Illegal? They ought to be mandatory. Better tone . Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

10's are manditory for a Gretsch....i put them on my Strat as well and yeah, the tremelo when south....play with the springs till you get the right trem for you....no big....and the 10's do give a better tone and much harder to break......Fender bullets i think?

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www.myspace.com/dunwoodydawgs

GRETSCH- 6120 SSLVO
FENDER -STRATOCASTER / DELUXE PLUS '93
FENDER -"CYBER~TWIN/SE" AMP

1. Learn to tune and set up your guitar yourself - it'll make you a better player, and you'll probably appreciate what you're doing more. While you can use a strobe [or I suppose a digital tuner] to tune and set intonation, learn to use your ear - it'll help you recognize faster when you [or someone else] are out of tune.
2. .10s are not hard to play; just get used to them. For 35 years I've been usually putting light top - heavy bottom sets on my electrics. For the same effort, you'll get fuller tone, more volume, and apparently more sustain with .10s compared to .09s or .08s.
Cheers,
ST

I started learning on acoustic with .13's for several years before getting an electric, so .10's are no big deal. I dislike .09's, they just feel like fishing line under my fingers

What about carpal tunnel or repetative strain injury? Are these conditions more likely with heavier strings or if it's going to happen it's going to happen regardless of what gauge you're using? I get a some pain in my forearm now and again.

Its going to happen to your elbows and wrist without proper attention to stretching regardless of which strings you use. 12's wont hurt you if you build up to them. Remember 10's are a modern invention 11's/12's were what was originaly on electric guitars. Players in the early/mid 60's started mucking about with banjo strings to lighten the strings for bending. Larry Carlton and John Schofield never bothered and its never hurt them.
There is a bit of truth to the tone of thicker strings being better but in todays day and age its ultimately your choice.
If you feel like it, its worth experimenting and building up to a higher gauge. Its worth it just so you can say 'yep i tried and i like.....'.

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No no and no

+1

For some perverse reason, I like tree trunk strings on my acoustic guitars. It makes 'em sound unbelievable. As for playability, I don't think that playing .10s or .11s on an electric guitar is any big deal: they sound better and will make you a better player overall. I personally can't stand .09s, and .08s are an abomination. It's like playing fishing line.

Vulkan wrote:

[quoteFor some perverse reason, I like tree trunk strings on my acoustic guitars. It makes 'em sound unbelievable. As for playability, I don't think that playing .10s or .11s on an electric guitar is any big deal: they sound better and will make you a better player overall. I personally can't stand .09s, and .08s are an abomination. It's like playing fishing line.[/quote]

I agree with you on the .09s and .08s, it doesn't feel like I'm playing guitar at all. They're obviously easier to play and you're less likely to make any mistakes while playing really fast licks and stuff, but it doesn't have the "full" tone of the .10s or .11s. By the way, I'm talking about clean tones like amp-guitar only, I believe there are no sounds you can't get with digital pedals or processors.

Here's a crazy concept... instead of racing off into the nine millionth discussion of string gauges, how'z how about SOMEBODY actually tells him WHY the bridge lifted?

Same freaking thing every time...

OP: "I changed the strings and something weird happened."

First responder: "Have it set up by a professional."

Some other clown: "Naw, that's a waste of money."

Clown 2: "Yeah, I do ALL my own set-ups 'cause I"m so cool."

Third clown: "Hey, I have mine set-up by a pro and it's worth!"

Original clown: "No it isn't!!!!! ANd I'm such a man I use REAL heavy strings too!"

Clown 4: "Mine are even heavier than that!"

Meanwhile, the original poster is not given ANY of the information he needs to make an intelligent decision, .i.e.: Now that I know what is happening with my guitar, do I feel confident it fixing it myself or should I take it to a professional?

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Dear OP: The trem bridge on a Stratocaster (which is actually a vibrato, but we'll stick with the Fender Mistake) kind of floats, balanced by the tension of the string pulling one direction and the tension of the springs in the back of the guitar pulling the other direction. If you put heavier strings on your guitar, they will pull with greater tension, and overpower the springs in the back, causing your bridge to lift up higher than before.

This will not hurt your guitar, but it will make the trem unstable and the guitar will be hard to tune and intonate.

So, you can bring the bridge back down to it's specified float of 1/8" by taking the cover off the back of the guitar and screwing the two big screws that hold the spring claw deeper into the guitar, or by adding another spring (which will make the trem a bit stiffer).

The higher string gauge MAY require a set-up (that is, resetting the relief, action and intonation), but often you can get away without it if you're just moving up one number in gauge.

Now that you know this, you can either tighten the claw screws yourself, or you can decide to let a professional go over your guitar, which in most places will cost you between 40 and 50 dollars.

Good post slapchop!

There is a reason that blues players prefer .012 to .013's. Think of SRV's tone. That's heavy strings. Robert Cray too..

Once you get used to .010's, if you try .009's or less, it's like playing with rubber bands, at least with me.

Totally agree. Last week I made the cardinal error of gigging a strat the day I bought it and as I'm a guy who likes 10's on my strats the stock 09's were far too light.
End Result - Constantly checking tuning because of my heavy-handedness with what I wasn't accustomed to. Playing open chords was ok but trying to bar them and I was pushing them all out slightly but enough for me to hear the difference.
It is a matter of personal preference and I know that brain may uses 08's ( he even had like, special edition gold strings!) but for me I feel my tone suffers and also my technique when I use lighter strings.

Absolutely!!

Hating 10 gauges that much seems to me to be for some other reason than sound. I dont know how someone can use 10's for years, then go down to 9s and think there is no difference in tone. There is a huge difference. Light gauge IMO is for playability, not tone. I use 11's, and cant even imagine going to 9s, 8s seem kind of like training wheels to me, although i know a handful of pro's use them.

Looking forward to making the jump from .09's to .10's