"Band of Gypsies drummer Buddy Miles insisted that Hendrix used a very heavy E string, a medium gauge on his A and D, a Hawaiian G string, a light B, and a super-light E. This was supposedly not just for experimentation, but something Hendrix did because he thought the mixed gauges would keep the guitar in tune better. (Michael Bloomfield apparently tried some of the Hendrix Strats that Miles owned, and he was also a proponent of the mixed gauge theory.)"

So in theory, following each step Hendrix's gauge towards the later years of his life (Along the lines of late '68 and onward) would be Ernie Ball Pure Nickel: .008, .011, .024, .028, .038, and .052 gauge strings (unless of course he got a custom made .054 string made or something).

I plan on hitting up the single string section of my local store, for I think $1 a piece Im gonna get this gauge, test it out, and get back to yall. Sounds convincing though seeing as his sound isnt exactly "standard" or "regular."

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I've heard that, but also heard that he used .010, .013, .015, .026, .032, .038.

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Yeah he used Fender Rock N Rolls in that gauge earlier on and on some Strats, but he really dug Ernie Balls, the people who bought Mannys in New York found his buying records or whatever and Ernie Ball was a frequent

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I doubt very much that Jimi used someting as heavy as a 24 on the G string,it must have been a misprint as from videos and pix I have seen of Jimi playing I'd say that they were most likely 14 0r 15 and 24 probably would've been the D string.Just listen to Machine Gun,there's a part where he bends the G string almost off the neck and does several hammer ons with his left hand and even SRV with his gigantic mitts couldn't have done it with 24s.I ve been doing Hendrix covers for years and have eaten just about every video of him I could get my hands on and he definitely uses extremely light strings for E,B and G.I have to make up my own sets based on D'Addario 8-38s as nobody makes a complete set in the gauges I use 8 10 14 21 30 38.D'Addario uses a 15 in its extra super light set but where I bend the G and B strings the most I find the 14 way more flexible.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Well a regular Hawaiin G strings gauge is .024, but yeah he also boughT Ernie Ball Super Slinkys while in England under influence of Clapton, but idk if the Extra Slinky was around yet. But personally my money is on a light .016 or something

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Wow, .08? I couldn't imagine going that light, it would feel like youre missing a string. Though I suppose you could bend off the neck with it if you wanted to

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[08 MIM Standard Arctic White] > [Danelectro Fish n Chips EQ > Radial Texas Bones OD > Tonerider British Distortion > Electroharmonix Russian Big Muff Pi > Vox V847 Wah] > FM65R

Use these if you can still find them:



I am lucky my local guy carries my new favorites strings:



I like the lighter bottom.

ive played around with mixing guages, i liked using thicker strings on the E, A, D posiotions and 09's on the rest, so you get that chunky feel when playing down low but when doing a solo you dont kill ur fingers on the thinner strings...

sound wise its pretty close, thick vs thin...

its all in the feel

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blues - its a religion...

I find myself gradually going heavier and heavier looking for the sound I want. Right now I use .11 .14 .18 .28 .38 .48

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Instead of what Buddy Miles said about string guages that Jimi used,I would much rather read what Billy Cox would have to say about it...he played with Jimi for years,and probably knows more than anyone.

How reliable would any of it be? I couldn't tell the gauges that anyone I have ever played with uses. It's just guesswork.

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A trick that blues players used to use before the days of light gauge string sets was this: buy a set of strings as light as you could get and then toss the E 6th string and use the A for your bottom E and so on until the B string and then for the high E they'd buy the thinnest banjo strings which were anything from a 7 to a 9.With this set up players like Buddy Guy could do wicked bends without tearing their fingers up.The Beatles also used this trick as they picked it up from Hank Marvin who had gotten it from some U.S. blues players.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Sounds intresting, might give it a try

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Back in the old days Dickey Betts talked about buying single strings and getting a set of strings and mixing them up to get what he wanted...I tried it for awhile and realized I wouldn't get the same tones he got even from my Les Paul and Marshall amp,I could get good tones but he still sounded like Dickey and I still sounded like me.

Can you give me a good example please, like every strings gauge?

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