strings gauge for les paul

[nutsauce]

I bounce between 9's, 10's and hybrids and still can't decide where to settle in. If you are a fairly new player your fingers will appreciate the 9's. I like my action really low and 9's tend to buzz more with low action. If you find that 10's are too stiff when bending and 9's buzz to much on the low strings then try some Hybrid Slinky's.

 

[RockStarNick]

Wow, no one here uses 11's?

I was doing some tracking in the studio, and having problems staying in tune (I have a pretty hard attack).

Switched to 11's, and I'll never look back. More work to bend on them, but the tone is great. I feel like the extra tension locks the guitar in tune, and it really "wakes up" the wood too. You can feel the guitar resonate more in your hands.

 

[River]

Wow, no one here uses 11's?

I was doing some tracking in the studio, and having problems staying in tune (I have a pretty hard attack).

Switched to 11's, and I'll never look back. More work to bend on them, but the tone is great. I feel like the extra tension locks the guitar in tune, and it really "wakes up" the wood too. You can feel the guitar resonate more in your hands.

On a jazz box, maybe. Bending them over one whole step puts too much relief in the neck.

Banjo strings on the top are good enough for Page and Gibbons, they're good enough for me. I use the aforementioned 9-46 hybrids - heavier bottom but NOT for "da tonz", rather they don't go sharp as easily when fretted too hard.

 

[Ed Man]

I use 10-46 on all my guitars. I just switched my PRS over from the factory 9's. 10's are just a good balance for me. They stay in tune well and have a little more beef. It's up to you though.

 

[EasyAce]

Brite Wire .09s for me. On all my Les Pauls. They chime beautifully.

 

[GuitarMechanic]

LP 10-46
Archtop 11-52
Tele 10-46
Guitar with floyd rose 9-46

 

[geddyleefan]

Wow, no one here uses 11's?

I was doing some tracking in the studio, and having problems staying in tune (I have a pretty hard attack).

Switched to 11's, and I'll never look back. More work to bend on them, but the tone is great. I feel like the extra tension locks the guitar in tune, and it really "wakes up" the wood too. You can feel the guitar resonate more in your hands.

I use 11's. I love GHS Burnish Nickels in 11s and Progressives in 11s. I was using exclusively Infinity Steels until GHS discontinued them, they were the most magnificent set of strings I've ever had to rip at !

 

[M.C.J.]

10-46 on all my Les Pauls. Most of my Les Pauls came with this string gauge and I want to keep using this gauge to preserve the same tension on the neck, thus avoiding the potential setback of a neck reset.

The other thing that I insist on (and this is just what I like and not general advice for others) is pure nickel electric guitar stings. The reason I prefer pure nickel is to reduce as much fret wear as possible. Yeah, I know about the tonal debate regarding the composition of metals in the string, but I like what I get out of the pure nickel and I like knowing that my frets will last a little longer. No preference: EB, GHS, Gibson, Fender, DR, D'Addario, etc. are all good to me.

 

[bobarino]

11's all the way. 10's would be the absolute lowest i'd go.
i wouldn't use 9's even if you were pointing a gun to my face.

 

[joemarshalljmp]

I kindly suggest doing a search on this subject, rather than trying to start another thread. Honestly, there's at least a million threads you can find.

I'm new here and already tired of hearing people telling other people to search before you post , (10-46 De'addario) if you are getting tired of reading the same posts stop reading, I do search the threads but I am not going to spend all day reading a million of them as you have already counted.
IMO new posts are what make a forum interesting.

[/IMG]

 

[wallym]

I read recently that Billy Gibbons uses .008's
Playing comfort being his number one priority.

And I believe he gets a reasonable sound out his guitar.

 

[joemarshalljmp]

I read recently that Billy Gibbons uses .008's
Playing comfort being his number one priority.

And I believe he gets a reasonable sound out his guitar.

Last time I saw him play on stage on tv he had a wall of Oranges, I was'nt too happy about his tone but he did sound BIG!

 

[golfnbro]

I use Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky's, 9-46....easy bends on the high strings and nice chunk on the lower stings. There are some very well known guitarists that use 8's....

+1 - Can really go at the bends on the highs and still get some thump on the lows.

 

[92Standard]

On a jazz box, maybe. Bending them over one whole step puts too much relief in the neck.

Banjo strings on the top are good enough for Page and Gibbons, they're good enough for me. I use the aforementioned 9-46 hybrids - heavier bottom but NOT for "da tonz", rather they don't go sharp as easily when fretted too hard.

Same here.....I like the tighter strings on the bottom for chords and such and the 9's on top for bending and control. Been using Ernie Ball Hybrids 9-46 for a long time now. Heck, even Malmsteen has 8's on his guitar!!!

 

[gtr-tek]

Whatever you can put on it and make good intonation will work. You'll find as many opinions as people on the forum. I'm going back and forth between 10s & 9s and have considered 8s as Page & Gibbons have used them. I find that light top heavy bottoms seem to sound better to my ears and feel the best. Lighter low E strings get too flabby in the upper registers for my taste.

Buy a few sets of what YOU think may sound and feel good and try them. It's a pretty cheap experiment really. Just be sure to set intonation and adjust neck relief when changing to different gauges. Take your time and try them over several days to get a good feel for each set and allow for the guitar to settle in with them. After all, the wood has to adjust to the new tension. There are a number of threads on setting intonation and neck relief. Basically, when setting intonation, use an electronic tuner and match the 12th fret note to the open note and re-tune between adjustments. The 12th fret harmonic is not accurate enough to match to according to Dan Earlywine. If the fretted note is sharp, adjust the saddle away from the nut and do the opposite if it's flat.

 

[Lukejolyon]

You're dead right about neck relief. I put a heavy gauge on my Standard and boy did that neck start bending! Quarter turn of the truss rod sorted it.

 

[JDouglee]

I like the D'Addario EXL120+, they're 9.5 to 44. Right in between 9s & 10s.

 

[sonar1]

10-46 on all my Les Pauls. Most of my Les Pauls came with this string gauge and I want to keep using this gauge to preserve the same tension on the neck, thus avoiding the potential setback of a neck reset...

The trussrod can be easily adjusted to compensate.

A "neck reset" usually implies taking the neck off the guitar to reset the angle to the body: very commonly done on flat-top acoustic guitars, but not generally seen on Les Pauls that have not been cooked in a car trunk.

 

[stratcries]

Gibson does not ship their guitars with 10-46 gauge strings. They use 9-46 gauge strings coming from the factory[/FONT].

 

[stratcries]

I use 9-42 gauge string on my Les Paul. I've tried getting use to 10-46 gauge strings but keep going back to 9's. Easier for me to bend and I like the sound of that gauge. Les Paul's from the factory are shipped with 9-46 gauge strings not 10-46.