I use 9ga on my Strat, 10's on everything else. I notice on the Strat, that my high E is kind of listless, especially at the upper frets. My friend says he uses a B in place of the E to get a bit more life to the tone.
Does anyone else do this? This would mean I'd use two sets of strings everytime I change them, but I could live with that if it sounds better. I may give it a try this weekend. I just wondered if anyone has experience with doing this.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

Can't say I've tried it, but knowing how tight my B string is now I can only imagine tuning mine up to the high e would result in the sharp end of a broken string to the eye

Good point. I haven't tried it, I should just try tuning the B up to E to see how it handles it. I was thinking, I could use an E from a set of 10's. That might be a better choice.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

I don't think the string would really care very much which exact slot it was in. I think if you tuned your B string up to E you'd still be looking for trouble. Even if it didn't break you'd be looking at some noticable changes to the way your whole setup feels, not just that one string. I advise you to just go and buy a couple of single strings to replace your stock 9 with. Try a 10 first and an 11 later only if the 10 wasn't enough for you.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I've never seen single strings for sale. Maybe I've never looked. I guess I should pay more attention.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

My shop has a secret cupboard full of them, I'm not sure If they break down full packs or what but they have them. Worth asking your shop.

If I got and buy 3 or 4 packs of strings my guy doesn't mind throwing you a spare string or two if you happen to need it, but thats the kind of thing that keeps people in my town going back, becuase they help you out if you need it.

The tech at the local Guitar Center has cardboard tubes holding hundreds of strings right next to his work bench - every possible string size, right there at his fingertips and yes, he will sell you one, or two, or whatever.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

Put some 11-49-52's on it set it up and play it for a few weeks. Then listen to it again with 9's or 10's... To my ear all strings will sound listless..... Half the bell sound and punch of a strat is lost with light guage strings, especially 9's!!! Its still very apparent with 10's!!!

JMHO...

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Ernie Ball used to sell singles... not sure if they still continue that practice.
if you're already used to playing 10's on your other guitar, why not use them on the Strat?
I've got 11's on my Strat and my Tele. Tried 'em out for a spell on the Tele first. After awhile of noticing a considerable fattening of tone and lovin' every minute of it, I swapped the Strat over too. Minimal adjustments on the setups and well worth it.

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Thanks Snowjoe..now for the rest of my life every single stinkin string change I am going to have that in the back of my mind...ughh..lol

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

My store sells singles too.

Ask me how I know... or how I learned to change my strings for the 1st time...

cheers!

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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele

Hi girl. When we collect enough thoughts like that, it wears us out. Ask me how I know. Ahm wo out.

Andy, if you try these
12 -52's let us know how you like them. I use D'Addario Jazz medium .013-.056 and replace .014,.018,.026p. I was thinking to lighten up if there isn't too much phat loss

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I don't think my skinny old fingers can take 12's or 13's. I'd have to use three fingers to bend with. I just want to liven up the high E. I'll experiment, and get back to you all.
Maybe I can start a trend.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

There isn't any such thing as a designated B string-or any other for that matter.Strings are identified by gauge not by note. I use a .010 gauge for my B but a lot of guys use a 10 gauge for the E.I am currently waiting for my order of Reverend Willie .007-.030 strings to arrive at my usual music store-Reid Music-so the 30 gauge string is often the A or even D on some super heavy gauge sets.

As thin as .008s and .007s are they are still capable of getting monster tone.All one has to do is listen to Jimi Hendrix,Billy Gibbons,Tony Iommi,John Lennon and even not so well known Guitslinger,who all used extra,super or ultra-light strings to find out that thin strings don't equate to thin sound.

When moving down to super lights etc. it may be necessary to raise the pups a smidgeon on the G B and E side to compensate for the lighter magnetic effect of the pickups on these strings.Of course intonation,truss rod and nut may need tweaking too if the change in string gauge is significant.

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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.