Wizard I and string guage worries..

[Bocephus]

Hey everyone, ive got some questions about the wizard neck and string guages. For the past couple of years ive been using ghs boomers low (11 15 19 33 43 53) on a les paul. There pretty much a 12 set with an 11 high. My majority of playing is in D.. however my band plays in Eb and when I teach its most often in E. The les paul had no problem jumping from tuning to tuning. About 4 months ago I got my first ibanez, an s2170 and i have this guitar set up in D with the strings mentioned above. These strings are perfect for this tuning, but i also love the feel of these strings in E. After switching to the new saber ive been having a hard time going back to the LP, but I had no choice because i couldn't just tune up and down when i needed with the saber. About a month ago i picked up a 94' s470 with the original wizard. This was going to be my new workhorse/any tuning guitar. Right away i blocked off the trem and went straight to the low boomers. Ofcourse it pulled the neck into a bow making truss adjustments necessary and heres where i got worried. Since the neck is soo thin im wondering if it could take the weight of these strings in E tuning. I didn't make any trust rod adjustments, instead i went to a 10 guage string set to be safe untill i did more research. These strings just barely meet my required satisfaction in E. In Eb or D there floppy garbage. So heres my question. Does anyone know the lowest string gauge that is safe to use on the wizard neck in E? I really want to up the guage on this guitar.. the 10's are not for me. I have two sets of strings im trying to decide between. D'addario XL 11's (11 14 18 28 38 49) and GHS boomers 10.5's (10.5 13.5 17 26 38 48 ) This guitar will mostly be in E and Eb but id like to go to D if i like. I know this may be too much to ask of the wizard neck. Any help and info is much appreciated.

Thanks again.

[S-man]

You like thick strings. I have 10 13 17 36 46 56 on my s540 wizard I. They just seem to thick for the wizard I neck. Well, at least, that 56 does. I'm changing them to 10-52's.

I think you'll be fine with the strings you listed. The Boomer strings always seemed "stiffer" to me. I personally like the floppier D'addario.

That has been my impression. BTW....my replacement 2170 kicks ass.

[Bocephus]

So your rockin 46 and 56 low on your 540?? What tuning is that in? Yeah i do like thick strings. The boomer lows have larger then usual cores to control vibration. Im not a fan of floppy strings. But id be willing to lighten up a little for the wizard I. What make of strings are you using that have 10 13 17 36 46 56?? Im more concerned about the lower gauge bass strings. 10 13 17 on the high is great, but the other three are my concern. Maybe i need to get some custom strings? A 10-52 set sounds really good to me. As long as the neck can take it. That's my only worry.

Thats great about the guitar man! Are you diggin this one more? Besides the crooked trem ofcourse.

[S-man]

I used D'addario EXL 110-7's I just didn't use the 26 gauge string.

GHS has Zakk Wylde strings 10 13 17 36 52 60....That's were I got the idea to use the EXL 110-7's. I was tuning the EXL 110-7's to drop C.



I should have the 10-52's on there today.

The neck can take the 10-52's, if it's handling my "custom" 10-56's.
The 56 just seems out of place on the thin wizard neck, for me at least.

I only used the 10-56 because I was worried that it would be too floppy with less.

Well they definately aren't floppy.

I hope the 10-52's work out. I'll let you know.

To give you an idea of what I think floppy is.... 9-42's feel a little floppy on the low E string when i drop d tune the s2170. They feel about perfect when I'm in standard tune.

I'm lovin the new guitar...I'm happier with just about every aspect of it. From finish to quality to playability. Though the other one played ok...this one plays better and was setup better from the factory.

I'd buy another one. Who knows I may just do that.

I played a rg2620 prestige guitar yesterday. Total differant guitar...but I liked my s2170 better, and the setup was better on the s2170 than the rg2620. I did enjoy playing the rg though. That's just my recent experiance. Just like anything they all vary to a degree.

[LonePhantom]

I use 10-52s on each of my RGS in standard tuning and I find them to be great. Go for those!

[S-man]

Well... I changed the strings to 10-52's. They work for me. The low E sring is a little floppy with drop C. It's fine at D tuning. E tuning would be pretty tight. I can go from D to Drop C without having to re-setup up the guitar and the trem is operational (not blocked). As a matter of fact I can switch to Drop C using only the fine tuners.

With the 10-56's I had to screw the trem claw about as far as it would go. I also had to put my 3 trem springs in an arrow pattern.

For the 10-52's I left the springs in an arrow pattern and was able to back off the claw screws.

My feeling is if you don't have to add a spring, your probably ok. Think about it.

I would never try to tune those 10-56's to E. That would be pretty brutal, and you would definately nedd to add a spring. I know you blocked your trem, but still..

Overall the 10-52's seem better suited to the guitar. Like I said before, the 10-56's, particularly the 56, seemed out of place. Though, there are people on this board running that and more for there low E.

If I were you, I'd think about a tremel-no.

And Yeah, I bet those 10-46's were kinda floppy in D.