11s hell yeah

If you can play a 3-4 set gig and bend accurately all night then the larger dia / higher tension , the better . Although I really don't hear a lot of difference between a 10 and an 11 , if using a higher gauge makes my playing suffer , then the tonal benefit would not be worth it for me

 
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I've used 11s for over 20 years. I don't really know if they sound different but the way you attack the strings causes it to sound different.

 
Well I had 13s on an old jazz guitar once. It appeared to be a nice muscle training job.

 
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The Shark said:
This gets .011s when it arrives tomorrow...24.5" scale is the reason.

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I have something similar, (PRS Golden Eagle) with the 24.5" scale and I put 9's on it. I put 10's on everything else (a mix of Hamer, Gibson and PRS).



Guess I could try 11's on one of my others, see how they feel.

Nice Santana by the way. /emoticons/default_biggrin.png

 
it said:
Been farting around w 9 s for the last year, doing a jazz gig w female singer and upright bass so I threw some 11s on the ole CE22. Man that's the shit, so much better in every way, easy to bend after all the bass playing and 12 string stuff I've been doing
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Same here. Lots of bass playing the past several years, and now guitars with .009's feel like ukeleles and wet spaghetti! Prefer .011's lately big time!

 
There are 10s on any guitar, but 9s on the Red Special type. That's where I settled to.

ETA: I'm wrong as there are 9s on the Tally too.

 
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I useta play 11s and then for some reason put 10s and have stuck with that. You just have to play more gently with 10s, but I don't feel like one or the other is better for me. Just different feel. 9s feel kind of weird to me, like I just woke up with gorilla hands.

 
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I tend to use 10's on anything that is 24.75 scale and 9's on 25.5.

10's definitely sound meatier. 11's are currently on my Newport and sound awesome so I am reluctant to change them and the set-up.

 
I think I can sum up my 9's rationale quite easily: I allocate enough focus on just trying to hit the right note at the right time that I can ill-afford to be focusing on added energy needed to push the strings. Sure, if I had been playing bass or 10's and 11's all my life, this wouldn't be an issue. But I've always been a 9 player. I can do what (little) I can do because of the 9's. That includes my trem work which benefits greatly from the 9's.

 
Playing acoustics with .13's all the time make electrics with .09's unplayable for me.

I like '11's just fine but, to paraphrase Mark Knopfler, I'm "Strictly rhythm - I don't want to make it cry or sing"...

 
I bend a LOT so I need a gauge that will allow me to routinely and effortlessly bend 1.5-2.5 step bends depending on where I am on the neck. As an EVH fanboi... one simply cannot Erupt with heavy gauge strings.

I have dry skin and can split my callouses easier than the moist skin folks so if I don't wanna be sidelined, I have to keep it at .010 for 25.5".

Actually... .010 on my strat is frigging painful and I gotta adjust my claw a bit (I keep forgetting). I played my strat for a few hours a week ago and my knuckles hurt like a mutherf**ker the next day and for days... there is still some residual pain there. My .010 on my tele is just fine.

.010 on my HSS w/floyd needs to be tuned down to Eb and have the baseplate leaning back a bit like a cholo so I can get just the right "feel" to my bends.

 
Yeah its what's right for you as a player and for the style. In the last couple years most of my gigs have been non lead guitar. I do most of my gigs these days at the state theater of NC playing everything from banjo to lap steel and lots of bass and nearly 100% acoustic when assigned a guitar role. I kept thinking that the 9s would make up a little for the lack of actual lead guitar playing but it made it worse, put on 11s and it felt easier, w 9s I was chasing the strings w my right hand

 
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