different types of strings on guitars

[ffrankwhite]

you gotta have your guitar fixed if you wanna use the thickest of thick strings? and if you just do it anyway, will it fuck up your guitar...like badly? curious. usually use the super slinkys just cuz someone told me ur supposed to. the guy in the store said i cant use anything higher than regular slinkys without having to reset (or something) my guitar...is this for real? just curious in general about like...different strings and what happens when you use em (aside from the obvious "you make a different sound") thing any advice on the matter is appreciated

Edited May 2, 2008 by ffrankwhite

[Perfect_crime49]

Yes you would need it to to adjust your guitar if you were going to change the thickness of the strings, recommend just going to your local shop if your not sure on the how to do this.

[Max™]

Thicker strings mean that the guitar would need to be re-setup to accommodate for them. The height would need to be adjusted, since they are thicker. It would need a different nut (the cuts in the nut would be too small, say, if you went from .009's to .012's, otherwise when you bend the strings the nut 'grabs' the string and would be out of tune. You can hear that by a little 'clicking'/pinging sound at the neck when you bend strings. Truss rod would probably need adjusting too.

Thicker strings give you a better tone and makes it harder to bend out of tune when adrenaline is pumping such as when you're on stage.

A shop would charge you alot for a new nut since it takes ages to get right. If you have a cheap guitar (something below $500 or $600) Its not going to be worth doing.

[Slash Guitarist]

Thicker strings mean that the guitar would need to be re-setup to accommodate for them. The height would need to be adjusted, since they are thicker. It would need a different nut (the cuts in the nut would be too small, say, if you went from .009's to .012's, otherwise when you bend the strings the nut 'grabs' the string and would be out of tune. You can hear that by a little 'clicking'/pinging sound at the neck when you bend strings. Truss rod would probably need adjusting too.

Thicker strings give you a better tone and makes it harder to bend out of tune when adrenaline is pumping such as when you're on stage.

A shop would charge you alot for a new nut since it takes ages to get right. If you have a cheap guitar (something below $500 or $600) Its not going to be worth doing.

I was gonna offer my advice.... but this guy nailed it

I put 11's on my Les Paul and just took it into a shop and asked for a set up for 11 gauge strings.

Now it plays beautifully.

[ffrankwhite]

this might be a stupid question but once its set you can put whatever strings on it right? i've only got an epiphone les paul...not worth the reset huh? shame cuz i got the strings one grade up and, as pathetically unadept at the guitar i am, the shit sounds different :) really like......DRRRUUUUUNNNNGGGG i'd love to have a pop at the top end thickness (maybe i should learn to play first )

[AxlisOld]

frank what gauge are you planning on switching to? If you're going from say 9's to 10's, it doesn't matter too terribly much. To be honest if you're just starting out, I'd stay with those anyway. When you mean "top end thickness" as far as I know, aside from baritone strings, 12's are the highest you can get. Unless you plan on detuning, don't try. They will murder your hands and your guitar neck. Don't try to bring really thick ones up to standard. To answer your "stupid" question, no you can't just put whatever the hell you want on there. The guitar has to be set up to each individual gauge individually. So once you pick a gauge and get it set up for that, you can't just switch gauges again. Got it yo?

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

I put some thicker strings on my strat and it broke my tremolo system. I lost my whammy bar so I wasn't bothered but it made the bridge bend out and fuck up bends and everything. Still plays nice since I readjusted the string action and intonation but it hard to bend in tune now, I manage it but not as easily as before.