String gauge tip

I've used just about every combination of string I can think of over the years , from rediculously heavy , to remarkably light , and dipped my toe into most styles at one time or another .
As i've gotten older , i've started to appreciate harmonies between notes a lot more , and though I still play single note runs , i'm always looking out for the opportunity to add a double stop , triple stop , faux steel bend etc , and i'm really not a country player at all .
After recently suffering a ring finger break , and spending the past 6 months getting my finger working again , I decided that I needed to find a match across the six strings which gave me the flexibility to bend more than 1 string with ease , whilst not losing too much feel or tone in the process .

I'm now playing all my country / blues / tele rockabilly ( not semi ) etc with a set of 9's , but with a twist .

A standard set of nine gauge comprises of :

.009
.011
.016
.024
.032
.042

I'm now using :

.009
.010
.015
.024
.032
.042

I have found that this balances the strings much better , and believe it or not , loses no tone , but actually helps me to do exactly what I want with the strings , therefore increasing dexterity , and also increasing finger speed .

I still have big strings on my semi's , which I tend to bend less with , and i'm fully aware of the ' big string is better ' attitude amongst some players ( I used to be one of them ) , but if you are open minded , and enjoy the lap steel type bends and hybrid picked running double stops etc in your playing , then I really can't promote this gauge balance enough :grin:
Especially if you float between 9's and 10's as your normal gauge .

Give it a whirl , and feel the difference :wink:

so do you mix and match? or did you find a stock set like this. It sounds interesting, I use 10's and 11's and maybe I could implement something similar...

so do you mix and match? or did you find a stock set like this. It sounds interesting, I use 10's and 11's and maybe I could implement something similar...


I normally buy spares for the G B E strings about 6 of each for example .
I then replace the G & B with the new 15 and 10 , and simply use the other strings as emergency backup .
This way , my full sets remain full . I normally use Daddario , and have toyed with GHS and DR strings recently too .

Big City String advertises here (http://www.bigcitystring.com/customghs.htm) that they will customize the plain steel strings in a GHS set to your specs for no extra charge. They list the GHS nickel plated steel Boomers here (http://www.bigcitystring.com/ghs.htm) for $4.25.

(I have no affiliation with Big City String or GHS.)

I might try that particular guage spread myself. I like the tone and feel of 9s.

On the 1st/2nd strings' and 3rd/4th strings' saddles in a straight set, that guage spread might provide better intonation than the typical 9/11 and 16/24 pairings.

I had the same thing with my 5 string bass. I swpped the low B for a .125 instead of the .130 that it came with. Much better for what I want.