Nines are not for me..

fretmeister

ICBM said:

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!

That’s interesting, I had read several articles saying he was on 8s.

I did have BFG approved 7s for a while and I like them, but they are too light for any lower tunings. How BFG plays slide with them is beyond me!

SquierDude

Offset said:

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.

Oh, absolutely and to be honest, I notice little difference between the standard manufacturers, only with gauges. I “just play the bloody things”, lol. 

Plectrum

fretmeister said:

ICBM said:

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!

That’s interesting, I had read several articles saying he was on 8s.

I did have BFG approved 7s for a while and I like them, but they are too light for any lower tunings. How BFG plays slide with them is beyond me!

What I read was that players would take a standard set of strings, ignore the 6th string and move everything over (1st string goes in 2nd string position etc) then use a banjo string as the top string. This resulted in the 3rd string being plain instead of wound. James Burton is credited with being the originator. Another method was to simply replace the 3rd string with a 2nd string for easy bending Chuck Berry style (I don't know if Chuck did that though). I remember listening to an interview with Ray Davis where he said his brother did that.

Lewy

fretmeister said:

ICBM said:

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!

That’s interesting, I had read several articles saying he was on 8s.

I did have BFG approved 7s for a while and I like them, but they are too light for any lower tunings. How BFG plays slide with them is beyond me!

I just switched to the Rev Willy’s 7s on my LP and SG and really like them. For slide I think he uses the 8s and a high action. 

Greatape

Can't go lower than tens. I hate the sound and they feel too rubbery to me.

That said, plenty of players across many idioms use light strings to great effect..Ty Tabor, BB King, Steve Khan

Chuffola

10s for me on everything. I recently got a new (to me) Strat - strung with nines. Hated playing it. Changed to 10s - difference is night and day. 

Appreciate this is all just personal preference but 9s are too slinky for me - bends, especially, difficult to control. Also agree that they seem to dig into the fingers a bit more - but that MUST be psychology because I can't believe I could tell the difference of a thousand of an inch. 

crunchman

Chuffola said:

10s for me on everything. I recently got a new (to me) Strat - strung with nines. Hated playing it. Changed to 10s - difference is night and day. 

Appreciate this is all just personal preference but 9s are too slinky for me - bends, especially, difficult to control. Also agree that they seem to dig into the fingers a bit more - but that MUST be psychology because I can't believe I could tell the difference of a thousand of an inch. 

The cross sectional area of the string is proportional to the radius. 4.5 squared is 20.25.  5 squared is 25.  The increase in cross-sectional area from 9 to 10 is 23%. 

To get to the same pitch, the tension is also proportional to the square of the diameter (which is the same ratio as the square of the radius), so 23% more tension on a 10 than on a 9.

It's not just in your head.

Neil

9's on Fenders (not Jags) and 10's on Gibsons has always worked for me.

LPManic

I play whatever is on the guitar.

fretmeister

Lewy said:

fretmeister said:

ICBM said:

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!

That’s interesting, I had read several articles saying he was on 8s.

I did have BFG approved 7s for a while and I like them, but they are too light for any lower tunings. How BFG plays slide with them is beyond me!

I just switched to the Rev Willy’s 7s on my LP and SG and really like them. For slide I think he uses the 8s and a high action. 

Yeah, but he's often tuned down half or a full tone and they get really floppy then. He must have the lightest touch in the world.

BTW - Amazon often have the 3 packs of the 7s and the 8s at a really good price. About £14.50 for 3 sets! Sometimes they have long delivery times so just order and they'll turn up eventually.

I have one guitar in D standard with the 8s and I'm slowly learning to chug properly without pushing everything out of tune!

ICBM

fretmeister said:

He must have the lightest touch in the world.

I think Brian May does - 8s on a 24” scale, uses a metal pick, never breaks strings, and the guitar he’s used almost exclusively for over fifty years has never needed a refret. (Although apparently it probably would for almost anyone else.)

Billy Gibbons must be close though. I do also think they both have a ‘light string tone’ - while it’s not always that noticeable if you change gauges, both of them have a very middy sound which I’ve found with light strings - it’s partly why I generally prefer heavier ones.

Lewy

ICBM said:

fretmeister said:

He must have the lightest touch in the world.

I think Brian May does - 8s on a 24” scale, uses a metal pick, never breaks strings, and the guitar he’s used almost exclusively for over fifty years has never needed a refret. (Although apparently it probably would for almost anyone else.)

Billy Gibbons must be close though. I do also think they both have a ‘light string tone’ - while it’s not always that noticeable if you change gauges, both of them have a very middy sound which I’ve found with light strings - it’s partly why I generally prefer heavier ones.

Gibbons also uses a programmable Graphic EQ to get any guitar he uses to sound as close as humanly possible the same, and they model it off the EQ curve of a G chords strummed on Pearly Gates. The curves for each guitar all look like a massive mid hump with a few variations at specific frequencies. 

fretmeister

Lewy said:

ICBM said:

fretmeister said:

He must have the lightest touch in the world.

I think Brian May does - 8s on a 24” scale, uses a metal pick, never breaks strings, and the guitar he’s used almost exclusively for over fifty years has never needed a refret. (Although apparently it probably would for almost anyone else.)

Billy Gibbons must be close though. I do also think they both have a ‘light string tone’ - while it’s not always that noticeable if you change gauges, both of them have a very middy sound which I’ve found with light strings - it’s partly why I generally prefer heavier ones.

Gibbons also uses a programmable Graphic EQ to get any guitar he uses to sound as close as humanly possible the same, and they model it off the EQ curve of a G chords strummed on Pearly Gates. The curves for each guitar all look like a massive mid hump with a few variations at specific frequencies. 

I'm aware of that - I've done a few experiments and it mostly seems like a big hump at about 400Hz with the treble and bass curving downwards from there. There's a surprising amount of highs being cut too.

For cleans it sounds horrible! Interesting with loads of drive though as it leaves loads of room for the bass and the lower register drums.

I love his model Seymour pickups (I've currently got the BG1400 and the Red Devil installed) but as he gets his tone with any old shit plugged into that EQ it is quite amusing that they sell so well.

fretmeister

Although - my black strat is HH - it has the Red Devil bridge pickup and a Seymour Lil Scream Demon at the neck and the middle position on cleans sounds amazing.

Pierrederesistance

I just use10s on everything electric. EXl110, buy 10 sets once every 6 months or so. It's easy to get into the weeds over string gauge, fretboard radius, fret size and all the other little stuff but I can honestly say once I've had 5 minutes with whichever guitar I've picked up, I don't notice any of that stuff. 

Blueingreen

The only thing preventing me from trying out 8s is the lack of coated options at a reasonable price.  Stringjoy Orbiters seem to be the likeliest bet, but even suppliers who stock them often don't have the 8s.  I don't want to end up thinking "yes, I prefer these" and then find out I can't get a reliable supply.  And they are expensive.

fretmeister

EB do 8-38 coated.

IME they tend to have a little more tension than Dunlops so their 38 might be closer to a 40.

Clarky

for standard tuning I use Ernie Ball Hybrid 9's

does this make the heretic in this camp? lol

Offset

Clarky said:

for standard tuning I use Ernie Ball Hybrid 9's

does this make the heretic in this camp? lol

Give me a moment while I prepare your pyre.

Blueingreen

fretmeister said:

EB do 8-38 coated.

IME they tend to have a little more tension than Dunlops so their 38 might be closer to a 40.

I did look at EB a while back, but there was a lot of stuff on-line suggesting their coating didn't extend string life nearly as well the coating on Elixirs, which is what I normally use.  The feedback on the Stringjoy strings seemed much more positive.