String tension

[fretness]

Hey fellow softies just want to ask a quick question.

I plaayed my friends guitar and it was tune up to concert pitch but the strings felt extremely tight and high tension, hard to press. But when i play my guitar that is also tune up to concert pitch the strings feel softer and more easy to press. Both electrics so what gives? I thought higher tension higher pitch but both same pitch yet different feel and difficulty to fret the note. Is there a way to solve this? Thanks in advance

 

[matthewchj]

Depends on the gauge of the string. The thicker the strings, the lower the note. Thus when two strings of different thickness are tuned to the same note, the thicker string will be at a higher tension to compensate.

How to solve it? Just switch between string gauges. I personally use .10s. Apparently the higher the gauge the better your low end will sound, but the more important factor in deciding what gauge you like would probably be the feel.

 

[jmb23]

sounds like he got heavy gauge strings.
thicker the strings,higher the tension

 

[bigblackbear]

could be the action as well. the higher the action, the further the gap between the strings and the fret board, the harder it feels to press the strings down

 

[penta-tonic]

angle of string pitch at nut and saddle, scale length of neck and type of bridge all play a part in tension as well.

 

[dmitry_a]

Just asking, do lighter gauge strings affect how hard you have press down on the fretboard to get the right intonation?

my friend's guitar has 9's on them and when I played it sounded weird, every note aside from open was off tune. Then i tried holding down very lightly and it solved the problem.

I use 10's on my guitar, so is it the guitar or the string gauge?

 

[theunknown]

dmitry_a: is your friend's guitar neck scalloped?

 

[dmitry_a]

nope, normal neck, mine too

 

[penta-tonic]

that has to do with individual players touches too, not so much whether the board is scalloped or not, cos if u have a heavy touch or grip then light gauges like 8 or 9 can be an issue. im one such person who cant use 8s or 9s, sometimes for certain chord shapes with 10s can still sound outta tune for me. then check out malmsteen whos fretboard is scalloped and using 8s and his intonation is pretty spot on. all depends on the player.

 

[leecs]

Did he stretch the strings????

 

[fretness]

could be the action as well. the higher the action, the further the gap between the strings and the fret board, the harder it feels to press the strings down

more like it. sorry to add both same string guage. but like i measure the action just a like a milli cm diff. really cant see what;s the problem

 

[fretness]

angle of string pitch at nut and saddle, scale length of neck and type of bridge all play a part in tension as well.

hmm ok. THnks for info.

 

[eieio]

eh going perform concert already?
when? where..??? dont forget to invite us ok.. hehe

same gauge? 11 on 3 different sets as can be seen here
11-42 soft no feel, 11-49 medium ok ok can feel, 11-54 can use for bunjee jump rope?

:mrgreen:

 

[Phil]

String gauge may be similar, but are the following similar as well?
-brand of strings
-material of strings

Strings made of supposedly similar materials from different brands have a different feel, tone and in some cases, tension.

So it goes without saying that if the strings, although of similar gauge, are using different materials, the tension will be different.

Just like how pure nickel strings feel 'slinkier' than other strings.

Also, consider the
-scale length of the two guitars you are comparing.
-action
-age of strings

among many other things.