My hands are changing. Thinking about going to 9s.

[Saul Goodman]

Hands hurt. Even the Hamer necks of the mid '90s seem too big. I really learned something about myself by buying the '61 Historic LPC. And a '93 Hamer Special. I have a solid one inch Fender neck from head to butt that I refuse to play now opting for a more '60s, slimmer taper. I'm also thinking I may opt for a smaller nut, hehe. And now I'm thinking of trying 9s. I tend to hit hard and this is giving me pain in the right-hand index finger knuckle where I cradle the pick. I'm thinking 9s may induce me to hit less. I don't know. I'm losing my manhood. Anyone made the switch? 

[velorush]

Interesting. For some reason I started going in the opposite direction around ten years ago. Can't play anything smaller than about 0.87" thick at the first fret, though it's been a while since I've tested that - I sold off everything with a neck smaller than that some time back. That's another reason I started building the partscasters as most every production guitar seems to be on the order of 0.83" at the first fret.

Are you dealing with hand pain, in particular? My issue is left-hand cramping when playing more involved chords - chords where my pinky and ring finger are up on the large E and A strings, for example (which, musically, is more likely an indication I need to stop spending time in the keyboard's and bass' sonic space).

The maple neck on the Stretchocaster is an inch thick nut to body and I can play that one all day in comfort. The Sherwood green partscaster is just a bit thinner, but same thing, play that one all day. 

Edited 15 hours ago by velorush

[tbonesullivan]

I've been trying to learn to use 9s for a while now. EVH used 9s downtuned to Eb. Jake E Lee uses 9s. Seems like almost all of the 80s players used 9s. My biggest issue is that I cannot, for the life of me, get good fast palm muting with 9s. I have no idea how the hell people did it.

Billy Gibbons... he uses 7s now. Still sounds great. Learning to use 7s though will definitely take a lot of adjustment.

[velorush]

I tried 9's and 8's after that Beato video came out a couple of years ago. The 8's were a disaster for me but 9's were fine. I went back to 10's because I'm just more used to them, but the 9's felt and sounded fine to me. I prefer the added resistance of 10's because I'm a hack with poor control on my bends. The added effort helps to reel me in. 

That said, I'd have no trouble going to 9's if it permitted me to play without pain. I'd just have to put in the time to get used to them.