I’ve got 009s on the Ibanez (widdly guitar) and the Tele
010s on the Les Paul, PRS and the Fender Performer.
013s om the accoustic.
Don’t know what on the bass - medium I suppose.
All Rotosound.
The reason I ask is that I recently went to 010s on PRS and it transformed the guitar. With 009s it was a bit of a plank and I hardly ever played it, now it’s bright and lively and competes with the LP in the play me! play me! stakes. If my fingers can manage should I try moving up to 011s?
Standard-set .11’s (.11 - .48 or .49) on my Les Pauls and 335.
Beefy-set .11’s (.11 - .54) on my Strat
Lights (.12’s) on my acoustic, which I tend to play like an electric.
I am a firm believer in the Stevie Ray Vaughn school of “thicker gauge = better tone. Period” school. I play the heaviest gauge I can while still being able to bend aggressively. And I hear a dramatic difference in tone vs. lighter gauge. Also, you can’t do the patented Jimmy Page raking upstroke on a Les Paul with nearly the same tonal results if you use lighter-gauge strings…
.009’s or .010’s on my Strats, though I’ve gone through periods with thicker gauges. I agree with the notion that thicker = better tone, but thinner = more playable. The balance I want isn’t always the same.
Plus, I’m a string whore. If there’s a fantastic deal on something, I buy 'em, even if it’s a divergence from what I’m currently playing.
Curious, I thought Page used 009s (super slinkys).
I know about the SRV approach but he used something absurd like 014s which just scared me. I don’t know if I could fret those, let alone bend them. Even Pete Townshend stops at 012s (I think) for his hooliganism.
9s on pretty much all of my electrics - Three Brian Moores and an Ernie Ball/MM VH model. I used to have 10s on my Strat Plus before I got rid of it. I like the tone of 10s, but I can’t bend aggressively or do the Steve Vai happy crap with heavier gauges.
SRV played with .13’s on his beloved FirstWife - and according to the bio I read, would occasionally downgrade to .12’s at the end of tours when his fingers were just plain worn out.
Page, based on this book I got where they summarized all the “specs” of top players from Guitar Player magazine articles - DID/does still(?) use .09’s. Ah, but he is playing through big honkin’ Marshall stacks that go to 11 - huge influence on tone. Playing at ‘normal’ volumes through smaller amps - the heavier gauge strings make up (somewhat, and in a different way) for not having all that horsepower behind you. Also, let’s face it: Page is a fucking brilliant guitarist and can finesse whatever tone he wants out of whatever guitar he wants. I, OTOH, am an experienced hack - and having the heavier-gauged strings means the guitar is much more forgiving when I attempt the ol’ raking upstroke - it is much more likely to deliver a decent Pagey tone, for this hack anyway…
Another Earthwoods fan, always have them on my Fender acoustic. I use the medium lights (.12) because I break the .11’s waaaay too often. For whatever reason the actions on my acoustics are insanely high, and while I prefer the heavier strings sound quality, my poor fingers can’t take the strain.