Changing to Heavier Guitar String Gauges? Keep These Things in Mind.

DESCRIPTION
Many of us have at one point or another picked up a guitar that was set up for a super light gauge, and decided to string it up with something a little bit heavier. But there are a few key things you'll want to keep in mind when you do so, to ensure that your guitar stays playing, sounding, and performing its best.

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Stringjoy is a boutique guitar string company located in Music City—Nashville, TN. We’re dedicated to making the highest quality guitar and bass strings, providing the best customer service in the industry, and giving our players more gauge and customization options than anyone else out there. We proudly make all of our strings in the USA, and we donate 5% of our net profits to support music education programs.

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[waltjames]

Thing 7: Strats and other guitars with fulcrum tremolos are profoundly affected by changing the string gauge. You will almost 100% certainly have to adjust the tremolo springs and possibly add or subtract springs when changing string gauge on a fulcrum tremolo.

[rupertradar]

Hey why not get a third camera and keep flicking to the back of his head as well.

[TerryMasri]

One thing I usually change that you didn't mention (I think) is the string height if the string height was originally set pretty close to the fretboard with lighter strings. Heavier strings usually causes me to hit the string a little heavier, causing them to vibrate a little harder, causing in turn fret buzz... in my experience.

[metalfreak]

I learned a lot from this video, and I've been changing the strings on my guitar for around 12 years. Lol

[xxXthekevXxx]

This is actually really cool. Coincidentally, I just recently moved to thicker gauges and bought a couple Stringjoy sets that were too thick to make it through my tuners (I unwound the strings to get it through the pegs, which is better than drilling)

[xxXthekevXxx]

*DON’T DRILL YOUR PEG HOLES!!!*
What I do to get large strings to work is unwind the strings above the nut (much better/lesser permanent alternative to drilling/damaging your guitar tuners). Just cut the string short enough to go through the peg hole, take some needle nose pliers, grab where the string winding starts, and start unwinding it, revealing the thin core wire of the string (that should fit through the hole easily and also wrap around the peg better)

[poseidon]

I'm one of those whose a stickler for intonation tuning. Getting it right I found helps keep the guitar better in tune, increases sustain, and enhances the harmonics. I stumbled upon this because at one point I was playing without knowing anything about intonation tuning, but after learning about it and making those adjustments, everything about the guitar was enhanced. What is really sad is that I've played guitars for 25 years and did not know about intonation tuning. I only knew that one guitar would play really well and another didn't. I was a hobby player and so I wasn't trained or had lessons.



As for string gauge, on my current guitar, a cheapy, I'm not sure what gauge set came on it, but it feels like .009's. The intonation had to be set back really far, especially on the low E, to keep from going sharp. To the point that I wondered if they even installed the bridge properly. Being that the guitar bridge parts are made of cheap alloy, I now am going to have to replace the intonation screws, but with stainless steel after that struggle. A WIP for sure. I assume heavier gauge strings tuned at the same pitch would alleviate having to set the saddle so far back, including that fact that the strings won't be as slinky. I'll start out with balanced 9's to start with.

[absenceovmeasurablefrequen]

Just ordered a set of 13-58s from Stringjoy after reading some very positive reviews from their customers. I'm ooking forward to trying them out.

[ALoonwolf]

Also what specific amount of effort is required to deflect one gauge of string compared with another? And how much more durable are specific gauges of string? How likely is each one to break? And is there a difference in how long the different gauges last in terms of sound quality before they need changing? ETC. These are the significant things we need to know. Tone is irrelevant with electric guitar - you can change it into whatever you want!

[bradatherton]

Maybe I blanked out for a second, but I didn't notice any mention of the truss rod. I agree with Scott that the intonation is impacted by a string gauge change, and the optimal order to correct the action and intonation is 1) truss rod, 2) string action height, and 3) intonation. By adjusting all three I have learned that 11s can feel like 9s or 10s, and now I'm moving on to 12s to keep exploring the joy of strings.

[polcat]

Would have helped if the guitar was in view.

[DakotaBusCaptures]

My hand are massive and I’m mainly a bass player that plays bass like a guitar so I do a lot of bends, I have pretty strong hands as well so I might get 11s

[ajaynorris]

I went from 9s to 11s and the intonation went slightly sharp. Just a tip for people in the comments.

[leetintary]

When you file the slots in the nut to accommodate heavier gauge strings, what happens if you put "normal" gauges back on later? Will they ever work properly after the slots have been filed wider? Thank you.

[kadenthomasmusic]

the only thing I noticed when switching from 9 to 10 was my floating trem was sitting a bit higher on my strat. not a huge deal to me because after my strings get done stretching I'm gonna drop to Eb standard tuning anyway.

[tboy]

Wow, job well done, young man. Very interesting. I thumbed and subscribed

[Stringjoy]

What issues, if any, have you encountered when changing to heavier string gauges on your guitar? Or have you never had any trouble?

[blooeagle]

Honestly, might just be a better idea to have a second guitar set up specifically for heavy strings. I may buy a second strat and keep it at Eb.

[fallensoldiertragni]

I must have got lucky I normally play 10 through 52 but I wanted a really low tune guitar so I bought another guitar for standard I used my Ibanez Gio which was the first brand name my guitar I ever had 13 through 62 I use it for drop A and B standard love it

[Nachtmahr]

Hope you'll be able to expand your business here in the EU. We have only 1 store that sells a few of your gauges. I use your light 9-72 8-string set for drop G / G on my 7 string, so seeing them sold out always makes me panic