thick strings or thin strings,which is better

[shredrat]

hey people.i wanna know if thicker or thinner strings affect ur playing?

 

[dric]

thicker strings will give you a warmer nicer tone, however, the difficulty in playing would increase. it'll take time to get used to. and ofcourse gota resetup your guitar.

 

[shredrat]

i see..haha thanks pal.

 

[ala_carte]

yup tt's the straight-forward answer..

juz to add, thicker gauge strings have much more string tension hence the necessary re-setup.

personally i dun like thin strings cos they 'fly' out of the neck sometimes (6th string and 1st string) and give this horrid quack that comes out of the amp

 

[nysk]

omg u nd to resetup the guit when switching gauge? oh damit i think i screwed up cuz i restringed my high e and b strings with gauge 10's (originally 9's) and didnt do anything bout it

so what have i gotta do?

 

[theblueark]

Don't worry too much about it. Small changes sometimes you hardly need to do any setting up other than adjusting the intonation.

Check the intonation.

Oh and make sure your nut can handle the bigger guage.

 

[ShredCow]

Usually, upping 1 size (e.g. .09s to .10s) wouldn't affect the neck too much, except on thin necks like the Ibanez RGs/Sabers.

Intonation is the one you wanna worry about.

 

[unsane]

light strings are for wimps

Oh and make sure your nut can handle the bigger guage.

my nuts can handle anything...

 

[shredrat]

hah i am a wimp...anyway whats re-setting up the git?

 

[tany]

my nuts can handle anything...

hahaha :lol:

 

[ala_carte]

u have to adjust the truss rod cos when the string tension is higher, the neck will bend upwards(assuming the guitar is on ur lap) forming this 'U' shaped...thing when extrapolated(can imagine?) intonation maybe a problem but so far i'm ok with it.

there's no *need* to setup, unless the playing comfort shifts drastically i guess, but imo try not to be too sensitive, cos the playing discomfort arises from the string gauge change itself too.

relax shredrat, no one's a wimp!

 

[shredrat]

hha thanks dude.

 

[le_Doucereux]

Heavy gauge all the waay!! I'm currently on .12s.. Good, thick tone right there.. Takes some getting used to, though.. And setting up..

Aside from the truss rod, I used all 5 springs and moved the trem claw back a little to keep the bridge down.. Also, I re-slotted the nut to make sure the strings don't bind..

 

[unsane]

on a slightly more serious note i notice you tend to lose some definition on low chords/heavy distortion with thick strings..it doesnt quite have the tightness sometimes.

 

[le_Doucereux]

Well, I guess the balance is that you don't have to dial as much gain into your overdrive to get a muscular sound.. Anyway, I don't use that much gain so I may not have reached that point yet..

 

[ciel]

on a slightly more serious note i notice you tend to lose some definition on low chords/heavy distortion with thick strings..it doesnt quite have the tightness sometimes.

you do get that huge chug if ur playing punk or metal.

anyway from 9s to 10s you shoulden have to worry.

if you start to get buzz thn you might need to consider a setup most guitars moving from a 9 to 10 is fine.

 

[shredrat]

but i find that thick strings are harder to bend..

 

[penguin]

shredrat are you gonna use the thick strings on a std e 440?
not all guitar can take the tension man..even with 5 springs ..
i mean ur tremolo would be rather stiff.. just a thought..

with proper set up the 10`s would be like a 9`s ..in terms of feel and tension...