Your string guages are wrong!

[Dino]

Originally Posted by ibanez2005

& lets not forget

5. Shut up and play yer guitar.
6.Turn it up.

Yeah! Just be quiet and a good consumer! The big manufacturers will tell you what you need.

Well, I don't want to be a wuss about it, but I have to admit that I am a little dissapointed. I thought I was sharing somthing cool with you guys.

[Roland]

Originally Posted by Dino

Yeah! Just be quiet and a good consumer! The big manufacturers will tell you what you need.

Well, I don't want to be a wuss about it, but I have to admit that I am a little dissapointed. I thought I was sharing somthing cool with you guys.

You are. But change is not something taken lightly upon in the world of guitars... As a sevenstringer, I know.

[j.arledge]

i play a custom gauge myself .

10-13-17-36-46-56

i had a whole bunch of strings and 10-52s were too slack on my razorback (24.75 scale) so i went bigger on the tops and kept the 10 gauge bottoms .

it plays like i want it and i get the tone i want i am happy . dont get what the big deal is .

[Dino]

Originally Posted by rbjammin

If anyone is interesed, here is a spreadsheet I created for calculating string tension on a standard tuned guitar, with up to seven strings, using plain steel, nickelplated steel round wound or stainless steel round wound D'Addario strings.

For some reason that link isn't working.

[Drew]

Bah. I hated this conversation over at www.sevenstring.org.

Wanna hear something funny?

1.) This Optimum String Guage idea is pure BS.
2.) I still use something pretty close to what he considers optimum, a set of 10-48's with a .68 low B, and I'm contemplating stepping up to a 10-52 with a .68 B. I've been stringing this way for years.

Here's the thing, thje whole premise of OSG is that there IS a right and a wrong way to string your guitar. That's utter crap. You know why I use such a heavy B string? Because the way I pick I always seem to hit the low B quite a bit harder than the high E. For ME, and for the way that I PERSONALLY play, I can't get away with a .52 because every time I hit the thing you can hear it pull sharp and then settle back into tune (as a vibrating string is technically being stretched by the amplitude of the vibration - think trig - and thus goes slightly sharp, the wider the vibration the further sharp), sometimes as much as a quarter step. It just doesn't work for me, due to the way I pick.

I don't understand how someone can play a .52 or a .54 low B in tune under a .09 (as tension is in many ways relative), but that's just because of the way I hit the strings. For someone with a lighter attack on the low strings, this makes perfect sense.

Anyway, it's crap because it's not 'optimum,' just different. Could it work better for you? Quite possibly, and it's certainly worth a try upping your bass guages a bit. Will it make you a "better" guitarist, magically? Of course not. It may make you more comfortable while you play, however, and for that reason alone it's worth experimenting.

If you play 9-42's or for us seven stringers 9-52 or 54's simply because that's what you've always done, then of course it stands to reason that spending a few weeks/months experimenting with different sets will be beneficial for you. But there's no RIGHT way, just what's right for you.

The dude from Zachary Guitars is certainly an interesting guy, and he has several interesting ideas. But "moderation" has never been his strong point - he's a total extremist, and there's no middle ground, and this is a classic example of this.

[slugman]

I've been using hybrid sets since I halfway restrung a guitar with 9s with a set of 10s. I like the heavier strings for E,A,D.

You can very much alter the feel of your guitar by using different guages. In moments of desperation I have substituted totally inappropriate strings. Sometimes the result is just too weird.

This theory is goofy, but certainly it is worth some effort to find which strings are most comfortable for you. I'm content with the hybrid 10/9 packs. I wish I could find D'Addario's with even heavier E,A,D strings. When I got my 7 string I was given a .52 low B and it absolutely sucks. I have to be very careful not to play it sharp. Now to get my ass to the guitar store for a heavier string...

[Roland]

Hybrids are a bunch of horse**** as well. They put more tension exactly where you do NOT need it - namely on the A-string. That makes the already tightest string in the set even more tighter. They do solve the flabby bass-string, however.

[GilkyBear]

Wow. Just wow. I use 9-42's. I like them. I am used to them, and they feel fine. While you are sitting there analyzing (note the 'anal' in the beginning of that word) the tension of your strings, I am playing my guitar which feels fine. String choice is whatever feels comfortable to you, I have tried many guages and found what I like. That's it. That's the end. I don't see this as a quantum leap in how we view and play the guitar, rather I see it more as pole-vaulting over a mouse-turd.

[wallie!]

yeh try convincing somebody with a floyd rose (nightmare! haha)

[crevis]

What a load of crap.

The bottoms are looser because being thicker, it takes more force to pick them.

I cant believe youre letting a bassist tell you how to setup your guitar.

[S-man]

Your string guages are wrong!????

No they not! Who are you? to tell me they are wrong? That's a pretty bold statement.

_|_


:P

[mi2tom]

Originally Posted by S-man

_|_

+1

[Dino]

I brought some of your questions (and outright attacks) to the attention of Alex over at Zachary guitars. This is his simple response:

I agree that there is no right or wrong way to string a guitar if you don't care about a balanced feel.
But if you want a balanced feel where every string feels even, then the rules of physics must be applied and the two steps of Optimization must by applied.
Everything must be balanced to the first string.

There is no rule that one has to play a balanced (optimized) set. They can play any string they want I suppose. They can make one string really tight and the next super loose, they can make the high E tight and the low E can be very loose and not handle the pitch. I suppose one can do that. It sure is awful when a string is under-tensioned and cannot handle the pitch. It always sounds awful.
"There is no right or wrong way to string a guitar". Good idea, lets try that on a piano and see what happens.
Alex

[Dino]

Originally Posted by Gilk420

Wow. Just wow. I use 9-42's. I like them. I am used to them, and they feel fine. While you are sitting there analyzing (note the 'anal' in the beginning of that word) the tension of your strings, I am playing my guitar which feels fine. String choice is whatever feels comfortable to you, I have tried many guages and found what I like. That's it. That's the end. I don't see this as a quantum leap in how we view and play the guitar, rather I see it more as pole-vaulting over a mouse-turd.

I thought the 9-42's were fine also until I restrung my 540P Power with a set of the ZOG 9's. The improvement is there and you will notice it right away if you are in tune with your instrument. Even my friend Dave noticed it right away when he picked up it up.

"Dude. what did you do to this guitar?"
"I changed the strings"
"No, I mean it is different"
"Really?"
"Yeah, it plays better. Like a better guitar."

And he didn't even know what it was until I explained it to him.

"Really? That's it?"
"Yep. That is all I did."

[RSVampire]

Originally Posted by Dino

It sure is awful when a string is under-tensioned and cannot handle the pitch. It always sounds awful.
"There is no right or wrong way to string a guitar". Good idea, lets try that on a piano and see what happens.
Alex

except a guitar isn't trying to be a piano in any way shape or form. Feel, tone or otherwise.

I also don't hear Satriani's tuning stability or intonation ever sounding awful and he likes his guitars to feel even.

next time he wants to make an argument he should stop trying to compare instruments that have nothing to do with each other.