Size is everything, or is it??

Size means a lot of things to a lot of people. A six foot five woman and a five foot three man may look a little odd in pictures, but as long as they're happy together who cares. Car size was always a euphemism about compensating for a certain naughty bit, and feet and noses were an old wives tale also about the naughty bit. But when it comes to guitar string gauges, the rule of thumb was always, the bigger the better. Bigger gauges mean bigger sound, more projection, more sustain especially on acoustic instruments. One of the most famous musicians was SRV - it was told he used 13's on his Stratocaster and just listen to that tone! Imagine playing 13's and bending those strings on "Couldn't Stand the Weather" or "Scuttle Buttin' ? That's crazy! Yes during his last few years he went to using 11's as he was having issues with his hands and didn't have the dexterity to pull off that demanding playing on 13's any more.

Still the myth persists, bigger is better right? Not always. As guitar players we're always in search of the magical and mythical tone. Be that in strings, a bridge or nut, fret types (tall, jumbo's, flats), the 1/4 inch patch chords (gold plate anyone?), tube amps, solid state amps, the types of tubes used in the amps, the amp bias settings, the dial settings for tone, presence, the pedal board, the pedals and in what order they are plugged in. Guitarists are more superstitious than baseball players and that's saying a lot. Guitarists will spend hundreds or thousands if they thought a "thing" will help get them one step closer to the tone they hear in their heads. Strings are one of them. A $4 pack of Ernie Ball's or a $22 pack of custom gauge Stringjoy's? How about gold plated strings? But I've gone off on a tangent. I wanted to discuss string gauges.

Lots of players play heavy gauges and many play light. Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) is famous for playing 7's. That's right, .007 – .009 – .011 – .020w – .030 – .038 is what he plays and gets some of the dirtiest Texas blues riffs out on those strings. By comparison, a Pete Townshend or Malcom Young would use 12's back in the day. It wasn't always just about tone, sometimes it was about how the guitar played and felt as well as what was being played. The 1970's and 1980's really had a thing for bigger is better. Still today, Joe Bonamassa is purported to use 11's as is Slash from GNR, Keith Richards and James Hetfield also using 11's. I myself use 9's on nearly all my electrics, as well, 9's on some of my older acoustics, and 10's on a few depending on the guitar. My style of play is mostly rhythm as I don't solo much at all, so bending strings I mostly do when practicing or working out riffs. Whereas Scott the other part of Karma Factory generally uses 10's or 11's on his acoustics and 10's on electric.

I tend to ascribe to the "less is more" when it comes to string gauge. I like lighter easier to play 9's. I feel they have just as heavy bottom ends with .46 or .48 low E strings and they tend to be punchier and tighter. The heavier 10's and 11's get muddy and especially in recordings, they tend to lose clarity regardless of the type of guitar they are on. I like Newtone strings as my first option, especially their round core strings. For some reason round core round wound strings feel more comfortable and they tend to sound clearer. Both Masterclass and Heritage are excellent in 9's and 10's. For electric I normally go with D'Addario XL 9's but I have been known to splurge with Stringjoy on a custom set of 9's (09 - 12 - 16 - 26 - 38 - 46) or go with GHS sub zero Boomers if all else fails. For years I played acoustic Blue Steel strings live as I loved the longevity of those strings. Again, the tight bottom end with clear and sometimes twangy treble side strings always sound amazing. I've also gone and tried D'Addario XL half rounds (EHR320) on my Gretsch for a less noisy string on a hollow body guitar.

Here's another take on string gauges by one of my favorite people to watch on Youtube, Rick Beato. It really puts things into perspective and for me, verifies my light string bias!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGXj_NQONYM