Strings

[EC]

Let's talk about electric guitar strings, can we?

What are your favourite strings, and why do you like them so much?  I just got a lovely fender strat and it needs strings, and I'm looking for opinions.

I am sure that Tom Eisenbraun will have a plethora of information, and I know loads of you play geeter, too.

[Jellyfish]

I play acoustic but I only use John Pearse mediums.

[corey]

I have to get light gauge strings 'cause I have sensitive fingers, so I usually play .09s.

[tomEisenbraun]

ah, hmmm...for a strat. now there's one that I don't really know what to suggest for...

I'd probably try some good GHS's on there. I'd try 9 guage first, those sound great, in my opinion.

On my acoustic, I tend to use (when I can find them) Gibson J-200 .012 guage strings. They're this luxurious phosphor bronze that ages beautifully, and sounds classy even a month and a half later. I hate the sound of new strings on an acoustic.

For my electric, (which I don't play nearly enough) I go for GHS 9's, or possibly 10's. I love their TNT set's, there's so much good woody tone in those. For some reason they sound perfect to me. I play a Les Paul, so I really love a good thump, and bass is my second love, so any good ballsy tone is going to be my favorite. Those GHS's age well too, and they get all that low-end that I love. I find that ernie ball tends to be very tinny and somehwat high-endy (though differences string to string are not huge, but it's still there). At least they are moreso than the GHS's I've played.

I think, in the end, it comes down to personal opinion and experience. I've never had trouble with GHS and i love the way they sound, so that's my favorite. Case closed.

I may try their acoustic strings for my next set.


So yeah, that's my suggestion. A GHS 9-46 set. (Not 9-42, the low end strings, having them lighter takes some serious balls away, and want some balls when you're playing chords.) Light top, heavy bottom, somethin like that. Unless your fingers want to start lighter, but i would say give em hell. You're an acoustic player, so you should be good.

[EC]

(is ghs short for something?)

[fitzcarraldo]

I use DR 11's. Love em.

[tomEisenbraun]

GHS is just the name of the string. and they rawk.

[archiecrisanto]

They most certainly do Tom. Also, I'm very lazy and don't change my strongs as often as I should, and I've found, at least for me, that GHS's just get really nice and warm without getting dull. Or maybe I just it like it that way. At any rate, when I first started playing I used cheap-o Fred Meyer strings for a few years, they were like 5 bucks for a set of two! I "upgraded" to Ernie Ball's, but the cheap Fred Meyer ones always seemed to out performed them, and I would break Ernie Balls like crazy. I moved on to D'addrio .09's and then .10's and used those for a while but it just wasn't cutting it. I finally switched to GHS's and they do the job nicely. I did the whole different set gauges thing but it was just too much work, so I've just been sticking to stock .10's, the only way I can describe them really is that they "rock". And I sound like a GHS ad... haha, sorry. By the way, I'm a n00b13 to these boards. Hello.

[DD]

ive almost always used ernie balls.  ive tried a few ghs products and cheap doo wop strings but nothing makes my guitars sing like ernie balls.  i used to play a heavier string, the 11s, beacuse i broke fewer of them than anything.  as i have improved my technique i have gone to the green package ernie balls, the 10s.

btw, i mostly play a STRAT.  the 10s work great for it.  great sustain and clear crisp sound.

as far as my acoustic goes unless im just in a super pinch and cant find them i use martin strings.  i forget exactly which guage but at doo wop they are the only martin 12 string set available.  this is for my 1969 gibson b-45 12 string.

[Jaimoe]

I like Blue Steel, D'addrio's or Ernie Ball's, but I use the latter primarily because my last name is Ball.  I'm heavily influenced by Duane Allman and Pete Townshend, so I use medium gauge since I bend strings like crazy and strum really hard.

[archiecrisanto]

I play a Strat double fat strat (squier... but it sounds better than most standard Fenders I've played.) and an Epi Elitist Sheraton. I like a nice crisp clear sound with a lotta low end, if they makes sense to anyone. Anyway, bottom line is, it's all about what you're comfortable with. Strings are kinda like brushes you paint with, some people like watercolours, and some people like big ol' fat oil paintings and some people just can't draw. I kinda feel like Bob Ross now...

[EC]

Thanks for all of your advice, dudes.  I ended up buying the Ernie Ball slinky 10s.  ONLY because of Ernie's last name.  And I made a big deal about it in Capsule, and I'm sure everybody thought I was hilarious.  (I need to shut up sometimes.)  Neko Case was there today as was Brian Connelly (from Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Plant).  So it was extra awesome that I was making ball jokes.

Anyhow, so far so good.  The stringing part was interesting, but I got it sorted, and I've been wailing away.  It sounds pretty good.  The strings that were on it before were Blue Steels, and I might be lying, but I think I notice a bit more depth here.  

Allllll good and ready to rock.

Pretty soon I'm gonna ask about amps.  Actually, DD, what kind of amp do you use?  

[tomEisenbraun]

ooh scary, look at yer post count, meg.

[archiecrisanto]

I reccomend a guitar amp. Try to get one that makes your guitar louder, oh, and be sure to find one where you can change the volume up and down as you please. I hope I helped.  :D

[DD]

Pretty soon I'm gonna ask about amps.  Actually, DD, what kind of amp do you use?  

i use three:

a kustom 250 bass head exactly like the one john fogerty uses.  i run it through either a 4x10 or 1x15 or 2x15 cabinet depending on what i feel like renting.  the low end really balances out the tone of the strat.  its great for more pop/rock/punk oriented stuff.  right now its out of commission though and im not renting a cabinet because ive only been playing out acoustic.

my main amp currently is a 1974 fender twin reverb.  i like it so much because its the cleanest sounding amp out there pretty much.  i like to start with the cleanest sound possible and then dirty it up as needed with one of my many overdrive/fuzz pedals.  really the twin reverb, super reverb, blues deville, bassman, etc all are great sounding amps.  that fender tone is just amazing.  im not really into stacks or any of that crap because its just not necessary.  most clubs i play the twin is MORE than enough and any larger venues like the metro or the place in england we played i just had them put a mic on it.  id really like to try out one of the newer fender twin reverbs that had the 1x10 and 1x15 speaker in it instead of the 2x12.  those 15s really bring out low end.

also currently not working but that doc electro will hopefully soon be fixing for me (funds willing) is a peavy classic 30 with a 1x15 speaker and built in spring reverb and tremolo.  danny gave this too me many years before he joined the jacket because it wasnt working.  i paid $175 bucks to have it fixed and the same shit broke on it within a year.  before i have the doc fix it i want to find out what it is about htese that cause them to break so often (i rented a few from doo wop back in the day and had similar problems) and if the reason they break so often is actually fixable.  if not ill sell it for parts.  if so ill have them hotrod it a bit because its just a great practice amp and would probbably work really well live in combination with the twin reverb.

all in all id reccomend a twin reverb if you have the cash to throw down.  if you just need a practice amp a fender princeton or champ would probbably work.  go out to music go round and moms music and guitar emporium and a bunch of places like that and just check out the different sounds in the different kinds of amps.  you should be able to find something that appeals to you.  

[EC]

go out to music go round and moms music and guitar emporium and a bunch of places like that and just check out the different sounds in the different kinds of amps.  you should be able to find something that appeals to you.  

I did actually go to guitar emporium when I was down in November.  But it would probably cost a lot of money to bring an amp back over the border.  ;)

Thanks for the details.  I've been looking at the fender twin reverb amps.  I used a reverb amp (I think it was a hot rod) back in the summer for recording, and it was gorgeous.  I really loved it.  It smelled good, too, and worked really nicely with the pedals we were using.  

I just know shit like that sits on peoples' houses and they forget it's there.  I think it should be my duty to remind them.  Like, you hate to go into a person's house and find out that they don't play their instruments.  That's how I got my guitar.  No jokes.

Anyhow, I did see a pretty nice one the other day (the day I saw Neko Case), but it was verrrrrry pricey.  hmmmnnn...

But yes.  thanks again, folks.  I appreciate the advisories.  :)

[tomEisenbraun]

Hey Meg, I picked up a Peavey Delta Blues 30 (which is 30 watts tube, has some lush reverb, and tube tremolo) last year on eBay for about 350. It's enough power for any show and has a 15  inch speaker, so it's got some great low-end on it. I think it'd be quite Strat-ifiable (it handles my guitar very well, and I've got the pickups rigged so that they can act like Strat pickups if I want em too).

I think it was the last amp DD described (except without all the darn problems. Only problem is I blew a tube and need to get some new ones, but I think it was just a tube went bad seein as I left it in the back of my Jeep  all last summer. Wait, that was a really darn dumb idea, now that I think about it.)

I'd say to try one o them out too.

[Jaimoe]

Hey EC,

I bought a Fender Twin Reverb 1960's reissue from Songbird in Toronto for $1000 with amp cover. It was in "mint" condition.  

[EC]

Hey EC,

I bought a Fender Twin Reverb 1960's reissue from Songbird in Toronto for $1000 with amp cover. It was in "mint" condition.  

Hi Jaimoe!  Yeah, that's what I mean.  Capsule had a beautiful amp and it was $1500, and that's not in the EC budget right now.  Sadly.  (You're playing that amp, right?!)

Thanks for the tip, Tom.  I've seen a few Peavey's around town, and I watched Heartworn Highways the other day and noticed that a lot of people were using Peavey's.  I guess I like the idea of matching your guitar and amp, but...

I think it was just a tube went bad seein as I left it in the back of my Jeep all last summer

Ahhh yeah, probably.  (why in the heck would you do that?)

[Jaimoe]

Hi Jaimoe!  Yeah, that's what I mean.  Capsule had a beautiful amp and it was $1500, and that's not in the EC budget right now.  Sadly.  (You're playing that amp, right?!)

Yes I am.

If I had to do it over again, I would have bought a Reverb instead of a Twin Reverb. The Twin is too big to haul around and store - and too loud for my apartment ( since I don't have a jam space ). Also, a Reverb is 55 tube watts ( approx ) which is plenty loud for any jam setting - and if you play live, the amp will be mic'd anyway, so volume doesn't matter. Derek Trucks uses a single speaker Reverb when he's fronting his own band ( and doesn't use effects pedals ) and he gets the most out of it... although, he's Derek Trucks.