9’s or 10’s for Strat? (2024)

All of these have 9-42s. For me they're perfect

Stratoman10 said:

All of these have 9-42s. For me they're perfect

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That has to be one of the most well rounded, and tasteful collections I’ve seen. Nice choices, all of them!

Billy Gibbons Dunlop 7's

What's with the macho thinking heavier strings are needed. They play like air and bends are uber easy. Some seem to think they won't sound thick enough - but would anyone accuse the Rev of sounding thin?

They make these things they call stomp boxez ya know?

CalicoSkies said:

I didn't even realize they made 9.5s until a few weeks ago when I saw some packs of them in a guitar store.

See Also

9’s or 10’s for Strat?Do you tend to puts 9's vs 10's more on your strat or tele?9's vs 9.5s vs 10's on a Strat?9’s or 10’s for Strat?

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I don't think they DID make them until a few years ago.

I was not active on any forums for about 10-15 years, and when I joined here was the first I heard of the half-sizes, and "balanced tension" sets....
I grew up with 8, 9, 10, 11, 12... and the hybrid sets, both light top heavy bottom, and heavy top, light bottom.

bloomz said:

Billy Gibbons Dunlop 7's

What's with the macho thinking heavier strings are needed. They play like air and bends are uber easy. Some seem to think they won't sound thick enough - but would anyone accuse the Rev of sounding thin?

They make these things they call stomp boxez ya know?

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Sometimes "easy to bend" is not something that works for a player's style.
Someone who has been playing 10s for 40 years is going to have serious intonation issues dropping to 8s or 7s.

And I would seriously like to be able to sneak backstage when Billy's tech is restringing his guitars... I have serious doubts that he is playing anything lighter than 9.
He's an awesome musician and top-notch song writer... but he's also a top-notch BSer.

Nothing "macho" about it.
People play what they are comfortable with and what they feel gives them the sound and feel they want.
I find regular 9-42 too "floppy" on the bass strings on my shorter Gibson scales when I tune down to DADGAD or D.
I compensated for that by using 9-42 on my Fenders and 10-46 on my Gibsons.
But the heavier bass strings don't bother me on the Fenders, so I use 9-46 hybrids on everything except the jazz box. That one gets 11 flatwounds.

I've settled on 10's on the majority of my guitars - the problem for me with a standard set of 9's is the B string - there are over two pounds difference in tension between the E and the B, and almost a 4 lbs difference between the B and G, so to me it feels like a rubber band between the other two strings.
If and when I do use 9's I will either swap the .011 for a .012, or put a .015 on the G (actually, a .009, .012, .015 set is almost dead on balanced.)

A 10 set is not exactly balanced either, but it is much closer than a set of 9's.

Mega-Gazz said:

See Also

9’s or 10’s for Strat?

I know someone is gonna say personal preference, but I guess I don’t know enough to have one yet… I’m gonna get my strat set up (first setup, relatively new guitar), and I was thinking of moving up to 10s (11s?) from the 9s that came with it. Two reasons: (a) I find that with 9s the high e string is so light I don’t feel it sometimes, and (b) I tried to teach myself bending using Justin Guitar’s videos and broke a string. While that may be normal, I figure having 10s (11s?) would reduce the frequency of breaking?

On the other hand, I’ve heard that 9s are nice for bending because they’re easier/require less force to bend, and that they’re easier on the fingers for learning chords.

Any thoughts or advice?

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I use Hybrids. 10 bottoms 9 tops. Best of both worlds.

Mega-Gazz said:

I know someone is gonna say personal preference, but I guess I don’t know enough to have one yet… I’m gonna get my strat set up (first setup, relatively new guitar), and I was thinking of moving up to 10s (11s?) from the 9s that came with it. Two reasons: (a) I find that with 9s the high e string is so light I don’t feel it sometimes, and (b) I tried to teach myself bending using Justin Guitar’s videos and broke a string. While that may be normal, I figure having 10s (11s?) would reduce the frequency of breaking?

On the other hand, I’ve heard that 9s are nice for bending because they’re easier/require less force to bend, and that they’re easier on the fingers for learning chords.

Any thoughts or advice?

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Sparque said:

Somewhere in between always works for me.

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I’m also an awkward 9.5 guy. Best of both worlds

Stubie78 said:

Hybrid gauge 9-46. Best of both worlds. Tight enough chords, loose enoigh for lead.

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I may have to try these. The reason I go for 9.5 guage is 9s pitch drift too much playing hard on the lower strings (and are waaay to flappy for downtuning) and 10s make my poor bending technique (single fingers and rarely my strongest ones) too difficult

I love playing with 9's as they are so easy on the hands. During COVID, I built my dream strat using all Fender parts except for the Ilitch Backplate noise reduction system. It has a beautiful Fender roasted maple neck. But it just didn't sound right. I adjusted pickups and amp settings and I couldn't put my finger on it. it was missing something. Then on a chance I threw a set of 10's on there.

Bingo. Magic. Mojo.

Now I actually don't want to buy any more guitars as this strat is just such a joy to play. For me, it changed the attack of the note and the way it bloomed and resonated. I love 9's still on my shredder guitar. In fact I grabbed a set of 9's from my box of strings and put it on my strat by accident recently. As soon as I played it, it was instantly noticeable by the tone alone. 10's for me. And I bend a ton. It just took getting used to it.

I play Regular Slinky 10-46 on my Strats, Tele and LP

At least once a year I read every thread there is and convince myself I need to go back to 9s only to remove them two hours later for old faithful 10-46.

Of course there is no one correct answer.