String gauge

Roland

YouTube content creators are talking about string gauge. I’ll link to John Cordy’s video since he’s a member here:

https://youtu.be/Hdm5y4zoP9o?si=jpQ8Br-WX2sjCJLt

My experience is that which gauge works best depends on many factors, including the guitar construction. For decades I’ve used 10-52s on everything.

What’s your experience?

Lewy

I used to be 10-46 on electric and 13-56 on acoustic. Arthritis in my fretting hand thumb has seen me lighten up a lot, settling on the Fender Malmsteen strings (8-46) and tuning down a semitone. Any notions of wanting the guitar to "fight back a bit" are gone. He's said his reasoning behind those gauges is that the high strings don't really suffer tonally from being lighter but the low ones too and I'd say that's my experience too.

Because I don't really like the sound and projection of acoustics with light strings, I tend to just not play it anymore unless I've got an acoustic gig. Need to find an acoustic that I can stand the sound of with 11s but haven't managed to so far.

Boromedic

There was a spate of vids on string gauge a year or more ago, Rick Beato and others did them. General consensus seemed to be lighter was actually better depending on some other factors. Obviously your individual use and needs make a difference but there seemed to be some positives with lighter strings too. 

I'm 10-46 generally but have considered 9's on my Strats.

guitars4you

Boromedic said:

There was a spate of vids on string gauge a year or more ago, Rick Beato and others did them. General consensus seemed to be lighter was actually better depending on some other factors. Obviously your individual use and needs make a difference but there seemed to be some positives with lighter strings too. 

I'm 10-46 generally but have considered 9's on my Strats.

I've had an argument with myself about 10-46 or 9-42 on Strat's for far to long and generally stuck to 10-46 - A couple of months ago I decided to try a set of 9-42 - They went taken off 10 mins later - I've now finished with my own argument 

As it happens, since playing an acoustic quite a bit, with 12-53 - I've moved to 10.5-52 on a couple of my guitars and prefer them

As I re-string and set-up so many different guitars in the shop, as an overview I go with 10-46 as that is almost a standard/popular gauge - But sometimes, after setting up the guitar and playing it, then I might find it is a touch disappointing for some reason - So might change, to 10.5-52 or even 11-49 - Did this recently on a Ricky 330 and a Vintage Gibson ES330 - IMO both felt/played so much better instantly with a touch more meat on the strings - Scale length, fret size and your playing style comes into play, so no one size fits all option 

munckee

I use 10-46 on everything electric and 11-52 on acoustics, that way I don’t have to remember to get different gauges and I’ve nearly always got a spare set.  

I’ve tried 9s on strats and teles which are and 11s on jaguars and other short scale but 10-46 seems to work on everything. 

LionAquaLooper

My strats with 22 frets (+1 PRS with 24 frets) - always 9-42s
Les Pauls, teles and strats with 21 frets - 10-46s.  

Guitar construction is secondary to me because my priorities are my fingers and wrist.  

Neilybob

For I like to hit my strings hard so
10-46s on my Les Paul's and 335

10.5-50s on my teles and Strats. 

DartmoorHedgehog

I tend to use 10-46 (EB) on electric (all Gibson scale) and 12-53 (dAddario) on acoustic.  I have got a set of 11s on an L5 copy archtop at the moment as an experiment but I'm not convinced it has any benefit over 10s so I'll probably go back when they need changing again.

Nerine

I use what feels and sounds right to me. 

I will absolutely NOT watch a video that tells me why I **should** or **need** to be doing any different. 

Too many creators, not enough topics. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Nerine said:

I use what feels and sounds right to me. 

I will absolutely NOT watch a video that tells me why I **should** or **need** to be doing any different. 

Too many creators, not enough topics. 

Can't disagree with that. For me personally, it's 9-42 on my Strat and Tele, and 9.5-44 on my Gibson scale length guitars.

1Strat2many

For me the general rule of thumb is 9.5 for Fenders, 10’s for Gibsons solids and thinline semis, 11’s flats for Jazz Guitars and 11 Bronze for Acoustics. Theres some exceptions, a couple of Strats with seemingly lower string tensions have 10’s and a Gretsch 6120 and a 90s LPSpecial have D’Addario 11’s. Seems to work well for my needs.

DartmoorHedgehog

Nerine said:

I use what feels and sounds right to me. 

I will absolutely NOT watch a video that tells me why I **should** or **need** to be doing any different. 

Too many creators, not enough topics. 

While I agree with that in principle, I think it is interesting to think about why some people might pick a different gauge.  I had 10s on my first electric guitar (cheap 70s LP copy) because it was just the popular/middle-ground gauge and I've just sort of stuck with that because it's what I'm used to.  I certainly wouldn't change because somebody on youtube tells me I should but I still find it an interesting subject.

Slightly off-topic, but related... My first "proper" instrument was clarinet. Beginners start off with a soft reed because it's easier to get a sound with undeveloped embouchure muscles, then move on to harder reeds as you progress. This gives the impression that harder reeds are better, in an almost bizarrely macho way.  It wasn't until later that I realised a lot of famous players (certainly in non-classical styles) used quite soft reeds - it's a bit harder to control intonation and squeaks but can give a fantastic tone.  There are other variables apart from the reed strength (shape/width of the mouthpiece opening etc) but it's a very similar subject to the "heavier strings are best for tone" thing with guitars.

Lestratcaster

For standard tuning (and Eb sometimes) on electrics its 10-46's. Its the best balance for strumming and lead playing though I do hit quite hard so I should ought to be using 11's really. Couldn't play 9's as my aggressive playing will cause sharp notes every bar! There's one guitar I use 10-52's on as I drop down d standard or drop c# at times.
 
For my drop tuned guitars in drop c and lower its 12-56's. Nice amount of tension without being too floppy. Don't really do many string bends so don't need any thin strings anywhere.

Finally for acoustics its the 12-54's which has the nice rich warmness for strumming chords, again I hardly bend strings on it.

guitarmangler

I set my guitars up to play 10’s, but swap between 9’s and 10’s depending on how many gigs I’m
doing. If my fingers have some time off, I’ll go for 9’s. I think 9’s sound better than 10’s on electric.
10’a just allow me to whack everything a little harder.

jasonbone75

I haven't seen it specifically called out here but if I recall correctly, the Beato video with additional players listening to each other was all about the sound after recording ignoring feel. The conclusion/consensus that genuinely surprised the experienced players was if you want to sound better go lighter than you think and by definition if you choose heavier for your own feel reasons your recordings won't sound quite as good.

This aligns somewhat with my experience in as far as other people tend to be a better judge of my sound than I am and that is fine (the caveat is that the other people have some understanding of sound and music and aren't dunces but you get the point I hope).

I do not believe for a moment that if you are playing while listening you can be objective or accurate about the sound others hear anyway. Recording and playing back is the only way to objectively listen to your own sound.

P.S. EDIT based on sev112 below - all of the above (referenced video and my discussion) pertains to electric guitar with magnetic pickups

sev112

I had tried 11th on my Dowina acoustic.  No obvious reduction in tension, and perhaps less volume and perhaps less tone.  Top E string broke on sat so I put 12s back on. Guitar sounds much better ,fuller, louder both fro strummimg and fingerpicking 

RickLucas

For me it's generally 10s on Fenders, 11s on Gibsons, 12s on Martins.

Dan_Halen

9’s, 10’s, 11’s… whatever feels right on that guitar. Some guitars of the same scale just seem to want something a little heavier or lighter. I enjoy a bit of variety as it makes me play slightly differently. 

My strat with 9s is great to play but 10s make it feel really stiff. The one with 10s on is superb but 9s feel like spaghetti on it. I just try and enjoy them where they seem to work best with regards to both setup and strings.

Dan_Halen

Nerine said:

I use what feels and sounds right to me. 

I will absolutely NOT watch a video that tells me why I **should** or **need** to be doing any different. 

Too many creators, not enough topics. 

I get your point and obviously think people should use their own ears. However, for a lot of people, videos about this sort of stuff can be a valuable learning tool. 

Not sure why it would be a bad idea for me to listen to and learn from those with more experience than myself. As long as I’ve got the common sense to apply my own critical thinking and not just swallow it whole, it’s a way of looking at stuff differently or consider things you might not have previously. Yes it’s all about making content and harvesting clicks, but seems daft to assume there’s no value in any of it. 

BillDL

Rotosound Yellows 10-46 on all electrics with the exception of a couple that I prefer the feel when strung with 9s.  I don't hear any difference in sound between 9s and 10s other than the difference that the feel of the string tension imparts on my playing.

fretfinder

munckee said:

I use 10-46 on everything electric and 11-52 on acoustics, that way I don’t have to remember to get different gauges and I’ve nearly always got a spare set. 

^^ This for me, although I might put 12s on an acoustic with 24.75” scale length. 

LionAquaLooper said:

My strats with 22 frets (+1 PRS with 24 frets) - always 9-42s
Les Pauls, teles and strats with 21 frets - 10-46s. 

Interesting. Why a different gauge on 22 fret Strats and 24 fret PRS compared with your other guitars, when the scale length and string tension is the same on 21 and 22 fret Strats, and on 22 and 24 fret PRS guitars? (Unless you’ve got a 24.75” scale length Strat or PRS.)