Mines are 11s. No particular reason, other than the fact that i am a tactile person and like to play on lower tunings. While I have calluses developed and playing doesn’t hurt, its still creeps me a lil how 9s and even 10s feel whenever I move chords around. It feels like they’re cutting me even though they are not
absolute classic. also love part 2
This deserves more upvotes
Just regular upvotes.
16 years damn bitcoin didn't even exist yet
Rap anti-hero. Love it
'Meat and potatoes, dick in vag, lager drinking 10-46 guy'
Chicken tikka masala, beef wellington, don't trust the Argies. Tie up with the 11's clicking your fingers to the lighthouse family
Can of coke and a tuna sandwich
I sometimes dabble in 10-52, but 10-46 is king
Me too. EB Regular Slinky for me 👍🏼
For a while I thought I was awesome for mixing sets - like 11s and 10s - to make the E and B strings a little heavier but then I started breaking strings and ended up stringing the opposite way a few times because that's what I had lying around. That's when I realized I was a pretentious idiot and that it's better - and cheaper - to pick one gauge and live with it. I went with the 10s, mostly because a heavy 11 or 12 will vibrate enough to rub against the fretboard.
This.
Fiber is important to keeping err practice regular.
Hybrid Slinky...9-46. Super slinky plains, regular slinky wounds.
It's truly the best of both worlds without feeling odd like some other hybrid sets.
Skinny top, heavy bottom, reminds me of a girl I used to ….
She got mud flaps?
The funniest practical joke ever played was SRV convincing thousands of guitarists that they sound and play better with thick strings
I just play heavy strings because I like having a bit of resistance when bending and I'm heavy handed as is already.
Makes me wonder what I’m doing wrong, regular 10-46 are plenty resistance for me
I played bass 40 years before picking up a 6 string electric. I feel like hulk holding a tea cup.
Dudeee i remember when i sold my bass and bought my current guitar, the guitar felt like a toy after playing with such a long neck for a while 😂
Oh yeah, fellow heavy handed person here, bending 11s just feel like slightly stiffer 9s to me 😂
Super slinky 9-42 they never break and are Kirk hammet approved
Oh they break lol
I get the paradigm
If you get the cobalt super slinky they won’t break before needing to be replaced. My personal fav.
I usually replace when they start to sound dead, but I have broken 1 high E before. Other than the once, they hold up nicely.
11-56 DAddario nyxl. Perfect for drop C.
My go-to set of strings!
Do they have a wound third?
No. I used to use 12-52 set with a wound 3rd, but they were a little too tight on top, and a little too loose on the bottom for me.
Ernie Ball heavy bottoms, just chunky enough for my preference
10•18•36•36•52•80 Chromes
Chill bro..
it's not drop tuning it's derp tuning
Here you go: r/Bass
Youre either trolling or you hate the fact that you gotta buy a new guitar to be able to play drop G# so you just get strings for 8 string guitars and take two strings out
Hey, could be a baritone…. You never know 🤷🏻♂️
Most likely. Even a bass VI wouldn’t have a 10.
80? Fuck sake!
This guy Djents
Dude, what tuning are you playing? I have tuned my six string to B or A standard and use 14 - 64.
Did you drill out your tuner? xD
Ooh did not know of this one! I normally use the ‘Heavy bottom skinny top’s’
Do you reckon these beefy slinkies are more suitable for Drop C#?
11-54 is the "correct" set for all Gibson 24.75 in. scale and Fender 24 in. shortscales (Jaguar, Mustang etc) for Drop C#. That being said you are totally fine with your 10-52's but the tuning on the lowest string can be a lil annoying to tune and intonate. If you are playing a Fender standard 25.5 in. scale both are totally fine, the 10-52 will be a bit easier to play in regards to bends etc, however the 11-54 will be a bit punchier and louder especially on palm mutes etc.
I run 10-52 in drop C, but with a 56 on the low E. The 52 doesn’t intonate too well in C. C% it might be okay though, I don’t have a tension calculator at hand, but I imagine it could be similar to 56 in C#
Ooh I like that! Thanks for the insight🙏🏻
Most welcome
Right now I got my Floyd guitar tuned to C standard, and the tension is a little lighter but nothing too noticeable. Ive also had 11-50s on a cheap strat tuned to C standard also. So for fixed/strat bridge id say C standard feels like playing D standard on 9-38s, I would assume drop C# would feel like playing D standard on 10-42s.
Comparison’s a little odd but i mean like tension-wise
Depends on how you like your tension. If you need a little more than what your 10-52 set is offering give the beefy set a try. I’ve used both sets with that tuning on 25.5 and 24.75 scales, I find the 10-52 suits me better but the beefies will be fine too. I think the differences between these two sets are subtle. It’s really personal preference - if you’re a bit heavy handed and like to dig in, you’ll probably want the heavier set, but if you have a lighter touch the 10-52 might still be the way to go. The beefy set will also have a little more output and warmth.
Personally I’ll go as low as drop B with 10-52 set without issues, you tend to retain a bit more clarity that way, and I like it feeling mad slinky. And yes my guitar intonates fine.
Hybrid Slinky (.009-.046)
Not a longtime player, but i like 9-42s the best. Been meaning to try 8s for a while just to see how i feel about it.
You’ll most likely pull 8s out of tune when you’re playing chords and such because they are so easy to move.
Yeah i figured as much, heard some other folks say the same. But it's one of those things i'd still like to try at least once, if i end up disliking them, i'll just go back to what already feels comfortable to me.
That’s actually not as true as people think, or at least not in my experience. Depending on the guitar and scale length, it’s actually very similar to playing 9s. I have 2 strats setup with both and they feel almost identical, 8s are ever so slightly slinkier but it’s not like “omg are these 8s???” When you pick them up side by side. This goes for E standard tuning of course. I find it’s a little easier to get that raw tone out of the string with the 8s.
10-52
There we go
9-42. Why make things harder than they need to be? I played 11-52 for almost 25 years and made the switch in the last 2 years to lighter strings. No regrets.
I stick with the string gauge the guitar comes with. So my strats are 9s and my Les Pauls are 10s
8s or 9s for standard, 10s for d standard and drop c, anything lower I go for 11s but I try to avoid tons of tensions, most of the greats use super light strings
Similar string gauge for me, 11-52 (burly slinky). I play a Jaguar, so I use them for standard tuning. I really enjoy the tension, especially considering I play chords 90% of the time and am bothered by pulling any strings too hard it jumbles the harmony
Ok this helps. I’m going a bit nuts with electric guitar coming from acoustic. I had heavy strings on my old strat and it was my go too but I’ve got a tele now with stock strings and I’m not enjoying playing chords (which is 90% of my playing too)
I’ve been on the hunt for new strings and back and forth on keeping strings closer in gauge to stock or trying out heavier again.
The issue I’m experiencing is strange overtones and out of tune weirdness when playing regular chords. I think I may be pulling the strings in those positions (I’m working on my technique ) but now I’m wondering if heavier strings will help out too !
Maybe squashing into the frets? I don’t get along with the lighter strings because I tend to choke the shit out of the neck. That tiny bit difference in tune and intonation might not really matter much but it bugs the hell out of me and I end up obsessing over it
Yes this is what’s happening. I feel like I’ve found my people lol - it’s been quite frustrating and as it happens on every guitar I play… I assume it’s my technique.
I’m trying so hard to press lighter but it’s always the g or b in a c chord that just rings out of tune etc . I test the tuning and it’s fine but within the chords there is all this extra information that creates a phasey dissonance
Meanwhile I listen to my favorites and they are just strumming away like I’m able to on my acoustic.
I think a heavier string might help yes?
What you’re describing sounds like intonation issues, which can be a mess of interrelated things: E.g, the overall setup of the guitar (if you don’t know how, trust a legit luthier), the headstock design (some three-peg-per-side electrics can a nightmare tuning an unwound g string), which—depending on how you tune—may affect the B string, etc., etc…
It’s not a perfect instrument. Like I’ve got this 24.75” scale that WILL NOT sit in C standard. B or C#? totally fine. Certain custom sets of string gauges? Closer, but it just ain’t happening. Sucks
Power slinkies.
4-8-15-16-23-42
The mythical Darma Initiative set…
11-48 here down tuned to Eb or 10-48 in standard tuning
9-38.
Depends on the guitar and tuning. Generally it’s 10-46 for standard tuning. I have a set of 11-49 on my PRS tuned to D standard and sometimes down to C# standard. D’addario being my preferred brand. Either the XL or NYXL.
11-52 on my acoustics usually in standard or half step down. Elixir PB nanowebs.
11 DRs whatever...
Eyy DR mentioned! 11-54 is just a set i recently tried, but originally i always got Pure Blues DR strings in 11-50
I love the DRs. Veritas if you’ve got a gig tonight, but the Rare and the Sunbeam sound better longer, but need some set in time though. I’m up to 13s though, I’m into some serious string abuse.
10-52 when I buy strings My tech puts 9-46 and I find how thin the top E string to be funny
The beefy back as you pictured, are my favs as well. Just hate the 22p, wish it included the wound g
10-46, but i feel like it’s not right for slide guitar
Beefy
They have extra slinky’s now too, high e is a 7 😳
I saw, crazy stuff!
Thanks, I never knew. I use the EB 8-38 now and will try these. Bad arthritis, so I gotta do what I can.
Understood, Rock on!🤘
Feeling I like 11s in 24.75 and 10s in 25.5
But sound wise I've always found 9s sound best
9-46 hybrid D'Addario NYXL.
So as a n00b…. How would I determine what strings to get? Or when you start is it just keep trying different ones until you like the feel?
Power slinky 11’s The output on those is crazy!
Standard tuning: 11-49 was my go to for ages, now it's 11-52 or 12-52.
For A standard, I take a set of 12-54 and throw out the 0.12 and add a 0.74. works perfectly for me.
turbo slinky
Tried those but man that .022 plain for the 3rd string ouch!
7 string 25.5” Drop G# .010 - .065https://www.jimdunlop.com/heavy-core-korn-guitar-strings/
7 string 25.5” Drop A .009-.062 https://www.jimdunlop.com/nickel-wound-electric-guitar-strings-09-62/
6 string Drop C/Drop B .011-.056 https://www.jimdunlop.com/nickel-wound-electric-guitar-strings-11-56-drop-b/
6 string 25.5” E std .009-.046 https://www.jimdunlop.com/nickel-wound-electric-guitar-strings-09-46/
Zippy Slinky 7-36
I really like 12-60 for C and B standard.
11-49 feels good to me
Also team 11-49, with a wound G. Keeps the tuning on the Jazzmaster rock solid.
I have 10’s on my Delos, which is a Strat scale. Love the resistance they give my pick, but hate that I can’t bend them for shit.
Delos, that sounds familiar, Kiesel?
Yup. And I love it. I just think maybe the 14” radius combined with medium jumbo frets and 10’s was a bad combo for bending.
10's for C#, Iommi signatures for standard. I love to bully my strings with minimal effort.
10s for C# are where it's at! I run the DR Tite Fit 10-50 set and it's great. I also picked up the Iommi signatures for my Strat, but haven't installed them yet (gonna need a setup).
I like the Ernie Ball skinny top, heavy bottom. Size 10.
9-42 on the floyd rose i have 10-48 on the fixed bridge.
Bottom heavy slinkies , or I use Doyle's abominators which are 10-60
Mammoth Slinky currently
Elixir 10-46 for Eb / drop C# or 11-49 for C# standard / drop B
I wanna try the SRV setup
I put regular slinky on my 6 string and I put Skinny Top Heavy Bottoms on my 8 string.
10 or 11-48
Burlys and Mammoths
Most of my strats have 10-52. Bendable trebles and ballsy low end.
11/48 for my strat and 11/50 for my semi hollow
EB Cobalt 10s.
Currently have Ernie Ball Magnum Slinky on mine (12-56) and loving them.
Ernie Ball’s are cheap, but great quality. Love Them…!
10's forever baby
13-56 Traditional Cryos from Apex strings, to be used in Drop H. I used to use Dean Markley Blue Steels, and still will use DR from time to time.
i play a 7-string and use 10-64. i ditch the 10 and put the 13 on my highest with a custom 80 on the 7th to get down to drop d# while keeping decent tension on all the strings. i have a shorter neck though so sometimes the low 80 goes floppy but works well enough if you don’t play too rough
11-56
10-52 for drop D
I play 12s….D’addario is my poison of choice lately
On my strats and Les Paul’s 9-46, on my PRS and knock off strat- 12-56, and my Es137, ES335 and my rock-billy rigs 13-60.
Why? Because that’s how they were setup and I’m too lazy to change them to all be the same gauge
Depends on what I’m doing with the guitar my tele has 11s my strat has 10s my big jazz box has 14 flat wounds.
My Gretsch hollow body has 10s and my Hamer Centura super strat has 9s. I’ve had both gauges in both guitars, and this feels right.
9-42 and tuning to Eb standard
Ernie ball Hybrids all day son
super slinky 9-42
This one
Normal top light bottom daddario XT/XS
12s on my Gretsch and 9s on my SG and tele
For like 15 years I played power slinkys, the purple packs. I heard Srv and Hendrix played heavier strings so I thought I was Hendrix and I had to play them. I think they helped develop callouses and playing strength. But around age 32 I realized I didn’t need them and I went to 10s and eventually 9s. Easier for me to bend.
Now I’m playing D’addario 9s.
I'm new what are gauges?
NYXL 9-46
DR 10-46 for the LP Ernie Ball 9-42 for Strat
Primo Slinky!
I use EB Coated Slinky 10-52 or Cobalt 10-52.
Gayge*
9-46’s. Hybrid Slinky’s or La Bella double ball fit my Steinberger
10 14 16 26 36 46
Slinky .9
Trivium 10-52. the lowest tuning i went with this string is drop B but I believe it can go down to drop A as well
I play baritone and I buy singles, 12p 17p 24w 36w 48w 64w.
I find it good enough to be able to really dig in without it going up in pitch when the string is struck. We have keys in our band so anything going out of pitch can be recognized right away because the keys are always in tune.
.009 I’m old
11-54 on the djent machine, 10-46 on the tele and 9-42 on the strat
10’s since 1979
My hungry ass read it as beef jerky
I got a set of these for one of my strats because I was looking for a more solid tone with detuned and using a slide and the damn low E didnt fit in the tuning peg hahaha I had to use the E from another pack but damn I'm so happy with it! So beefy and great for finger picking
8-38 on my Tele. I forget what’s on my baritone Antigua, but they’re similarly light strings.
I have used Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom for a very long time now. It is a 10-52
Scale length is important here. For a Strat or Tele, 10s are the sweetspot for me. You can still droptune and have some tension. 11s are a workout in standard tuning.
For a slinkier shorter scale guitar like a Les Paul or SG, you can get by with 10s, but 11s are absolutely required if you ever downtune at all.
9 or 10-42
10-52 for 24 75 scale, 9.5-46 for 25 5 scale. Tried 9-42 in the past but kept breaking the nines, also they have little to no resistance, can't feel what i'm playing
10-46 for E and Eb
12-52 for down tunings
Thomastik flat 12s, with a plain .20 g string. Bottom three flatwound, but they’re still twangy with 0 string noise changing chords. Plain g so I can still bend and play rock and roll. Best of both worlds; shit is so cash.
I prefer to strip the wiring out of transformers, extra spicy tone and you can braid em to however thick you want!
10-46 all day
Power Slinky
9-46. Love me.a hybrid since its the most versatile
I use Ernie Ball .010 - .046.
Gauge 12.
9-42
Let’s all hail Josh Smith rocking 13s in standard tuning. Beast!
I moved from 11-54 down to 9-46 and now i don’t feel like i’m developing arthritis
If I'm feeling like my finger strength is wavering, I'll go up to 11's for a while, then drop back down to 10's.
I have uses these, but I swap the 22p with a 19p because a 22 gauge plain string just sounds weird and is waay tighter than the rest. I don't get why they make them like that.
Super Slinky 9-42 on a Charvel w/ Gotoh bridge and hyper slinky 8-42 on a Jackson w/ Floyd Rose. 12s for C standard tuning. I’m a tiny gal so lighter gauges work just fine. I can do 10-46 if I oughta, 9-42 would be what I’m most comfortable with tho.
Paradigm Ernie’s. 9-42
10-52. I like tightness of the bottom strings, but it also stays tight when tuned to drop D.
10-52 heavy T skinny B
For a Strat 9.5 For a short scale 10
I’m 10-52 on 34.75 scale and a 9.5-48 on 25.5 scale.
I use the low 3 strings from a Power Slinky pack, and the high 3 strings of a Primo or Turbo slinky pack to get the 9.5-48.
Doing this gets almost the same tension as a 10-52 or 25.5.
It’s perfect!
10-52 is king
25.5" scale gets 9-42 Slinkies. 24.75" scale gets 10-46 D'Addario XL. Jazz boxes get 11-48 or 12-52 EB, and acoustics get 11-50 Aluminum-Bronze EB.
I’ve been using 11s in standard tuning for at least a decade, but I’m thinking of moving to 10s because of arthritis.
I still like the tactile ‘heft’ of 11s in standard though so I’m torn.
I’m also thinking about stringing a guitar in drop-A and I have no idea what gauge I’ll settle on for that.
I'm a wuss so either 8s or 9s, specifically Ernie Ball super slinky and extra slinky. I haven't tried other guitar brands strings so I can't comment on them
10 - 52
Skinny top heavy bottom
Whatever works best for the situation.
25.5" E-standard: 9 - 42 sounds and plays great, full bends etc.
25.5" D-standard: 10-52 replicates that playability with a bit more tightness on the lower strings.
26.5" 7-string A#-standard: 10-59 a mix of the above
and so on. All NYXL.
10-48, 10-52. Sometimes 11-48 if I’m feeling adventurous, kinda liked the Ghs gilmour 10.5-50s too. Might be a hot take but I don’t like daddarios (just tried some sets in the gauges above), like Ghs and Ernie ball better. Ghs has been my favorite of the three.
🧩
What tuning will you run these in?
I currently have heavy Tops on my Drop D Axe and it's not chugging as much as I would like...
12-60 Drop C tuning NYXL
Ah man 11-54s are the best except I use cobalt strings. Very nice 🤝
Daddario 9-42s they’ve lasted me weeks of playing 3+ hours a day. Really like how they feel too
I’d have to say the super slinky I’m new to guitar and I’ve bought them and I just fell in love with the way they felt and sounded compared to when my cousin put standard gauge strings back on it when I was super sick
10-62’s on my 7-string, 10-52 on my 6 string. I crave the drop tunings
11-54 to help me strengthen my bends
although when i play other guitars i overbend too often
I’ve got 10-46 on an E standard, 10-46 on d standard and another with 11-52s in d standard too.
Cleartone 12-60. Schecter Damien Riot tuned to drop b. They sound awesome, and the tension is just about perfect for me. Currently have a custom set from Stringjoy on that guitar, but I'm not as big of a fan of how short their lifespan is.
Love me my mammoth slinkys, 12-62
I’m a regular 10-46 guy. I like to keep things regular.