penningtron wrote: Thu Jun 15, 2023 12:23 pm

c jury wrote: Thu Jun 15, 2023 12:04 pm This is really interesting to me as someone who works (part time) in a guitar shop, and as someone who has teched for 'guitar god' types.

The typical hobby player worries a lot about strings, they use oddball gauges, expensive brands, odd windings, etc. They seem very motivated around this.

The work boxes out on big tours are full of Ernie Ball regular slinky and D'addario 10's. No one at that level uses anything but the most standard, stock strings. Part of this is because strings are getting swapped out every 1-2 shows, part is because they need to be able to find/buy/order their strings no matter where they happen to be. The biggest part is that these things really don't matter.

Eh.. a lot of grey area there. Sure.. I got acquainted with Vic Firth 5As and the most basic singly ply drum heads when I toured, because I knew stores anywhere would have them. That doesn't mean I won't try other things on recordings, or just for my own curiosity/amusement at home. I'm sure players in those touring bands are doing the same thing when they're at home or have the time to experiment.

Plus, how does sponsorship factor into all that? I'd use boring ass Super Slinkys exclusively too if they were paying me.

I've meant to come back to this. Most of these dudes on tour are not super motivated by 'convenience' nor by the cost/benefit of sponsorship. Hell, I'm pushing around vaults full of $10-20k instruments and doing mid-song guitar changes. Not unlike the Steven Levitt observation, wherein he asked a professional golfer about expensive golf clubs, to which they responded 'a non-pro probably gets more out of a fancy set of clubs, while a pro can probably play pretty well with just about anything'

Do people spend a bunch on guitar strings? Flatwounds are higher on average, but those are pretty niche. The Curt Mangan strings I mentioned I buy for about $6.66 a pack.

I always thought bassists had it much worse.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 4:24 pm I always thought bassists had it much worse.

Yeah, I pay $30 for a pack of strings, but I only change them twice a year, maybe. I've had the same set of flats on my p-bass for probably 15 years.

Nate Dort wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 9:11 pm

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 4:24 pm I always thought bassists had it much worse.

Yeah, I pay $30 for a pack of strings, but I only change them twice a year, maybe. I've had the same set of flats on my p-bass for probably 15 years.

Agreed, bass strings are way more expensive but usually changed less often so it ends up being a wash. Finger players may never need to change strings, but I've also known guitar players who will swear they have guitars they have had and used for years and NEVER changed the strings

Khruangbin Mark says he changes strings once a tour.

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:13 am Khruangbin Mark says he changes strings once a tour.

Thumbs up for that guy. I always found the change multiple guitars' strings for every single show thing (drumheads too) to be wasteful and gross. The worst story I heard on here was the bass player for Tool getting a new set for his backup basses every single show (but at least the FM who posted that got to take home the unused sets).

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:13 am Khruangbin Mark says he changes strings once a tour.

and I think Leezy has had the same set of flats on her SX bass since they bought it. Reminds me of Bernard Edwards when he was asked what kind of strings he used - "I don't know, whatever the bass came with."

I've always used 11s... for no reason other than about 20 years or so ago, I just picked a gauge that seemed good enough and never experimented. However, I recently went down a rabbit hole with string gauges and came across this video (if you don't want to watch the whole thing, go to 14:35, where the back-to-back comparisons are):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGXj_NQONYM

So, I recently switched to 10s to start working my way down to 8s. I want to go to the extreme end, where I really don't think I wanna go, just to see where the line is. I have a set of 9s and then another set of "balanced" 9s, which start at 9.5 and a set of 8s that I'm going to be playing with over the next couple of weeks.

Moving to 10s, though, I noticed immediately how much easier things were to play. I'm actually playing a lot better than I have ever played guitar before, which is saying a lot, because I feel like I'm always struggling. This is making guitar more fun to play, too. Only downside is that I feel like the three lightest strings don't have that ring I'm used to, but also it's those three strings that are usually the harder ones to play. I would gladly trade playability over familiar tone, that last part can be worked out with a little extra EQ.

I have also found that my bridge pickup seems a lot more usable and even the middle position on the pickup switch sounds better. There's definitely more clarity. Overdrive pedals and even the compressor are doing a lot more magic with the lower gauges. And, I can effortlessly do a bend on a full chord. (All those years of bass playing are really paying off )

I feel like a doofus waiting this long to try this out.

cakes wrote: Tue Jun 10, 2025 10:12 am
I feel like a doofus waiting this long to try this out.

I also feel like a doofus after watching that “comparison.”

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Jun 10, 2025 11:15 am

cakes wrote: Tue Jun 10, 2025 10:12 am
I feel like a doofus waiting this long to try this out.

I also feel like a doofus after watching that “comparison.”

The good part really is at the end. I like that he goes back to 11 after 8. The difference is subtle between between gauges, but really obvious with the extreme ends. I don't know what 9s would be like yet, but the difference between playing 11 and 10 is significant enough to me.