String Tension

HAL9000

jaymenon said:

Kebabkid said:

Can someone explain it to me?

Based on my past guitar ownership, I believe I've felt most comfortable on a PRS 22 fretter with 9.5 or 10 gauge strings. However, I'm more a Superstrat guy for sounds (SSH) and stylings and now own and play a modified 21 fret Robert Cray hardtail and 22 fret trem-equipped Tyler.

How come the string tension on my guitars always seems taught, making the B and E hard to bend, yet I play similar guitars that belong to friends, and most of those are strung with 10s and even 11s, and there's no issue.

Scale lengths? How many springs on the trem etc but one's a hardtail or how I string my guitars (normal way)??

I'd love to play 10s but 9.5's are fine as long as I can be in standard tuning and have the slinky feel you get when you tune down half a step to Eb.

I pulled the pad away from the nail on my index finger this weekend playing the bendy solos from 'Hotel California'

I have pondered this on a number of occasions. Here are my thoughts, for what they are worth:

Scale length definitely makes a difference (the longer the scale length, the tighter any given string needs to be.

Tremolo - no real difference. When you bend a string, the bridge does move and the other strings do relax. You do however need to increase the tension on your “sounding“ bending string until it reaches the correct tension to give you the note you are reaching for. And that is constant, whether your bridge is fixed or a tremolo. The amplitude of your string bend (the distance by which you need to bend a string to attain a certain rise of pitch) will however, be higher with a tremolo bridge.

Fret height obviously makes a significant difference, higher frets being easier to bend with. Smooth frets too...

Nut slot height: makes a difference to bends at the lower frets. Place a capo at the first fret - if your guitar is now significantly easier to play, then the nut slots are too high...

Action - measured at the 12 fret, modified most prominently by raising or lowering the bridge/saddles. Even minor adjustments can change perceived string tension dramatically.

Equally, the arc relief - adjusted with the truss rod.

Presumably other factors such as break angle and fretboard radius also make a difference?

Fez

One of my 3 bitsa strats has a much lower string tension at 440 A than any other strat I have played. I have no idea why but I am thinking of trying a set of 10s on it. I normally have 9s on strats. 

Kebabkid

Fez said:

One of my 3 bitsa strats has a much lower string tension at 440 A than any other strat I have played. I have no idea why but I am thinking of trying a set of 10s on it. I normally have 9s on strats. 

Hi Martin,

I hope you're well.

Try the 9.5s first and those Ernie Balls are really nice and then see rather than the full jump.