9s vs 10s

  • Thread starter Thread starter TheMagicEight
  • Start date Start date

For a bridge humbucker into a Plexi-type amp, which typically yields a “bigger” tone to you?

  • 9 - 42

    Votes: 27 30.7%

  • 10 - 46

    Votes: 61 69.3%
  • Total voters
    88
If my heavy-handed hacker style, using 9s is the equivalent of me boxing a 9 year old. It's just not fair.
 
After playing and getting used to 10s, 9s feel so flimsy and to Plinky on the top. Bigger bottom generally from bigger gauge
 
I use 9's on all my floyd rose guitars and 10's on my tune o matics.
 
Metlupass2":2zldesdu said:
I use 9's on all my floyd rose guitars and 10's on my tune o matics.
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Screw the strings...nice f'n tits Met! :thumbsup:
 
I've been playing around a bit, and FWIW if anyone is interested, have come to a couple of conclusions. First off, pure nickel strings do NOT sound as big as nickel plated for distorted tones. I think maybe they work well for some types of cleans, but with distortion, IMHO there isn't enough clarity to cut through.

Second, I prefer the 9s in every way, I think. With 10s, to compensate for their thickness, I had somewhat low action. When I restrung with 9s, I had a lot more buzzing and they didn't sound great at first. But what I couldn't do with 10s that I found I could with 9s is raise the action and still play comfortably. I can't really imagine having bigger tone.

Of course, it certainly seems we all hear things a little differently. Single note runs? Maybe the thicker strings do sound a little bigger in some places. But for me, 9s just feel and sound right. And yes, I'm tuned half a step down to Eb.

If I can ever figure out how to record high quality clips, is there anyone interested in hearing the difference between different types of strings?
 
I like 11's with a thicker set of top strings. I think how high you have the strings off the guitar is a big part of it, too. Higher action (within reason) yields more tone.
 
Now do you guys that play 11s - 13s in standard do much bending? I'm just curious because anytime I play thick strings, they feel excellent, but I have a very hard time doing any bends. And if I do, my fingers tend to get chewed up.
 
TheMagicEight":3iqikxje said:
Now do you guys that play 11s - 13s in standard do much bending? I'm just curious because anytime I play thick strings, they feel excellent, but I have a very hard time doing any bends. And if I do, my fingers tend to get chewed up.
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I use 11's in Eb. No trouble bending...
 
11-50 on most of my guitars (LPs and SG). I keep putting 10-46 on my Explorer for some unknown reason, but don't feel the need to change.

TheMagicEight":1f5ldo5n said:
Now do you guys that play 11s - 13s in standard do much bending? I'm just curious because anytime I play thick strings, they feel excellent, but I have a very hard time doing any bends. And if I do, my fingers tend to get chewed up.
Click to expand...

It probably hurt the first time you bent 9-42 back in the day, but you got used to it, right?

Same deal with 11s.
 
My only concern playing. 009s on a Floyd guitar is string breakage. I like the stability of. 010s for pull-up whammy, but I don't know that I want to re-float every floating trem I have. The Ibanez ZPS trems mitigate that fear a good bit--the ZPS trem on my S540 is rock-solid. The only Floyd I have that's more stable is the Speedloader.
 
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