having tried 9s and hybrids.

So anyone else gone through similar re-evaluation? And does anybody know of any pure nickel 9.5s or want to suggest the best 9.5s for classic rock and blues?

soma1975

All I know is Pyramid pure nickel strings feel as slinky as 9s to me.

steveledzep

I've just bought a set of these.  Not tried yet.  Bit pricey, but they satisfy your request.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRS-9-5-Electric-Guitar-Strings/183381177718?hash=item2ab25eb576:g:AtIAAOSwBahVFq2K&frcectupt=true

HandwrittenHero

steveledzep said:

I've just bought a set of these.  Not tried yet.  Bit pricey, but they satisfy your request.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRS-9-5-Electric-Guitar-Strings/183381177718?hash=item2ab25eb576:g:AtIAAOSwBahVFq2K&frcectupt=true

nickel wound rather than pure nickel

Simon_M

I’ve just put some 54-12 on my jazz blaster. Barre chords have become a workout. 

stephen.wood125

I switched from the GHS Nickel Rocker SRV set to either D'Addario 12-60 or NY-XL 12-60 and they feel easy, 2 tone bends at the second fret on the G or B are really easily achievable with no wincing. Tuning stability on the NY-XL is great too. Strat, Tele and LPR( (2017) can be on hangers for a week untouched and never move

guitars4you

HandwrittenHero said:

steveledzep said:

I've just bought a set of these.  Not tried yet.  Bit pricey, but they satisfy your request.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRS-9-5-Electric-Guitar-Strings/183381177718?hash=item2ab25eb576:g:AtIAAOSwBahVFq2K&frcectupt=true

nickel wound rather than pure nickel

Think PRS strings are made by D'addario anyway - Don't know of any pure nickel 9.5's 

Just a thought - Why not try 10's and de-tune 1/2 a step 

Hope you are enjoying the SG 

ICBM

The problem with the standard set of 9s is that the B string is too light - it’s an 11, where it should be a 12 from a tension point of view - this makes a surprisingly big difference to the feel of the whole set. Why they’re like that I don’t know - someone must have done it and then everyone else followed for some reason!

All ‘pure nickel’ strings are pure nickel *wound* - they all use a steel core, nickel wouldn’t work. The difference is between pure nickel wound and nickel-plated steel wound.

Iamnobody

I’d go 11s on a wraparound bridge Jr. It feels more like 10s do on a bridge/tailpiece setup.

HandwrittenHero

guitars4you said:

HandwrittenHero said:

steveledzep said:

I've just bought a set of these.  Not tried yet.  Bit pricey, but they satisfy your request.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRS-9-5-Electric-Guitar-Strings/183381177718?hash=item2ab25eb576:g:AtIAAOSwBahVFq2K&frcectupt=true

nickel wound rather than pure nickel

Think PRS strings are made by D'addario anyway - Don't know of any pure nickel 9.5's 

Just a thought - Why not try 10's and de-tune 1/2 a step 

Hope you are enjoying the SG 

I wind up playing too much stuff in standard so bit of a creature of habit in that sense. I'd maybe consider otherwise if I wasn't mainly playing along to the record at the moment. SG feels great, currently bouncing between it and Les Paul as mood suiting.

ICBM said:

The problem with the standard set of 9s is that the B string is too light - it’s an 11, where it should be a 12 from a tension point of view - this makes a surprisingly big difference to the feel of the whole set. Why they’re like that I don’t know - someone must have done it and then everyone else followed for some reason!

All ‘pure nickel’ strings are pure nickel *wound* - they all use a steel core, nickel wouldn’t work. The difference is between pure nickel wound and nickel-plated steel wound.

Yeah, knew about steel core (and obviously the plain strings being steel regardless) - pure nickel is just that bit darker for me. It may just be a case of tweaking other stuff i.e. amp EQ since 9.5s with a hair more relief in neck compared to 10s might have hit the goldilocks zone on the Les Paul in terms of feel. Will put in a bit more time to be sure.

I didn't know about the tension perspective, that's interesting to know. How does that work out for other gauges out of interest, assume there's some known maths behind?

Where I tried out anyway:

10s - nicely buzz free, little work on some bends/vibrato especially first finger.

9s - bends and vibrato happy days but buzz city outside the high 2 strings, especially at 2nd position.

hybrids - G still a bit buzzy open through 4th, depends how digging in.

9.5s - kinda felt like reasonable compromise between 9s and 10s (obviously) and the little bit of buzz was either play with a lighter touch, or seems to have hopefully been counteracted by truss rod which I gave a slight turn last night and checked briefly this morning.

ICBM

HandwrittenHero said:

I didn't know about the tension perspective, that's interesting to know. How does that work out for other gauges out of interest, assume there's some known maths behind?

If you look at the D'Addario website there are tension charts for all the gauge sets - some of them are really odd! They now do what they call 'balanced tension' sets which fix that to a large extent, but I've never tried any.

I've known about the problem with 9s as soon as I started being aware that there were different gauges of strings! - it's just obvious, when you look at the step changes within the sets... 9-11-16 vs 10-13-17, it's clear that the 11 B in the 9s is too light given that it's five semitones below the E and only four above the G.

HandwrittenHero said:

9s - bends and vibrato happy days but buzz city outside the high 2 strings, especially at 2nd position.

That sounds like a truss rod adjustment issue.

Although I do find 9s a bit too buzzy anyway, because I play like a lumberjack .

scrumhalf

I accidentally used a set of 9-46 on my Strat instead of 9-42, which I've used for decades. The low three strings are a tad heavier.

The difference is amazing, I'm gobsmacked at the improvement in tuning stability and tone. The acid test will be when I've used the guitar in anger, sweated on the strings and played with a bit more oomph than I do when sitting in front of the telly.

newi123

I`ve used 10s for years, but recently bought a guitar that said it came with 10s - when I changed the strings and put 10s on, the floating bridge was way different to where it was, and with a set of 9s on it was back to normal. Explains why it felt so easy to play!

I intend to keep that with 9s for standard tuning, then keep the strat on 10s which is often down to Eb for a different band & singer.

Recently went to a Jam and played a friend`s Gretsch with 8s - thought I`d really struggle, but was actually ok! Although I did find it lacked a bit of `fight`

ICBM

newi123 said:

Gretsch with 8s

What kind of sick perversion is this?!

ESBlonde

Pyramid do a pure nickel round wound .0095-.044

https://www.thomann.de/gb/pyramid_custom_0095_044.htm

HandwrittenHero

ICBM said:

HandwrittenHero said:

9s - bends and vibrato happy days but buzz city outside the high 2 strings, especially at 2nd position.

That sounds like a truss rod adjustment issue.

Although I do find 9s a bit too buzzy anyway, because I play like a lumberjack .

They settled in a little and the truss rod settled, less buzzy. Think it needs a bit further turn to just finish that job - although I'm not really hearing the buzz come through the bigger amp so might just leave it be. It's a bit more of an annoyance when practicing simply because I'm on either the 0.1w mode of the small Marshall or 1w mode. so you can hear string rattle a bit sat there.

I'm a weird combo of digging in while playing, but relatively weak on bend strength.

ESBlonde said:

Pyramid do a pure nickel round wound .0095-.044

https://www.thomann.de/gb/pyramid_custom_0095_044.htm

Ordered some of these, just finished stringing up the SG...lost a bit of volume compared to the strings Mark had put on (think D'addario 9.5 XLs if I was guessing although volume wise makes me wonder if they were NYXL). They're also a little buzzier, so guessing a little lower on tension. Weirdly the treble strings though are a bit firmer - especially the E. Gonna let them settle in, might just give truss rod a tweak here if the buzz still needs taming.

Sound wise, I'm a fan. Not tried with bigger amp and only just restrung (so judgement reserved), but there's a bit more thump and meat to such as power chords. I've snuck the tone control up a bit for home base where I like things (was 5.5, now 7.25). Although at the same point, the NYXL 9.5s I popped onto my Les Paul have settled nicely after a week of use and it's no longer twangy enough that my Telecaster is jealous!

thegummy

I installed 12s on a guitar the other day only to find they don't fit in the nut - was a bit of a gutter.

thegummy

Incidentally, since today is genuinely my birthday, anyone in Glasgow able and willing to widen the slots on the nut of that guitar to make the 12s fit, either as a birthday present or for an amount of money that I could afford to spend on such a whim?

Would be eternally grateful  

ICBM

Sorry, didn't see this early enough to help . I'm back home now...

ToneControl

scrumhalf said:

I accidentally used a set of 9-46 on my Strat instead of 9-42, which I've used for decades. The low three strings are a tad heavier.

The difference is amazing, I'm gobsmacked at the improvement in tuning stability and tone. The acid test will be when I've used the guitar in anger, sweated on the strings and played with a bit more oomph than I do when sitting in front of the telly.

I switched to 9-46 decades ago, you'll love it

Moltisanti

9-46 in std tuning is the answer