I've had a Strat for a while, but it wasn't until I bought a Les Paul that I really liked heavier strings. Well, I guess 10-46 is probably regular for a lot of people, but I've always used 9-42/46. I put 10's on my Strat and it felt better, but come string change time I went with 11-48. It feels so much better, sounds a lot better. Finally, no buzzing anywhere. Even when it was set up right I still had some buzz here and there.

11's don't feel much different than 10's, I highly recommend them!

Oh, and get a bone nut!

I just got a new Strat and had it set up with 10's and I really like them, I am going to have my Tele moved up to 10's when I take it for it's next setup. Really digging the Elixir 10's though.

_________________
Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

Gee... I am doing just the opposite.. I just my first set of 9's a couple of days ago... I am used to 12's and 13's (jazz player)...

If you want to do a lot of bending I would recommend no heavier than 10's...

I have a set of Thomoastik Infeld flatwounds in 12 on my guild x-170... and they don't feel like it... for some reason you don't have to pull these strings as tense as most 12's... and they are super soft.. but they are also super expensive..

I have a Tele too, and I think it plays better with 10's, but currently it's strung with 9-46.

For some reason I'm able to fret chords better with heavier strings. Maybe it's because I know I can't fret hard without my hand getting tired, so I use the appropriate strength to fret chords. My left hand is kind of heavy (I'm a lefty playing righty), so maybe that's why I've always used more pressure. Heavier gauge is going good for now, loving it!

I just bought a Gretsch G6120RHH (should be here next week), would love to put flatwounds on it, and I hear Thomoastik are great.

Glad to hear you've found what you like. I've tried heavy to light and I always come back to 10's. I think it has to do with the individual and how they function; how their brain processes the motor skills involved with playing guitar. Wow. That was a serious thought.

_________________
-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

Bigger strings also look shinier

At least you're having serious thoughts, I got nothin'!

_________________
-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

About a year ago when I really started getting into blues I wanted my guitar set up exactly like SRV's, .13's and all. My tech refused to do that for me, and we settled for a set of .12's. It never really crossed my mind that maybe a 16 year old girl wouldn't be able something a lot of grown men have trouble with.

I finally caved after several months of non stop Albert King bending (in Eb, Standard would have killed me). I also realized I hardly ever get to play in Eb, and I really needed lighter strings to play in Standard. So I moved down a notch to .11's, and I have to say I really like them. I can still get really aggressive with them without breaking them, and they have great tone. I still like the tone of .12's better, but the .11's really aren't bad. And I can bend .11's and play fast runs without having to worry about my hand cramping up.

My Les Paul and the other two of my guitars still have .10's on them, I haven't gotten them a new set up yet. I always sound out of tune on them because I'm used to heavier strings, but if I play .10's for a couple of hours I get used to them. The one thing I miss about them is that they make it so easy to bend a note up and hold Santana or Buddy Guy style.

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I use 10s on all my guitars and like the tone.I mostly play tuned to e , but occasionally eb.Try doing Albert bends with 13s tuned to E.

I think this is probably the best comment here so far. Personally I used to use .009's...GHS Boomers for the longest time and that was what I always came back to. Well over 10 years I used .009 gauge Boomers pretty much exclusively. Then when I bought my new Squier Standard back in '08 I kind of had to admit that I really liked the feel and sound of Fender strings and at this point I've switched (all my Strats at least) over to Fender Super 250's .010...and after all of the years the 10's finally feel pretty good to me. I still have .009's on my old Kramer and she'll probably stay that way and I think that most of my acoustics may actually have .011's on them now.

Personally although at 6'2" and 250 lb, I'm a "big guy" but I actually have rather small hands so I will probably always tend to lean towards lighter strings myself...I really can't imagine having any desire or need to play anything heavier than that, LOL! I think more than anything, it's simply about personal preference.

Peace,
Jim

I have never used anything on an electric heavier than 10s which I find to be the perfect gauge for me. If you want an even heavier tone tune down a half step.

Be careful with 12's and 13's especially on floating trem Strats. I used to use 12's and 13's way back and started damaging the tendons in my hands. If you play mostly rhythm, or use a short scale guitar you'll probably be fine. The tonal difference wasn't worth the pain and damage. I still use 12's on one of my guitars that's set up for slide but that's it. There was a reason SRV made those painful faces. I really don't find a really huge difference in tone with a guitar with good pups and a good amp.

I had read that Stevies fingertips were worn down to the flesh sometimes and he put superglue on them so he could play.

I just got my first Fender, it's an American special hss, and I really like the factory bullets that are on it except I like my guitar to bite back just a little, these are a little soft for me, so I use DR 10 46 on my Ibanez and would like to change to that gauge (in the bullets) on my strat. Do I have to do anything special to be able to do this? Does it need a setup to change gauges this slight? And can I take all of the strings off at once? Should have mentioned this is my first trem also, always played hardtails. Thanks for your help, Guy.

The older I've gotten the lighter I've gone in gauge.

I stick to .09s nowadays.