Strings

I've tried the thinner strings - they're TOO easy to play, for me. They offer no resistance. As far as I'm concerned, the harder you pick, the better your tone is, for metal rhythm. With lighter guage strings, I pick/fret them out of tune really, really easily. They just don't work for me. Even for leads, they're a pain, IMO. I overbend them as I'm used to the tension on the lower strings, or I fret them too hard and they go out of tune, again, from being used to the higher-tension low strings.
 
:lol: @ Jeff

I think the reason picking harder on thicker strings sounds better is because you have to pick harder on thicker strings to get the same kind of vibration as picking normally on thinner strings. Thin strings are actually pretty easy to get used to if you want to. I went from pretty thick strings to pretty thin strings because I liked the sound better. It was weird at first, but I got used to it without much difficulty.
 
D'Addario on my basses. Dean Markley 13-56 Blue Steels on my guitars in Db and D'Addario Baritone Lights on my guitars in B.

Playing bass for so many years, I cannot stand playing thinner gauged strings on guitar.
 
13-56 in standard tuning i got used to it now i cant play the lighter gauges feels wrong the second i try.

Its a pain to cause my local music store rarely has the gague i want so they have to order it in and they always try and convince me that i now nothing about what i want and i realy want a set of 9's if im playing electric guitar or the smug guy who comes in and says no he wants those strings for downtuning right :OMG: you want those strings for standard tuning.

Fuck sake deal with it and give me the fucking strings :bah: Rant over
 
On a similar note. Has anyone tried to use .50, .70, .85, .110, .155 on a 34" scale length bass before? I tune to ADGCF on my $$5'er and am not getting enough sustain with power slinky 5's (heaviest off the shelf set available in the UK).

I attempted to use this gauge on my bass but the tension was unreal, and i would have had to file the nut so i gave up and threw them out :erk:
 
Hi! I use this kind of custom GHS set for drop C tuning .60w-.44w-.32w-.18-.15-.11 I like it a lot but I'd like to change the wobbling 4th string to wounded, so should I use .18w, or like .20w or .22w ?
 
In Japan, strings work out to about £3 per pack (versus £6 per pack in the UK) so I bought three packs of "Not Even" and three packs of "Heavy Bottom" Ernie Balls. Job done!
 
Hi! I use this kind of custom GHS set for drop C tuning .60w-.44w-.32w-.18-.15-.11 I like it a lot but I'd like to change the wobbling 4th string to wounded, so should I use .18w, or like .20w or .22w ?

If a heavier plain doesn't cut it I'd actually jump up a bit, as plain strings have significantly less tension than wound strings at the same gauge.

Jeff
 
Is that baritone B or 7-string B?

len 25.5"

B, .013" PL == 15.38#
G, .018" PL == 18.58#
D, .028" NW == 21.3#
A,, .038" NW == 21.58#
E,, .048" NW == 18.93#
B,,, .060" NW == 17.09#

total == 112.86#

len 25.5"

B, .013" PL == 15.38#
G,b .018" PL == 16.55#
D, .028" NW == 21.3#
A,, .038" NW == 21.58#
E,, .048" NW == 18.93#
B,,, .060" NW == 17.09#

total == 110.83#

A bit unbalanced, but not bad.
 
And I never play in drop tunings, so I wouldn't know if these guages would be good for them. :)

Didn't read the whole thread so I don't know if this is redundant, but I use usually those same gauges or if i'm using a drop tuning i usually use ones with slightly heavier lower strings, like drop C i use 11-52 instead of 11-49 and i liked that, though 54 would probably be nicer for that C..............
 
It's weird I just came across this thread because a few days ago my friend Dave was telling about his recent string experience. He's been using D'Addario for about 15 years now without trying anything else out. Before sticking with those, though, he had tried a LOT of other strings and found he liked the D'Addarios the most. However, the other day he went to GC to pick something up and decided to get some strings too, however they didn't have the D'Addario set he usually gets so he decided after 15 years without deviation that he would try something different just to see. He ended up getting some EB Slinkies, same gauges that he always gets with D'Addario. He put them on his Schecter 7-string and noticed right away that he could tell the difference like night and day. He said they "rolled" more under his fingers, had a different texture to their winds, and also the tone was completely different. He uses an MP-2 into a Peavey power amp into a Mesa oversized 4x12. He plays straight death metal, and his rig is setup *very* nicely for that, very good dm tone if you ask me. Sounds brutal, but it cuts and isn't harsh, by himself or with the full band playing with him.

I thought it was pretty nuts that he could tell so much about the differences and it really got me to thinking about strings. I know they are all essentially the same deal, some companies coat theirs with x substance, others with y substance. Most don't coat at all. Some are hand-wound, most are machine-wound. They all vary in wind pattern/tightness. Most all use the same metal alloys, a few differences here and there. I really was intrigued by his explanation, I almost want to go out on payday and buy a bunch of strings from different manufacturers and try them all out, with clips of course :), just to see finally what the differences are.

~006