11s hell yeah

[it's me HHB]

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

[tobereeno]

I've been using 11s for 15 years. I can't imagine playing without that tonal meat under my fingers.

[MCChris]

I'm man enough to admit that I'm not man enough to go there. Not at standard pitch, anyway.

[dragan]

^^^ Me too / either ?

[Disturber]

I am not equiped with ears that tell me that thicker gauge strings sound better. I prefer 009's on strats and 009's or 010's on teles and the Newport, depends.

On HB guitars I tend to go with 010's. But especially on strats I tend to think that thick strings mostly gets ice picky.

[Steve Haynie]

Playing an acoustic with 12's makes my rotten playing stick out. 11's are probably my enemy. Of course, practicing does wonders to overcome this problem.

[hanspanzer]

Eleven on everything electric in standard pitch for the last 20 years. Tried 10`s on a strat recently but I bent out of pitch when soloing. 11`s gives me control.

[diablo175]

I'm man enough to admit that I'm not man enough to go there. Not at standard pitch, anyway.

This/\ I leave that shit to my co-guitarist. He digs the beef and bombast of 10's and 11's and I like my 9's for the slinky, spongy action. Makes for a killer combo, IMO. I cover the searing highs and chewy mids, he gets the growl of the lows and girth of mids that I don't hit. Fits our soloing styles as well.

[Biz Prof]

I'm man enough to admit that I'm not man enough to go there. Not at standard pitch, anyway.

This/\ I leave that shit to my co-guitarist. He digs the beef and bombast of 10's and 11's and I like my 9's for the slinky, spongy action. Makes for a killer combo, IMO. I cover the searing highs and chewy mids, he gets the growl of the lows and girth of mids that I don't hit. Fits our soloing styles as well.

Good summary. Applies to me, as well.

[dragan]

Maybe it depends as much on your hands as the strings or the guitar

[sonny o'hoolighan]

I'm in the process of having a local builder put together a Tele style guitar for me, and I'm really considering putting 11s on it. I mentioned in another thread that I have 13s on a Hagstrom Viking, and that guitar plays well for what I do (in don't really do many Gilmour-esque bends). If the 13s on the Viking are doable, then the 11s might be right where I need to be. I don't care for the feel of 9s, 10s aren't bad. We'll see!

[atomicwash]

I've been on 11's for 15 years. Now when I play something with 9's or 10's, I over compensate my bends.

[JohnnyB]

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

You really need to check out 11s on thinlines and semihollows. The extra downforce creates a better transfer between the bridge and the top, which then energizes the tone chambers or hollow body. My Newport really lit up when I tried Elixir 11-49s, and with that substantial neck, the action was still very easy.

[The Shark]

This gets .011s when it arrives tomorrow...24.5" scale is the reason.

[HSB0531]

Both guitar players in my band use 11's.

They've been using that gauge set for about 10 year now.

[Ting Ho Dung]

10's

[diablo175]

Check out the PSA in the FS section.

[kenjones]

My guidelines:

11's for 24.75/Les Paul scale.

10's for 25.5/Strat scale.

My PRS McCarty gets 10's.

[tobereeno]

similarly to the above - Virtuoso 26.25" scale gets 10s. I'm scared to put 11s on that long noodle neck; different brands of 10s require a couple days for the neck to settle in as it is!

[dragan]

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

[David B]

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.

[gorch]

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

[Aqualung]

This gets .011s when it arrives tomorrow...24.5" scale is the reason.

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.

[Hamer Dave]

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

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!

[gorch]

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.