Thread to discuss String Gauges

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I can see this is a bad idea already, discussions of this topic always degenerate into steroidal rants ie "not only do I use motherfuckin' telephone cables but I've got them set up 3 feet off the neck" and all chicks + guys who 'like' chicks (inc.queers) leave the room. Like it's not enough to swing a dick substitute in the first place without extra chest-beating re huge thick-ass strings and impossibly high action! Anyway, mine go from 19 to 87. (Heckler response - "Yeah, on your BASS, needle-dick")

― dave q, Wednesday, 26 February 2003 10:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Seriously tho, I always ask for ‘Hybrid Slinkies’ so I don’t have to think about it. Quit-smoking guides recommend ‘asking for a different brand each time’, idea being to disrupt your Pavlovian stupor, gtr string packs make cool cig-pack substitutes and cost about the same and you can inflict more active violence on ppl w/ 10 seconds of garrotting vs 35 years of breathing on them (I still don’t believe that ‘passive smoke’ shit, but then, I also believe that God is on our side and the only thing that’ll lose us the war is corrupt and decadent elements within our society, so don’t take my word for anything) but if offered a choice I automatically go for the heavier strings only because I’m sick and tired of breaking the fuckers! (Might be because I use the HEAVIEST PICKS in EXISTENCE like any ‘real man’ would)

― dave q, Wednesday, 26 February 2003 10:49 (twenty-three years ago)

i like 10-46, pref D'addario, with the wound 3rd

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 11:07 (twenty-three years ago)

As heavy as possible on guitars, as light as possible on basses.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 11:25 (twenty-three years ago)

The heavy ones break easier than medium-lights. Yes, really. I used to play strictly heavy-gauge but have save money since learning....THE TRUTH

also, Dave, real men don't use picks

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 12:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Nines.

Don't care what brand, in act different brands at the same time is better.

Currently my B is bronze colour and all the others are silvery and I don't care!

Real men don't use picks but REAL MEN peel back their fingernails on fretting hand a couple of mm and stick salt under there before every practice too.

I use picks.

― mei (mei), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 12:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Fender Strat, Super Slinkys, Jim Dunlop.63, Pro-Co Rat, Roland Jazz Chorus. Not used it in years though.

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 13:32 (twenty-three years ago)

(this'd be my fave misread-ilm-thread then: "thread to discuss sting cages")

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 14:20 (twenty-three years ago)

flatwound, heavy-medium, action as low as I can get away with. I like the dull warmth of heavy strings. When I was fifteen I read that Sonic Youth used piano wire sometimes and I thought that was cool.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:19 (twenty-three years ago)

Hmm. I've got .11s on my guitars now, but i put 'em on last when i was playing regularly. They would probably be pain and frustration inducing right now. When i get back to playing again, i'll probably start with .9s. Was thinking of going all flatwound, too.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:59 (twenty-three years ago)

I like .09s. I think it depends on your style. I like coins more than picks (someon send me some pesos!), but Tortex picks are ok. I always found that my fingers slipped off of flatwounds too often, probably from a lack of proper technique. Took the fuckers off, anyway.

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 16:08 (twenty-three years ago)

.12 gage flatwounds on an alvarez jazz guitar.

I play a lot of jazz and rockabilly and I like big strings with high tension on the neck. I cannot stand light stings and low tension, it feels like you are fretting a bowl of soup. I play a lot of jazz chords, so strings that do not move around a whole lot make my life easier.

I prefer Fender Medium picks because I play a lot of double stops and broken chords. It is easier to control when your pick is not so heavy. That being said, I used to use Fender Heavy picks religiously when I was in highschool. I am starting to finger pick a lot more because of rockabilly. I think the best way to go is hybrid picking with the thumb and index finger working the pick, and the middle, ring, and pinky fingers working the higher strings.

When it comes to playing straight rock, a pick is about all you need.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 16:49 (twenty-three years ago)

since i don't like to fret at all, i use the heaviest strings i can find (someone used to make a set of 11-52s) that will just go "brrrr" for a minute after i hit them. actually, i haven't picked up my guitar in 3 years now. so they might still be going "brrrr" right now.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:12 (twenty-three years ago)

I play with 9's, and I usually use no pick (if I AM using a pick, it's the absurdly light Dunlop .38s). What I lose in having to turn up much louder (not sure if I lose anything, actually, but my hearing) I save in guitar strings: haven't broken one in years.

― matt riedl (veal), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:20 (twenty-three years ago)

when MIDI guitars first came out all the strings were G strings - !!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:35 (twenty-three years ago)

For god sake, never use a D string as a G string.

― Paula G., Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:52 (twenty-three years ago)

At the very least I'd worry about ass corrosion.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:57 (twenty-three years ago)

(Yes, all my stage banter is that good.)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:58 (twenty-three years ago)

I started out using .09s for whatever reason and found myself going through high Es by the bucketful because my downstroke was so freakin' heavy. I compensated by going up to, oh, .13s or something like that, and more recently I've gone back down to .11s now that I've learned that I don't have to bring my hand down across the strings like I'm trying to, y'know, slice through them.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 19:10 (twenty-three years ago)

it's too much Ramones-aping. treat your strings like you would treat Bjork if you were Matthew Barney.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 19:33 (twenty-three years ago)

it's been years since i've replaced my strings. you're not a real man unless you slice open your finger on rusty strings.

― JasonD (JasonD), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 19:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Wow, talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand does! The real man must finger his chords with such masculine pressure that his fingers bleed, while at the same time strumming *very* softly to avoid breaking the ten year old rusty strings. No wonder Michael Page went scizophrenic and dangled his baby out the window.

― Paula G., Wednesday, 26 February 2003 20:06 (twenty-three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.