Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

On May 13, 9:33 pm, "Polfus" <nostringscouldsecureyou@thestation>
wrote:

> Jimmy Page uses 9s...and he sounds pretty heavy to me; Billy Gibbons uses
> 8s...same thing with his tone. And Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath uses a thin
> banjo string for his top string...,it s like a 7 or 6 or something...he
> sounds damn heavy to me as well .

AT LAST!!! Some common sense in this thread.

"Heavier strings have more tone" is one of those easy, oversimplified,
pat answers that drives me crazy (like "solid state amp suck" or
"jumbo frets make bending easier"). Sure, there's some degree of truth
to these statements, but there are just as many exceptions as
supporting cases.

Tone is a combination of many things - fingers, picks, strings,
pickups, amps, gain stages, EQ, volume levels, room acoustics,
recording techniques, etc. In Tony Iommi's case, I'm sure even his
prostetic fingertips contribute to his sound.

Use the strings that feel best to you. For me, it's 9's.

- Rich

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

On 14 May, 13:35, "Dr. Zontar" <drzon...@yahoo,com > wrote:
snip
>
> Tone is a combination of many things - fingers, picks, strings,
> pickups, amps, gain stages, EQ, volume levels, room acoustics,
> recording techniques, etc. In Tony Iommi's case, I'm sure even his
> prostetic fingertips contribute to his sound.
>

The one that stands out there is gain stages. IMO if your playing
through a clean amp every setting on your guitar makes more
difference. I've got pickups selections that sound worlds apart
through a clean amp but, crank up the overdrive I can hardly tell them
apart. Sure the same is true with string gauges.

Cliff

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

Dr. Zontar wrote:
> On May 13, 9:33 pm, "Polfus" <nostringscouldsecureyou@thestation>
> wrote:
>
>> Jimmy Page uses 9s...and he sounds pretty heavy to me; Billy Gibbons uses
>> 8s...same thing with his tone. And Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath uses a thin
>> banjo string for his top string...,it s like a 7 or 6 or something...he
>> sounds damn heavy to me as well .
>
> AT LAST!!! Some common sense in this thread.
>
> "Heavier strings have more tone" is one of those easy, oversimplified,
> pat answers that drives me crazy (like "solid state amp suck" or
> "jumbo frets make bending easier"). Sure, there's some degree of truth
> to these statements, but there are just as many exceptions as
> supporting cases.
>
> Tone is a combination of many things - fingers, picks, strings,
> pickups, amps, gain stages, EQ, volume levels, room acoustics,
> recording techniques, etc. In Tony Iommi's case, I'm sure even his
> prostetic fingertips contribute to his sound.
>
> Use the strings that feel best to you. For me, it's 9's.
>
> - Rich

Ditto.

--
- Rufus

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

AT LAST!!! Some common sense in this thread.

I'll second that.
Alot of sarcastic answers to
good questions lately !

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?


"Polfus" <nostringscouldsecureyou@thestation> wrote in message
news:482a423a$0$20179$4c368faf@roadrunner,com ...
>
> "RichL" <rpleavitt@yahoo,com > wrote
>
>> I don't notice that much difference in sound; to me it's more a matter
>> of feel.
>
> Amen.
>
> Jimmy Page uses 9s...and he sounds pretty heavy to me;

I heard that Page would use Ernie Ball 9's on the start of a tour then
switch to 10's later. prolly more myth than fact
> Billy Gibbons uses 8s...same thing with his tone. And Tony Iommi from
> Black Sabbath uses a thin banjo string for his top string...,it s like a 7
> or 6 or something...he sounds damn heavy to me as well .
>
> Peace,
> Polfus

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

RichL wrote:
> Tony Done <tonydone@bigpond,com > wrote:
>> "Julien BH" <julienbh@gmail,com > wrote in message
>>
> news:9ab7941a-c3a7-4791-a30e-d5863a47cd51@8g2000hse.googlegroups,com ...
>>> Why would I want higher gauge strings?
>>> Are the 9's for beginner and the 12's for advanced players?
>> A question for those of you that use light strings. I only use 13s,
>> because my electric playing is confined to slide, but my very limited
>> acquaintance with light strings suggests they have a bit more
>> "twang", while heavy strings sound "thicker". Would this be right?
>>
>> Tony D
>
> I don't notice that much difference in sound; to me it's more a matter
> of feel.
>
>

Me too. I've tried 8 to 11's and I finally settled in on 9's.

When it comes to tone I think it's more a matter of the combination of
how you set your pickups, what pickups you're using, and what material
the particular string set you're using with those pickups is made out
of...at least as far as strings go.

...the rest of it comes out of the axe, as evidenced by D's spring
chamber experiment.

--
- Rufus

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?


"RichL" <rpleavitt@yahoo,com > wrote in message
news:IJqWj.14221$%X1.289@trnddc08...
> Tony Done <tonydone@bigpond,com > wrote:
>> "Julien BH" <julienbh@gmail,com > wrote in message
>>
> news:9ab7941a-c3a7-4791-a30e-d5863a47cd51@8g2000hse.googlegroups,com ...
>>> Why would I want higher gauge strings?
>>> Are the 9's for beginner and the 12's for advanced players?
>>
>> A question for those of you that use light strings. I only use 13s,
>> because my electric playing is confined to slide, but my very limited
>> acquaintance with light strings suggests they have a bit more
>> "twang", while heavy strings sound "thicker". Would this be right?
>>
>> Tony D
>
> I don't notice that much difference in sound; to me it's more a matter
> of feel.
>
>

Just did a bit of research. Sonny Landreth apparently uses 13-56, but Johnny
Winter and Duane Allman use/used light gauges. I might try a set of 10s on
one guitar, for comparison....


Tony D

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

RichL wrote:

> Tony Done <tonydone@bigpond,com > wrote:

>> "Julien BH" <julienbh@gmail,com > wrote in message

> news:9ab7941a-c3a7-4791-a30e-d5863a47cd51@8g2000hse.googlegroups,com ...

>>> Why would I want higher gauge strings?

>>> Are the 9's for beginner and the 12's for advanced players?

>> A question for those of you that use light strings. I only use 13s,
>> because my electric playing is confined to slide, but my very limited
>> acquaintance with light strings suggests they have a bit more
>> "twang", while heavy strings sound "thicker". Would this be right?

> I don't notice that much difference in sound; to me it's more a matter
> of feel.

I use 10s and I find the sound is a bit thicker than 9s, mainly more
bottom end, but richer too. I find with 10s I can still play fast and
get wild bends, but anything heavier is too much effort. I can't stand
the feel of 9s.

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

On Wed, 14 May 2008 11:58:21 +0100, White Spirit wrote...
>
>RichL wrote:
>
>> Tony Done <tonydone@bigpond,com > wrote:
>
>>> "Julien BH" <julienbh@gmail,com > wrote in message
>
>> news:9ab7941a-c3a7-4791-a30e-d5863a47cd51@8g2000hse.googlegroups,com ...
>
>>>> Why would I want higher gauge strings?
>
>>>> Are the 9's for beginner and the 12's for advanced players?
>
>>> A question for those of you that use light strings. I only use 13s,
>>> because my electric playing is confined to slide, but my very limited
>>> acquaintance with light strings suggests they have a bit more
>>> "twang", while heavy strings sound "thicker". Would this be right?
>
>> I don't notice that much difference in sound; to me it's more a matter
>> of feel.
>
>I use 10s and I find the sound is a bit thicker than 9s, mainly more
>bottom end, but richer too. I find with 10s I can still play fast and
>get wild bends, but anything heavier is too much effort. I can't stand
>the feel of 9s.



If I'm just strumming out chords I like the feel of 10s. If I use bends or
vibrato then it's easier to work with 9s.


Fred
--
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Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?



Tony Done wrote:
> "Julien BH" <julienbh@gmail,com > wrote in message
> news:9ab7941a-c3a7-4791-a30e-d5863a47cd51@8g2000hse.googlegroups,com ...
>> Why would I want higher gauge strings?
>> Are the 9's for beginner and the 12's for advanced players?
>
> A question for those of you that use light strings. I only use 13s,
> because my electric playing is confined to slide, but my very limited
> acquaintance with light strings suggests they have a bit more
> "twang", while heavy strings sound "thicker". Would this be right?
>
> Tony D

IMO, yes. Lighter strings have more top and bottom, but heavier strings
tend to have more mid and low mid attack. Note that other things affect
tone a lot too, like what the string is made of, and so on, so this is very
much a generalization.

Don

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

Tony Done wrote:
> "Julien BH" <julienbh@gmail,com > wrote in message
> news:9ab7941a-c3a7-4791-a30e-d5863a47cd51@8g2000hse.googlegroups,com ...
>> Why would I want higher gauge strings?
>> Are the 9's for beginner and the 12's for advanced players?
>
> A question for those of you that use light strings. I only use 13s, because
> my electric playing is confined to slide, but my very limited acquaintance
> with light strings suggests they have a bit more "twang", while heavy
> strings sound "thicker". Would this be right?
>
> Tony D
>
>

No. This is all IMO, but heavy strings force the player
to press harder, which changes the tone. From pedal steel,
different gauge strings sound largely the same; they just
intonate differently ( on six-string ).

I also play bass ( which uses different muscles, but still
gives you a good grip ) and I tried a set of 0.13 with
a wound G once. Felt great, but I got a lot of ...
"action noise" from how hard I hadda press down. I also fatigued
with 0.13 more quickly. They felt like they put a lot of strain
on the guitar, too.

--
Les Cargill

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

"Julien BH" <julienbh@gmail,com > wrote in message
news:9ab7941a-c3a7-4791-a30e-d5863a47cd51@8g2000hse.googlegroups,com ...
> Why would I want higher gauge strings?
> Are the 9's for beginner and the 12's for advanced players?

It's mostly the sound. Listen to some Stevie Ray Vaughn's huge screaming
bends and you'll know that won't be possible with lighter gauge strings. I
suspect he uses 12' or heavier.

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?


"Alai" <alai872@msn,com > wrote

> It's mostly the sound. Listen to some Stevie Ray Vaughn's huge screaming
> bends and you'll know that won't be possible with lighter gauge strings.
> I suspect he uses 12' or heavier.

His guitar tech told me that he used 9s as well, depending on the part of a
tour and how his fingertips were doing at the time.

Its a myth that he used only heavy strings.

Peace,
Polfus

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

In article <482a4127$0$20202$4c368faf@roadrunner,com >,
nostringscouldsecureyou@thestation says...
>
> "Alai" <alai872@msn,com > wrote
>
> > It's mostly the sound. Listen to some Stevie Ray Vaughn's huge screaming
> > bends and you'll know that won't be possible with lighter gauge strings.
> > I suspect he uses 12' or heavier.
>
> His guitar tech told me that he used 9s as well, depending on the part of a
> tour and how his fingertips were doing at the time.
>
> Its a myth that he used only heavy strings.
>
> Peace,
> Polfus
>
>
SRV often tuned down and his tone was heavily influenced by Hendrix.
Hendrix used 8s & 9s with skinny bottom strings and got a very fat sound
as well. A big difference between them was their playing style. Hendrix
had a very light touch and let the amps do the work, usually a pile of
Sunns & Marshalls. SRV was much more aggressive and used much smaller
amps.

James Burton also used 8s and a light touch. Thin vs. thick picks makes
a difference too. The problem with playing light strings too
aggressively is they can start to make sitar-like sounds. Acoustic
players have a name for something similar when the top doesn't vibrate
true.

IMO some guitars, usually heavier ones, need heavier strings to come
alive. Light, resonant guitars often don't. I guess the point is there's
different ways to get to the same place.

Re: Why would I want higher gauge strings ?

On Tue, 13 May 2008 12:56:35 -0700 (PDT), Julien BH
<julienbh@gmail,com > wrote:

>Why would I want higher gauge strings?
>Are the 9's for beginner and the 12's for advanced players?

It's strictly preference. I use 10's...been using them for years. Back
in the day (70's) I used 8's (even tried 07's which were hard to
find). I switched to nines and eventually 10's.

***********
Some of my music:
http :// www .soundclick,com /bands/default.cfm?bandID=789610