What guage strings should I use?

[Chromatose]

D'addario .10's are my string of choice. I never was fond of Ernie Balls because they go dead pretty quickly, but the advantage to them is that don't need much time to be broken in, whereas with the D'addario's you'll need to play on them for a few hours to get them stretched out and sounding their best.

A thing to keep in mind is that changing string gauge (or even brand for that matter) will mean you'll probably have to make some adjustments on the guitar, mainly intonation, but sometimes even raising the string action, because the thicker strings may buzz on the frets.

The way I see it, the higher the gauge, the better, because the thicker the string, the fuller the sound will be and you'll get better sustain. But really, its just all just personal preference. Just don't jump from something like .9 gauge to .13's, you'll end up killing your hands, and probably your guitar too, in the process

 

[Soulthief]

Depends on feel of course. But...if you are playing in standard(old Metallica, Maiden) I would suggest 9 /10-46 or even 10-52 which I prefer a little extra chunk. If you tune to down 1/2 step (Slayer, Megadeth) I would deffinatly stick with either a 10-52 or 11-54. Anything from 1 full step on down I use 12-56 or 12-58 depending on what guage the store is carrying at the time. On my Low A guitar (Ibanez w/27'scale neck) I use 13-62 or 63. I forgot which it is. That low string is basically a bass string and I had the tuner an locking clamp slightly drilled by my brother who knows nothing about playing a guitar but can fix and set them up real good. Wierd!! I use Dean Markley first then GHS if absolutely necessary. I used to use D'Addario but I break them puppies real easy for some reason, don't have that problem with any other string. Hope this helps.

 

[TheShattered]

I am a huge fan of ernie ball 10-46 stainless steel wrapped slinky's. They're very cutting and edgy. For our D-tuned songs we use 10-52's (unfortunately not in stainless steel).

 

[7 Dying Trees]

I use ernie balls, use .009's for the 7strings (with a .54), .009's for anything in E, .010's for Eb->D,0.11's (with some strings changed and made thicker) C#->C and then for B pretty much the same as a 7 except without the .009

To be honest guitar pickups and amp are going to do more for your sound than strings...

 

[artificialreasons]

i prefer dean markley 10-46's, 9's feel kinda wimpy to me

 

[metalmaster666]

I have an Ibanex RG 450 DX and I tune to C#. I personally like the botton three from an .11's set (.52, .42, .30) and I like to keep the top three from a set of .09's (.09, .11, .16) so I can solo a little easier while getting the bottom end from hell. I think D'Addario are good, as are Dean Markley's.

 

[veil the sky]

JEES!

that's really weird dude!!!

Do you have some really fucked up guitar settings at the bridge to compensate???

Did you know that Eric Clapton uses a banjo string for his top e??

It's like a .7 or something.

 

[AjDeath]

I either use Hi-Beams or DR extra lights, forgot the guage but....

 

[Dakuroth]

I play fairly technical bm a la Emperor, Thorns, and use d'Addario 10-46s. or is it 48?

i reckon their pretty decent except for the time when the centre wire of the 46 snapped and the winding unravelled...? what the fuck!?!?!