7Strings - The sequel thread

Chewie5150

Chewie5150

Fractal Fanatic
I was going to add to another thread but feels like it needs its own. So seven string guitars, neck scale and string gauge. Most if not all my 6 string guitars are tuned to Eb and typically play 9 gauge strings. I like the least amount of resistance and low as possible action. I'm lazy. There i said it. Most my guitars have 25.5" scale necks but I recently acquired a PRS holcomb seven which is 26.5" scale length and has 10-64's. It comes tuned to drop C which for the scale and gauge of strings is a good balance. Not floppy and not too hard to play though I'd like to tune the guitar to standard B tuning but flat like my other guitars. With this scale and gauge of strings that makes the tension that much tighter and a more stiffer action as a result.

So my question for the 7 string players out there are what are your favorite strings/gauges? Does anyone use 9's? too floppy? If i'm tuning closer to standard pitch with longer scale length then I'd imagine i can go lighter gauge and retain the proper tension. I mean i know experimenting will be the only way to truly figure out what works for me but curious to what others have found
 
i use Majesty guitars, so both the 6 and 7 strings are 25.5" scale. i use 10s (10-46) on my 6 strings, and use the same on the 7 string, a 56 for the lowest string.

i haven't had any issues, but i prefer 10s in general. i have thought of trying maybe a 60 or something for the low B, but it feels balanced as is.

you might want the skinny top heavy bottom sets, where the tops are 9s, but the lower strings are what usually come with 10s.
 
Last week I was at my local guitar store and they had a Sahara blue majesty 7. Unreal!! It was light as a feather and felt so good. I was looking at Ernie ball
Paradigm heavy bottom skinny tops. May try them
 
When I still had 7 strings, I used 9-62 on 25.5" scale and standard tuning (or drop-A). I think drop-A is a challenge for 25.5" scale. Other strings are fine obviously.
 
I use 11-64 on all my 7-strings, both 25.5 and 26.5 scale. More just out of convenience and keeping stuff in stock than anything else. GHS Boomer Medium.

The .064 is what came standard on my Jackson USA HT7, with a .010 on top...they were D'Addario but oddly enough not a set that D'Addario actually sold at the time, which annoyed me. I think Horizon has since come out with their own strings that are probably just repackaged.

I'm used to the 11 feel, going back over 10 years on my Soloist I've had all 5 trem springs in with 11s. I play with a lot of pick attack though which probably contributes to that.
 
I use 9-80s on a 26.5" scale 8 string tuned to drop E (EBEADGbe). The low B is a .62 , and has plenty of tension. The treble strings do not sound too thin, if anything they sound snappy.

I ordered a custom set of strings from Stringjoy for this, I'm pretty satisfied with them for the price, no complaints.
 
Chewie5150 said:
I was going to add to another thread but feels like it needs its own. So seven string guitars, neck scale and string gauge. Most if not all my 6 string guitars are tuned to Eb and typically play 9 gauge strings. I like the least amount of resistance and low as possible action. I'm lazy. There i said it. Most my guitars have 25.5" scale necks but I recently acquired a PRS holcomb seven which is 26.5" scale length and has 10-64's. It comes tuned to drop C which for the scale and gauge of strings is a good balance. Not floppy and not too hard to play though I'd like to tune the guitar to standard B tuning but flat like my other guitars. With this scale and gauge of strings that makes the tension that much tighter and a more stiffer action as a result.

So my question for the 7 string players out there are what are your favorite strings/gauges? Does anyone use 9's? too floppy? If i'm tuning closer to standard pitch with longer scale length then I'd imagine i can go lighter gauge and retain the proper tension. I mean i know experimenting will be the only way to truly figure out what works for me but curious to what others have found
Click to expand...
10-64's tuned to drop C on a 7 string? That seems really weird. I'm assuming you have an additional high string rather than a low one, what is the full tuning? I use 10-52 for standard D/drop C on 25.5" six string and 11-56 for standard C/drop B on a 24.75" guitar.

For 7's I use 9-56 for standard B/drop A tuning, 10-60 for standard A/drop G and a hybrid tuning I use which is GCGCFAD. Only ever had 25.5" 7's and never played a baritone scale.
 
When I say 10-64 I mean 10-52 and the 64 is the low B string. Im still getting around the different tuning names. The strings are all tuned down 1 whole step. Guess in drop C tuning the Low 'b' string is an A at that point. I plan to tune it to standard B but all half step/flat to work with my other guitars. Tuning it sharper with this gauage of strings makes it quite stiff hence looking for a lighter guage but retaining the right amount of tension. I'm leaning towards 9-56 perhaps. This guitar is also 26.5" scale length which seems to make a difference
 
When I have had my 7 stringers, I always used 9-46 with a 56 on the bottom. I may get another 7 very soon so hope to use that setup again. I keep it usually in standard tuning.
 
Chewie5150 said:
When I say 10-64 I mean 10-52 and the 64 is the low B string. Im still getting around the different tuning names. The strings are all tuned down 1 whole step. Guess in drop C tuning the Low 'b' string is an A at that point. I plan to tune it to standard B but all half step/flat to work with my other guitars. Tuning it sharper with this gauage of strings makes it quite stiff hence looking for a lighter guage but retaining the right amount of tension. I'm leaning towards 9-56 perhaps. This guitar is also 26.5" scale length which seems to make a difference
Click to expand...
Ahhh I think I see what you mean, so drop tuned a whole step from B standard on a 7 would be GDGCFAD which is similar to the GCGCFAD I use which is basically Drop C as it would be on a 6 string with the 7th string adding the low octave G. For that tuning I would imagine anything less than 10-58 would be too slack but maybe not on a baritone, I’m really not sure how much tension increase you get from extended scale to be honest.
I did try a sort of double drop tuning of FCGCFAD with a .56 on the low 7 (I was just messing with tunings so didn’t re-string) and then things started getting a bit “rubber bandy”. Sounded dirty as f**k though!
 
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