9’s or 10’s for Strat? (2024)

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?

Personal preference.

if that doesn’t work for you, stick with 9’s.

Both will work equally well, and it truly is subjective to each player. That said, I prefer 10’s personally. I don’t like my strings to feel too slinky, I like the slight difference in feel of the 10’s….more tactile feedback in regards to feel IMO.

The key to making either set work to their full potential is having the guitar setup properly around either gauge. Good luck.

I'd go 10's. 9's are going to be floppy.

Edit: just realized this is a Strat thread. I got acoustic on the brain. Use 9 or 9.5.

I bend a lot, more than anything, never broken a 009 string yet. Even if i bend that sucker 2 steps up and nothing.
If i do get excessive broken strings at some time, it is something that needs fixing and i get to it.
But i am sticking to regular split shaft tuners and proper saddles. So far they stay unbroken.

I have been jumping back and forth between 009, 009.5 and 010. But i'm now at peace at 009.
As you get older, many tend to go down in gauge...

Like B.B King who supposedly told Billy Gibbons "Why do you work so hard?"
He ended up using 007.

I lean somewhat to that as well.

Somewhere in between always works for me.

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?

Click to expand...

Maybe you should've added a 'other' choice. I prefer 095 over 9 or 10, and I use a balanced tension guage set from StringJoy. They seem to believe that a 13.5 B string belongs in a 10-46 set, as the B may be too light. With my staggered poles, I've gotten to like a 16 G over the more common 17, because it makes it a little easier to bend 6ths with the 09.5 E string. To me, it's now a bit more complex than 9/10, anymore. If you like to drop your low E to a D for example, you might want a slightly thicker guage like maybe a 48.
Anyway, I didn't vote.

Split the difference with .095.- 044s.

There will also be a difference in "feel" between round core and hex core strings of the same gauge. Round core strings will feel less stiff and are easier to bend. That should be considered as well as string gauge.

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?

Click to expand...

Back in Leo's day, 13s were regular strings. Fender didn't offer anything lighter than 13s until 1957 when they started selling flatwound 12s. Fender didn't start selling light strings (meaning 10s) until 1964--the year Leo sold the company.

I have found some guitars dramatically change their sound and body resonance when you change string gauge. Heavier strings tend to produce more body resonance. I have a couple of Gibson-scale guitars that woke up when I switched up to 11s. On a Fender scale, 10s feel about like 11s do on those other guitars--which is part of why I generally prefer 10s on Fenders. Also, I can get a wound G in a set of 10s, which I very much prefer.

If you can't feel 9s and break them too easily, those are too light for you. Go with 10s. You can always switch back later.