What will I need to do to make this work? The nines sound thin and fret out when I bend. I want the heavier strings and to set up the guitar so that it won't fret out. I don't need super low action. I don't play distorted ever.

All by itself, using heavier strings will not prevent fretting out. If fact, it may make the problem worse. You probably would indeed have to raise the saddle heights and/or do other adjustments.

Other things could be making the guitar sound thin. For example, the pickup heights may be too low. Perhaps the pickups aren't your style and you need something with a higher impedance, i.e. stronger pickups.

Changing the strings is an inexpensive way to see if you get any improvement, but be prepared to see little improvement.

_________________
James Burton Upgrade Telecaster
Hot Rodded Am Fat Strat Texas Special (now featuring Kinman Traditional II pickups)
Fender Blues Jr.
SWR California Blonde
Pedals Pedals Pedals

Neck tilt and relief (truss rod) will affect fretting out more than anything, and perhaps a fret dressing, but I suspect if you still have the stock "9s" on it, that it is fairly new, and doesn't need a fret dressing.

The biggest adjustment from changing string gauges will be the trem tension springs, but heavier strings will also affect the tension on the bow of the neck, and may necessitate a truss rod adjustment. HTH.

Unless you really know what you're doing, I'd take into a guitar shop somewhere and have it set up for you. Truss rod adjustments can be tricky.

_________________
Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beckslaird
Instagram: http://instagram.com/beckslaird

Before doing anything, I suggest you take your guitar to an experienced, reputable tech, one who will take the time to sit down with you. He or she will watch the way you play (not how well you play). After this, and after his or her hands on inspection of your guitar, (s)he can make recommendations for what would be best for you and your guitar to achieve maximum efficiency as a unit.

_________________
You dig?

Definately if you are not sure of what you are doing .. take it to a guitar tech....

Your guitars intonation will have to be reset after putting 11`s on it. Take it to your local music store and let them do it for you.

_________________

Take it to your local shop. As best you can explain the problem. My local shop will do a basic setup for $25. If possible sit with the tech while they do the set up. Its a great opportunity to learn abit more about how the components of your fender work and how to make adjustments yourself in the future. Good luck!

Either way, I'd look into a setup.

_________________
1994 Standard Strat, Blue
2000 Standard Strat, Black, with GFS block, and GFS Lil Killer pickup.
2004 Standard Telecaster, Black
1971 Gibson SG
1985 Kramer Baretta
1986 Kramer Vangard
Carvin X60B
Marshall 50 watt 2x12 combo

+1 for the set ups!

You should also try 10's if you haven't.

Get it setup, get the relief checked and set the action intonation etc. get the neck checked for warpage.

Changing to a heavier gauge without diagnosing your problem seems the wrong step to me. Changing to heavier strings won't fix your fretting out problem. it will magnify it. I play heavy strings, but not because they make the guitar play easier. I like the tone, and the sustain, and now that I am used to them, I love the feel, and don't like going back. But if you aren't comfortable with them, your guitar will seem really hard to play.

Also I would never advocate going up in gauge that drastically, if you are used to 9's try 10's out.

True. I recently went from .10s on my Strat to .12s. I played it for about six excruciating hours the day I got it back from the shop. That was about a week ago. Now I'm used to it, but that first day was hard.

_________________
Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beckslaird
Instagram: http://instagram.com/beckslaird

Well first and foremost as other's have said, if your having a problem with "fretting out", that has nothing to do with the gauge of the string...that's simply a setup issue. I've known a few people who've ran into this, particularly with a new guitar. I've also known a couple of guys who were used to playing the wider, flatter radius necks of something like an LP who've had the same problem. If you are a heavy bender, the trick on a Strat (or a Tele) is to raise the E and B strings up a bit at the saddle. Of course this also requires tweaking out the intonation as well. I'm a pretty heavy bender myself and I've used 9's almost exclusively for over 20 years and barring issues such as worn frets, the only time I've ever had problems with fretting out is on a new guitar that wasn't setup to my style of playing.

As far as the guitar sounding "thin", this too is a bit subjective. Heavier gauge strings do tend to sound a bit fuller, but to most people, the difference isn't really all that much. If the guitar sounds thin, there are other things I would check, the first being the pickups. My first question would be what model Strat do you have? If it's something like an MIM for example, those are notorious for having terrible pickups to begin with (my '96 MIM certainly did!). If you are sure that the pickups themselves aren't the culprit, as someone else suggested, I would also check the pickups distance to the strings as well. Pickups with less magnetic pull need to be closer to the strings to get a full sound (but not so close that the magnets choke the strings).

There are other things here as well that could cause this problem again depending on what model you have and how it's setup, etc.. For example, again the MIM's tend to have zinc alloy trem blocks...while this doesn't typically affect how full or how thin the guitar sounds, it has a marked effect on sustain. I put a steel trem block on my MIM and WOW...what a huge difference! A great many of the lower shelf Strats tend to have these and even many of the American Standards have lower mass trem blocks. Also, if the guitar is not new, I would have to also question the wiring as well...pots, capacitors, etc. Maybe someone who didn't know what they were doing messed around with something. Again here I've used 9's for a very long time and on many different instruments and the only time any instrument has ever sounded thin has simply been because of something related to the pickups or the e-tronics.

Now that said, to answer your question, there are a number of things that should be done when going from nines to something like elevens...at least if you want the guitar to be playable. First and foremost as others have said, you will need to make bridge adjustments...saddle height, intonation, etc., and you'll probably need to adjust the truss rod too. You also may very well need to adjust the spring tension on the trem as well. The one big thing that I didn't see anyone mention here though is filing the nut. If the guitar is setup from the factory with 9's, those 11's are of course thicker strings and there's a good chance that the nut could start "pinching" the strings which can certainly lead to tuning issues. This of course does require a proper set of files (although I have improvised with some good basic needle files, I don't recommend it).

The last thing I would add here is that I do personally think these are things that are good for a guitar player to know how to do himself/herself. This is just my personal opinion but I think that everyone should know how to adjust their own setup, intonation and truss rod. It's not -that- difficult to learn and it allows you to setup the instrument EXACTLY the way you want it (and you'll know how to correct issues like fretting out when you get another Strat later!). Filing a nut is a bit different and does take some skill, but again I don't think it's that terribly difficult either if you have patience and take the time to do it correctly. If these things bother you or you simply don't have much mechanical aptitude, then certainly take it to a qualified tech but do make sure you tell them about the fretting out issue so they can set the instrument up more for your style of playing.

Just some thoughts for ya,
Jim

Jim I agree with all you have said. I think he needs to get the guitar set up, and see if he is happy from there. If he is still unhappy then we can start telling him about the stuff you need to do to go up in gauges. I am loathe to give truss rod advice unless I am physically present. It is way to easy to ruin a neck. People seem to be impatient, and don't realize that you need to make minute , fine adjustments (like 1/16th to 1/8 turn, and then let it settle in for a while.

What he needs to do is take it to a tech that will let him watch the set up, and explain what he is doing.
I learned from just rolling up my sleeves and doing it, but i also got a set up from a fender tech that was touring guitar shops, and while he did mine, he talked about what he was doing the whole time. Since that day no one else has ever touched my guitar. it cost me a can of corn for the food bank.

Make sure your fingers are ready for the hop up 11's. Tendinitis is a painful price to pay. At one point I was playing 12's, then the damage started. I would look for a set of light and heavy's. I would try as a previous poster said and try 10's. You'll still probably need a setup. Sounds like you already do.

I finally settled for 10's. Unless you have strong hands, 11's will be tough because of the Strats scale length.