this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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How much does string thickness matter? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by RageAgainstTheSurge@lemmy.world to c/guitars@lemmy.world
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I've been spending the summer learning how to play the guitar. Last month, I bought a lovely Sire S7 and I've been having a blast playing it and learning guitar chords and playing with the modes on the couple of portable guitar amps I bought (The Fender Magnum Micro and a Positive Grid Spark Go). I know those amps might not sound that impressive, but like I said I'm still pretty new at this and when I get better, I'll probably get an even bigger amp.

But that's not why I'm here today.

I was on the Ernie Ball website thinking about picking up some spare strings (because I broke my little e string a few weeks ago), when I noticed they had different pack of string sets with different strings that were other than the typical 10-13-17-26-36-46 set, but had other gauges of strings.

Surely, the width of the strings would result in different notes as much as where you put your fingers on the fretboard, right?

So what would I be gaining or losing if I used a different set up strings? (I'm not planning on re-stringing my guitar any time soon, but it would be nice to know the significance of these other sets, what they are used for, and if there was a specific set ideal for playing certain genres or playing techniques.)

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[–] cowpowered@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

String thickness will get you the same notes on the same frets, when tuned the same, but it will give you a slightly different tone.

However where thicker strings really come in play is drop tunings, such as D standard, C standard or even lower. If you take a set of regular slinky strings and tune them down to C standard they lose all tension and become seriously floppy. This impedes playability and makes the guitar very difficult to tune this low.

But slap some thick strings on, I use 12-56 for C standard, and the guitar tunes just fine and it retains a somewhat comparable string tension to regular strings tuned to E.