Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by Maggieo » Fri Sep 16, 2022 3:33 pm

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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by Lost In Autumn » Fri Sep 16, 2022 5:52 pm

I think the flaw with this is that it’s largely dependent on the gain of your amp. If you play through a high gain amp, string gauge is irrelevant, as the compression of the gain stages more than makes up for the tone suck of lighter strings. I’ve found that with clean tones, a heavier, if not outright heavy string gauge with have a fuller, richer tone. When I was a shredder, playing .008’s, it didn’t matter, because my other gear made up for it; but once I transitioned to mainly clean tones, lighter strings were lacking. A 10-52 set delivered more presence, twang and bite than lighter strings.
Last edited by Lost In Autumn on Fri Sep 16, 2022 11:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by JSett » Fri Sep 16, 2022 9:24 pm

^----- this
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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by s_mcsleazy » Sat Sep 17, 2022 3:05 am

shoule79 wrote:
Fri Sep 16, 2022 11:17 am


For awhile string size was a dick measuring contest. I still know guys who think if your not using 13’s you have junk toan. Glad that seems to be dying off.
honestly, i kinda do it for 3 reasons.

1. i break less of them
2. i can't really "shred" or "bend" as much which means i'm less likely to fall into that trap of making a self indulgent guitar part.
3. i usually play really hard and i fret out less if i have heavier strings.

i've got friend's who've tried to play my guitars and said it's shocking that i can even do some of my lead parts with gauges that heavy. but it reminds me of something we speak about in the bike shop from time to time since half the people i work with are also musicians. we talk about the "correct" way to set up brakes on a bike. traditional wisdom says your lever travel should only be a few centimeters but it often fails on people who have a lot of grip strength because it means they'll be more likely to lock up the brakes. i'm one of these people and mine is usually about an inch of lever travel, i can also kinda "feel" and "gauge" how much grip i need for it, which works better for me. i feel like action and gauges are the same.
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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by sal paradise » Sat Sep 17, 2022 3:22 am

I put 10s on everything out of simplicity. I can buy multipacks of strings and not really worry about having other stuff around.

To mcsleazy’s point, we all play acoustics. I’m sure I could easily use different gauges on different guitars, for different purposes etc.

Like the realisation that I didn’t even know flatwound strings exist, I’m sure some of my guitars might get into game-changing tone territory. Happy enough with tone as-is/too lazy to experiment. After having many, many “perfect” guitar sounds barely audible in a recording mix, I gave up caring really. Plus I play guitar unplugged 90% of the time these days.

See also: retiring from music thread ;D
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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by dave19er » Sat Sep 17, 2022 3:51 pm

I’ve tried all sorts of sizes. I break 9s. I use 10s on my Strats/Teles, PRSes, and Gibsons. I use flatwounds on my archtops (don’t remember the gauges). Only thing I have at the 24” scale are acoustics. I mostly stick to the 10s for ease of use. Having the same gauge across my electrics makes it way easier to buy strings. And when I tried heavier, I didn’t notice any improvement in sound, and had to work harder. Didn’t seem worth the trade off.

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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by blacktiger » Mon Oct 17, 2022 2:43 pm

I just watched that video last night. I am now contemplating getting used to lighter strings. For me, it’s not so much about the tone, it’s more about the older I get, the more the bigger strings hurt my fingers. I’ve been hearing “bigger strings = bigger tone” and “offsets need heavier strings” for literally decades, though, so it almost feels shameful to go to lighter strings, but I guess that’s some macho nonsense that I just need to get over.

I should clarify; I’m not buying any 8s anytime soon, but I will probably go down to 10s. I also really need to set my guitar up better. My action is definitely too high. I probably need to shim the neck better and adjust the truss rod.
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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by Misc.Vision » Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:01 am

I wouldn't say I like 9s. I usually play 10s or 11s, not a massive difference in measurements, but feel wise they are worlds apart to me. I have a relatively heavy right hand, and 9s don't do it for me. I saw that Beato video and tried them out on my Starfire, and 10s just feel right.
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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by Arthon » Wed Oct 19, 2022 3:45 pm

I saw this few months ago. Am I the only who thinks the 11's sounds better? It's subtle and would never make a difference in a mix or band setting, but when I hear those strings back to back, I prefer the 11's.

But, you know, play with the gauge you want. It makes a differnece only for you.
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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by Maggieo » Sat Oct 22, 2022 9:36 am

Arthon wrote:
Wed Oct 19, 2022 3:45 pm
I saw this few months ago. Am I the only who thinks the 11's sounds better? It's subtle and would never make a difference in a mix or band setting, but when I hear those strings back to back, I prefer the 11's.

But, you know, play with the gauge you want. It makes a differnece only for you.
They're different, but I'm more on the "horses for courses" side of this. And anything that makes the guitar comfortable is a win. So, I'm sticking with the .10s I've been playing since the 1980s.
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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by JVG » Sat Oct 22, 2022 2:26 pm

I don’t think this thread has got to the bottom of the fundamental question asked by the OP, but it’s shown that OSG members probably don’t fit in the “most guitarists” group! As commented numerous times in this forum, it’s great that people here can appreciate the choices of others, without threads degenerating to ‘your tone sucks because you use the wrong strings’ type arguments.

TGP might be a better place to find out what most guitarists are doing?

Since we’re also talking about personal preferences, mine are varied when it comes to strings…
Jazzmaster/Jaguar: ‘standard’ 10-46 or 11-48 (if flatwound)
Tele/Strats: usually 10 13 16 25 34 42 (or something similar)

I also enjoy mixing it up with string composition, ie round core strings, or pure nickel, monel wrap, etc…sometimes a guitar that already sounded good, becomes great with a different style or gauge string.

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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by JSett » Sat Oct 22, 2022 10:16 pm

On everything:

Image
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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by garyptaszek » Mon Oct 24, 2022 10:57 am

johnnysomersett wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 10:16 pm
On everything:

Image
... lightweight

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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by BoringPostcards » Mon Oct 24, 2022 12:10 pm

Image

I love these on pretty much everything.
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Re: Do Most Guitarists Play 9s?

Post by Maggieo » Mon Oct 24, 2022 12:26 pm

Stand back! The boys are seeing who has the biggest string! :P
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I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.

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