Nines are not for me..

boogieman

Plectrum 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!

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.

Tony McPhee used to do that banjo string thing in the 60s/70s as well. He reckoned John Lee Hooker told him about it. I read somewhere that allegedly BB King told Billy Gibbons about using very light gauges but as Billy (deliberately) talks so much nonsense who knows if that’s actually true or not? 

I use 9s on my Strats, 10s on my SG and PRS. I can’t go any lighter than 9’s, they just feel like rubber bands. 

Plectrum

boogieman said:

Tony McPhee used to do that banjo string thing in the 60s/70s as well. He reckoned John Lee Hooker told him about it. I read somewhere that allegedly BB King told Billy Gibbons about using very light gauges but as Billy (deliberately) talks so much nonsense who knows if that’s actually true or not? 

I use 9s on my Strats, 10s on my SG and PRS. I can’t go any lighter than 9’s, they just feel like rubber bands. 

Yes I've heard Billy Gibbon's story too. As you say, who knows if it's true. 

I tried 8s a log time ago. Your rubber band description is exactly how I felt them too. 

CarbonCopy

I used Ernie Ball 9s when I started playing electric guitar over 30 years ago. I moved up a gauge to 10s after a few years as my aggressive playing, poor technique and probably poorly set up Squier guitar meant I was breaking strings far too often, particularly the low strings.

A band I was in played tuned down a semitone and that combined with the shorter scale length of the Les Paul made the strings feel too loose. Again, it was my poor technique and aggressive playing at fault really. The lower strings would sound out of tune unless they were thicker with more tension. So I went up to 11s.

I've calmed down a bit nowadays though but still use 10s on Fender scale length and 11s on Gibson, even in standard tuning. I use hybrid sets now though: 10-48 and 11-52 Ernie Balls. I've never had any issues with them. 

I have played 9s since, but quickly go back to the above gauges as I'm just use to it so the tension feels natural. 

bluecat

I used EB 9's on my Strat, have done for years. I tried them on my Tele, it was like playing on rubber bands. Off they came in an instant, lost a full set. Now it's only 10's for the Tele. I could not believe the difference.