Rick Beato on string gauge

I’m a bit heavy handed and will over bend 9s. And I do think 10s give me a fatter sound.
I even went to 9s several times and still like the 10s better for me.
i have been using GHS stings for 40 +
I do have to say that the 9s are easier on the hands but I’m sticking with the 10s for me. ;)
 
Kamil Kisiel said:
I used to use 10s on most of my guitars, but after I got an Ibanez J.Custom set up with 9s I was totally sold on the feel of that for general playing and now restring with 9s on my 25.5" scale guitars. On 24.75" scale I like to have 10s for a bit of added tension, except on my Shawn Lane signature which has 9s and it's just crazy slinky. 10s go on my 7-string guitars, and I've got 10-80 on my 8-strings. For my jazz guitar I use 11s for better intonation on chords.
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i use 11 daddario flat wounds and recently started using a 12 on top...its been a little more balanced tonally
 
Coming from acoustic player "only" in the 80's, I used the fender bullets 9-40 for a long time. All my electrics have been Strats and Teles. Then went to EB 9-42 for a very long time.
The last 5 or 6 years I have been using D'Addario NYXL 9-42 but I buy singles (same brand) and use a 15 on the G instead of the normal 16 in the 9-42 sets. Arthritis is making my decisions for now.
I actually thought about 8-38 and I have had 4 sets of the EB's and 2 other brands. I was always afraid because of the sound.
This is a great thread and very eye opening. The vids were great too.
FWIW, even with my arthritis sometimes the the 15 just seems too, well, uncontrollable. Retrain muscle memory I guess.
Pretty sure I am destined for 8-38 at some time in the future.
 
So ... what do you guys think this would be seen on an acoustic?

Do you think an acoustic would sound thicker with lighter strings too?
 
The heavier the gauge the harder you can hit them, and the harder you need to hit them to get them to ring, 9s and 8s are great for intricate studio work, it takes barely any physical input to get them moving, but if you play too hard they just fart out. If SRV played 9s you wouldn't be able to hear notes, all you'd hear is chinkachinka...he played so fokin hard, 13s on a 25.5 scale bolt on. I play 10s because tuned down a whole step they are just as spongy and sensitive as 9s but with enough meat on them to still dig in with palm mutes and not have them fold over completely
 
Yeah, I'm gonna have to disagree with this. If you use a heavier string, as I do (I like 10s), you need to lower the bass side of your pickups. I used 9s for decades and then switched to 10s when I started the 3-piece band I was in. The fuller low end and less buzz of the 10s was important in that context.

Playing clean or slightly dirty stuff with 9s sounds anemic. Put a set of 10s on and it's powerful and helps fill out the spectrum. The other problem with light strings is when you first hit the strings the thinner strings will deflect more causing fret buzz. The heavier the string the less deflection is needed to cause the same magnetic flux. So I like 10s with high action and big frets. Lots of power and clarity.

Tough on the hands though. Got tendinitis a few times and had to go back to 9s temporarily.
 
9's on shredders, 10's on everything else, 11's on my Gretsch. I can do the same stuff across almost all of them, harder to do a full major 3rd or 4th bend on the gretsch but i don't really play them that way anyway.
 
When I first started, I used 9s. A couple of years later, when I was 16, I went to 10s on my Les Paul, in order to stop breaking strings, since I was playing in a band, and pretty heavy handed, I guess.
About 8 years ago, I bought an EVH Wolfgang guitar that I would pick up in the music store while my son was having his guitar lesson for about 1/2 a year, and was loving the Floyd Rose, so I bought it. It had 9s on it. I promptly re-strung it with 10s, and I hated how it played!
I switched it back to 9s, and all was well. Eventually, I did the same with my strats and Les Paul, and now I play 9s, and 40 years has since gone by since I used to break strings, and I am still not breaking them, so I have probably developed an lighter touch, so I'm perfectly happy with the 9s in my 3-piece (instrumentally) band.
 
I used to play 10-46. Turns out I prefer the 9-46 hybrid sets for feel. Unfortunately, the local shops don't tend to stock the hybrid sets so I usually end up with 9-42's. Maybe these videos will get them to start stocking the hybrid sets.
 
Meh. Figured out what works for me over 25 years ago. Simply stated my (abridged) process of getting there up thread. The guy may have tried to make its title sound more dramatic to gather clicks, but his video failed to persuade. I could care less about trying 8s, but it would require effort to do so.... :)
 
11-52s for me on all of my main guitars (Strat, Tele and LP), they work best for me. I have tried 10s and 9s a few times, even on my Strat with a floating trem and it was a nightmare to keep in tune.

My 11s have the best tone for me (I play a wide range of styles) and they keep in tune, so I'm very dubious when videos like this come out.
 
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