Anyone here using 8's on their electric?

JookyChap

ChrisMusic said:

JookyChap said:

In my case it may have something to do with dodgy nerve endings and the fact I can't feel anything below an 11 cutting into my bleeding fingertips

So I'll have to be careful when the Jooky guitar conveyer gets started again.

Dark rosewood fretboard and unique "ox-blood" finish, hmmmmm    :P

I've always put a lot of myself into those guitars

ChrisMusic

bingefeller

Due know what guys, I'm having second thoughts on the 8's.    They were OK in the start but now the general intonation of the strings isnt as good as when I first put them on.  I'm going to change strings tomorrow and put my 9's back on.  

ToneControl

bingefeller said:

Due know what guys, I'm having second thoughts on the 8's.    They were OK in the start but now the general intonation of the strings isnt as good as when I first put them on.  I'm going to change strings tomorrow and put my 9's back on.  

eh? did you adjust it?

I guess the strings are a little easier to bend out of tune, is that what you mean?

bingefeller

ToneControl said:

bingefeller said:

Due know what guys, I'm having second thoughts on the 8's.    They were OK in the start but now the general intonation of the strings isnt as good as when I first put them on.  I'm going to change strings tomorrow and put my 9's back on.  

eh? did you adjust it?

I guess the strings are a little easier to bend out of tune, is that what you mean?

yeah it was OK when I first had them on. I guess the strings are getting old now and need changed. It's just finger pressure seems to be an issue at times. I find it hard to be consistent with it to get every note in tune. Bending is very easy to get in tune. It's the fretted notes. Plus, when I'm sliding into a note, it goes noticeably flat / sharp because the string is so light and is very susceptible to things like this.

ToneControl

bingefeller said:

ToneControl said:

bingefeller said:

Due know what guys, I'm having second thoughts on the 8's.    They were OK in the start but now the general intonation of the strings isnt as good as when I first put them on.  I'm going to change strings tomorrow and put my 9's back on.  

eh? did you adjust it?

I guess the strings are a little easier to bend out of tune, is that what you mean?

yeah it was OK when I first had them on. I guess the strings are getting old now and need changed. It's just finger pressure seems to be an issue at times. I find it hard to be consistent with it to get every note in tune. Bending is very easy to get in tune. It's the fretted notes. Plus, when I'm sliding into a note, it goes noticeably flat / sharp because the string is so light and is very susceptible to things like this.

fair enough, personal taste then, I like 9-46 myself

Mkjackary

I had used 9s in standard and halfstep down and they were fine but wanted to switch to heavier so put 11s on my strat.
Tuned by ear and added another spring to the trem, bloody hell, I knew it was tough but I really really struggled to get even a whole step bend.

Then after double checking my 'by ear' tuning I realised I was in f# with 11-52.
After retuning and setting up in standard it was much easier than I expected, in half step down it was piss easy. Especially compared to the 11s in f#.


Things I have noticed, more bass end and more output, I have had to lower pickups and turn down tone on my amp a pinch. Nicer sounding vibrato. Much more sustain as well, on a modded up epiphone I had the worst sustain, after switching to 11s on that I now have a decent amount of sustain, although that could also be due to the slightly higher action.

The main reason I switched was due to string breakages, I have never broken a string with 11s, and hardly ever broken a string with 10s. But a month or so ago I was breaking so many 9s it just wasn't worth the money replacing the strings. I'm going to be 11s in half step down and tens in standard from now on.

not_the_dj

Check out the Billy Gibbons episode of "Live from Daryl's House" there's a bit in there where he describes a discussion he had years ago with BB King about string gauges...(paraphrasing) BB to Gibbons - "man, why do you work so hard with those heavy stings".

That's apparently when he went down to 8s, and then onto 7s.

ToneControl

Mkjackary said:

I had used 9s in standard and halfstep down and they were fine but wanted to switch to heavier so put 11s on my strat.
Tuned by ear and added another spring to the trem, bloody hell, I knew it was tough but I really really struggled to get even a whole step bend.

Then after double checking my 'by ear' tuning I realised I was in f# with 11-52.
After retuning and setting up in standard it was much easier than I expected, in half step down it was piss easy. Especially compared to the 11s in f#.


Things I have noticed, more bass end and more output, I have had to lower pickups and turn down tone on my amp a pinch. Nicer sounding vibrato. Much more sustain as well, on a modded up epiphone I had the worst sustain, after switching to 11s on that I now have a decent amount of sustain, although that could also be due to the slightly higher action.

The main reason I switched was due to string breakages, I have never broken a string with 11s, and hardly ever broken a string with 10s. But a month or so ago I was breaking so many 9s it just wasn't worth the money replacing the strings. I'm going to be 11s in half step down and tens in standard from now on.

are you sure you have no snags on the saddles?

I have never broken a 9, and I use a 3mm pick and have a very heavy right hand technique

jonnyburgo

When I first started out I would snap strings on a weekly basis, I havent broken one in years now though, I think as you get more relaxed you don't bash about as much.

bingefeller

Actually, I just put 8s back on my guitar again.  I have different 8s - Ernie Ball Coated Electric Titanium - so I will see if these are any better.  Maybe it just that the strings needed changed because these sound fine and are in tune and the intonation is pretty much perfect as per my tuner.  

Blueingreen

I used to play 8s back in the day on my Les Paul Custom.  That was before the internet and there wasn't the same level of shared information in those days, especially if you didn't live in a big city.  I literally didn't know or realise that the very shallow frets on the LP (it was pretty close to fretless wonder level) actually made bending harder - I figured the lower the frets, the lower the action, the easier to bend.  

I found with my not very powerful hands I needed 8s to do Peter Green style bending on the LP.  I was also influenced by an interview with Jimmy Page in which he said he was using ultra light strings.

These days even with a touch of arthritis I use bigger fretwire and 9s.  I've never believed it's any harder to find the tone I want with lighter strings - the extra control over the note easily outweighs the difference in string mass. 

bingefeller

Blueingreen said:

I used to play 8s back in the day on my Les Paul Custom.  That was before the internet and there wasn't the same level of shared information in those days, especially if you didn't live in a big city.  I literally didn't know or realise that the very shallow frets on the LP (it was pretty close to fretless wonder level) actually made bending harder - I figured the lower the frets, the lower the action, the easier to bend.  

I found with my not very powerful hands I needed 8s to do Peter Green style bending on the LP.  I was also influenced by an interview with Jimmy Page in which he said he was using ultra light strings.

These days even with a touch of arthritis I use bigger fretwire and 9s.  I've never believed it's any harder to find the tone I want with lighter strings - the extra control over the note easily outweighs the difference in string mass. 

9s on a Les Paul would feel similar to 8s on a Strat style guitar...right?

ToneControl

bingefeller said:

9s on a Les Paul would feel similar to 8s on a Strat style guitar...right?

AFAIK it's more a 0.5 diff

I think Dave Gilmour uses 0.5 higher on an LP

I just checked this idea on this http://vinic.free.fr/strings/

and it's true

Blueingreen

Personally I use 9s on everything.  I have Strat, Gibson and PRS scale guitars and all have 9s on them.  Obviously that means the tension on the Strats is a little higher.

Mkjackary

ToneControl said:

Mkjackary said:

I had used 9s in standard and halfstep down and they were fine but wanted to switch to heavier so put 11s on my strat.
Tuned by ear and added another spring to the trem, bloody hell, I knew it was tough but I really really struggled to get even a whole step bend.

Then after double checking my 'by ear' tuning I realised I was in f# with 11-52.
After retuning and setting up in standard it was much easier than I expected, in half step down it was piss easy. Especially compared to the 11s in f#.


Things I have noticed, more bass end and more output, I have had to lower pickups and turn down tone on my amp a pinch. Nicer sounding vibrato. Much more sustain as well, on a modded up epiphone I had the worst sustain, after switching to 11s on that I now have a decent amount of sustain, although that could also be due to the slightly higher action.

The main reason I switched was due to string breakages, I have never broken a string with 11s, and hardly ever broken a string with 10s. But a month or so ago I was breaking so many 9s it just wasn't worth the money replacing the strings. I'm going to be 11s in half step down and tens in standard from now on.

are you sure you have no snags on the saddles?

I have never broken a 9, and I use a 3mm pick and have a very heavy right hand technique

yes 100% sure, as it happens on all my guitars, some more than others, obviously trems more than hard tails, longer scales lengths more than shorter. It must just be me haha.

sometimes it would literally be one or two strings a day, others none for maybe a week. But even so I was always scared to play a gig as I would likely break a string. (Like i did at the one before last, in a 4 song set I broke the high b on the very last note; bending up to the octave haha)

My technique is very different to others though, I go from gently tucking my strings into bed and ever so gently squeezing a note out, to going all out chris brown on my string. 

rlw

I put 9 - 42 on my LP and can barely play a chord in tune: 10s beckon or maybe even 11s to see if they cure the heavy handedness

bingefeller

Actually, today I put 10s on my Suhr!  Big jump I know but the 8s were cracking me up.  Alternate picking was more difficult with them (I'm not a fast picker by any means but they were flopping around too much with each pick stroke).  With this in mind I figured that picking with heavier strings would be easier as they would move less with each stroke.  

I tightened the truss to get my action back to where it was (I have my action at 1.50mm across the board and it had moved approximately 1.75mm).  

Oddly enough, the intonation hasn't changed (although I will recheck tomorrow and it could be a different story).  The only other adjustment I needed to do was to tighten the springs of the claw at the back, which took a bit of time but everything is to where it should be.

mfin

Half gauges are another option to nudge things slacker just a touch, normally close to feel of detuning a half tone.

8.5's are available in D'addario and in GHS Boomers. Slight differences in gauges across the sets from those two though, I prefer Boomers as D'addario I just don't get on with. There's more choice in 9.5's (PRS make my favourite 9.5's).

Gassage

bingefeller said:

I had a packet of Ernie Ball 8's and thought that I'd stick them on my Suhr and I have to say that it makes it so much easier to play that it's very enjoyable.  I'm not noticing a lot of difference in tone when playing with distortion, although there is a difference when playing clean.  

Anyone else here a fan of 8's?  I might buy a few more packs and stick with them for a while.

You big fucking gayer.