Im going to be getting a new guitar soon...suggestions?

[Kir-ir-Bannog]

+1.

Massive chunky strings are fine and can give you great tone if your fingers can handle it, especially the bending. A lot of blues guys favour the fatter gauges - I believe Stevie Ray Vaughan had his Stratocaster set up with 11-52s rather than your hybrid 10-52 configuration. His Strat has a longer scale length, which increases the string tension even further.

Your guitar is kind of like an equation between neck tension, string tension and tremolo tension (if you have one) - all these things need to be kept in equilibrium or the guitar starts to play badly, with buzzes, poor intonation and notes sounding dead/muffled.

Take it to a shop, it'll be like buying a new guitar for £20!

mate, you're a diamond, thanks for all the advice.

 

[Heckelgruber]

No worries

 

[soundave]

+1.

Massive chunky strings are fine and can give you great tone if your fingers can handle it, especially the bending. A lot of blues guys favour the fatter gauges - I believe Stevie Ray Vaughan had his Stratocaster set up with 11-52s rather than your hybrid 10-52 configuration. His Strat has a longer scale length, which increases the string tension even further.

Your guitar is kind of like an equation between neck tension, string tension and tremolo tension (if you have one) - all these things need to be kept in equilibrium or the guitar starts to play badly, with buzzes, poor intonation and notes sounding dead/muffled.

Take it to a shop, it'll be like buying a new guitar for £20!

This reminds of my experimentation in college... with strings. I went from 9's up to 12's, I think. Someone had mentioned that SRV played with 12's, and touted the improved tone and sustain. I even used flatwounds once to see what they were like, Lord knows why; I was in a hard rock band. Felt like playing plastic strings to me. Anyhow, someone asked me once if I had adjusted my truss rod to account for the tension of the 12's, and I think my answer was, "Truss rod?" I ended up having this kid who claimed to be a luthier make some adjustments, though thinking back on it makes me shudder. I compare it to the last setup I had, and I want to throw up. I'm shocked my axe didn't suffer permanent damage.

I cannot agree more that getting a good setup is like getting a new guitar. Yeah, you can do a lot of it yourself. It'll be trial and error, and for the most part, so long as you're careful, you won't ruin your guitar. However, getting a setup is pretty cheap and will probably end up being better. I was lucky enough to be able to hang out with the tech while he adjusted my guitar, and he was cool with my asking questions about what he was doing. So, I can do some of it now with some degree of confidence. I'd rather just go back to him again, though!

 

[Heckelgruber]

Someone who has done 1000s of guitars will likely be better than a random tweaker, but for anyone who wants to learn how to get their own guitar playing nicely I recommend this book:

Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879302917/104-1924434-6598366?v=glance&n=283155

I've done a couple of setups I've been quite happy with since going through this book. I wouldn't want to take money from other people for guitar adjustments but I will happily mess around with my own. The book totally demystifies guitars and even has full step-by-step guides for setting up Les Pauls and Strats to their factory specifications.

 

[soundave]

I may have to get that. I'm always for learning something new. Thanks.