Nines are not for me..

Rocker

I tried a set of EB nines on my Telecaster and am more than surprised at how hard they are on my finger tips than tens which are on my other guitars.  There is only one (thousand of an inch?) of a difference but it is noticeable.  Not something that I expected…

koneguitarist

I use 8’s on a tele, used to use 10’s mainly for about 35 years.
i found I had to adapt my playing and use a thinner pick, but prefer it now. 

stickyfiddle

I love 9s on Fenders. 

I fairly heavily dislike Ernie Balls though 

Offset

^^100%.  Or to be precise, 9s on 25.5" and 10s on 24.75".

A guitar I bought recently had EBs on it and they were fucking horrible.  Felt tight, stiff and difficult to bend.  I don't know why.  I changed them PDQ.

blobb

I think it comes down to tension more than it does diameter, try some Newtone strings. 

SquierDude

I’ve used Ernie Ball Super Slinkys since I started out. There’s a reason so many great players endorse them.

fretmeister

Gauge is a terrible indicator of tension. Metallurgy/construction is a far bigger factor.

That’s why one company’s 11s can be lower tension and higher flexibility than another company’s 9s with the same tuning.

ICBM

fretmeister said:

Gauge is a terrible indicator of tension. Metallurgy/construction is a far bigger factor.

That’s why one company’s 11s can be lower tension and higher flexibility than another company’s 9s with the same tuning.

That really only applies to wound strings. There isn’t enough variation in steel to make that much difference to plain strings, which is where you feel it most.

Fishboy7

I find 9s unplayable and also really hated Ernie Balls when I tried them. 

These are my favourite strings for Teles for the last few years:

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/241101431637008--stringjoy-signatures-balanced-light-gauge-nickel-wound-electric

strtdv

10's on my guitars that have a 9.5" radius, 11's on guitars with 12" radius and above (all 25.5" scale)

Plectrum

I prefer 9-46 over 9-42 but only use then on my 25.5 inch scale length guitars. I use 10-46 on the others.

Offset

SquierDude said:

I’ve used Ernie Ball Super Slinkys since I started out. There’s a reason so many great players endorse them.

I'm sure, but what that reason is I do not know.  Not to my taste.  In fact, horrible.  YMMV.

Logie

Until recently I had a Fraser Strat, USA Tele Plus and a Gibson Les Paul Standard and they were all strung with 10-46’s. 

The Fraser felt like a little more fight to play whereas the Tele and Gibson were an absolute doddle. 

No idea on the scale length of them and in isolation the Fraser was a dream to play but no doubt the Tele/ Les Paul felt a lot easier to play

crunchman

SquierDude said:

I’ve used Ernie Ball Super Slinkys since I started out. There’s a reason so many great players endorse them.

They are paid to

Danny1969

Rocker said:

I tried a set of EB nines on my Telecaster and am more than surprised at how hard they are on my finger tips than tens which are on my other guitars.  There is only one (thousand of an inch?) of a difference but it is noticeable.  Not something that I expected…

Funny enough I tried a set of 9's on my Strat last week after years of playing 10's and had the same experience. The thinner strings cut into my fingers more. So I took them straight off again. 

In the nineties I used 9's downtuned a semi, these days that will feel terrible. 

crunchman

I've used 10's for years, but have experimented with 9 to 46 on my 25.5" scale guitars in the last few months.  I've got be really careful to pull them sharp.  In the long term, that might be good for my technique as I tend to press too hard, but I'm not sure I'm going to stick with them.  I might just go back to 10s.  If I play bass or acoustic for a bit, that strengthens my fingers anyway so I don't find 10s to be hard work.

munckee

I’ve just switched to 9s on my Strat as I bought a 3 pack on here, if someone had just changed them from my normal 10s I would never have known.  

Neilybob

I like 10.5 on all guitars. I like to fight it when I play. 

duotone

Last string change I put 9.5's on my Thinline Tele & I'm really happy with them.

Felt like I needed a bit more tension when playing chords than the set of 9's that were previously on that guitar.

fretmeister

I have Dunlop Rev Willy 8-40 on most of mine, even in E Flat.

8s worked for Hendrix!

I might get some of their 9s for my LP though!

ICBM

fretmeister said:

8s worked for Hendrix!

He used Fender F150 10-38, usually tuned down a semitone. F150s were rolled back then, so actually probably closer to 10-46 round wound in tension - unlike modern F150s which are round wound, including the so-called Voodoo Child set. Confusingly, they do still do rolled-wound strings but these are now called Original 150s.

I don’t think 8s existed until the 70s - although in the late 70s or early 80s Rotosound did 7s and 6s as well!