Replacing Strings & Different Gauges

Let’s face it, without strings guitars don’t make very musical sounds. Clearly they are critical and the quality of the strings will have a direct impact on your ability to play and to obtain consistent tone.

Cheaper guitars are often fitted with strings just about good enough to leave the factory, but not much else. So the first thing you should do is buy a couple of sets of strings ready to fit once the rest of the guitar setup has been completed.

There are a few things to take into account with strings, but once you have found the right type you can pretty much stick to them for a while. I tend to use Ernie Ball and strings, simply because I know how they behave. The string gauges I use are normally Regular Slinky (10 to 46) or Super Slinky (9 to 42). You can also find Hybrid Slinky (9 to 46). The scale length of the guitar also plays a role in the sound produced by the strings. That might lead you to have one gauge on your Stratocaster and a different, perhaps heavier gauge on your Les Paul.

In general, the lighter the gauge of strings the easier they are on the fingers to play and perform face-melting string bends. The heavier gauges are useful for power play where the strings will be tormented for possibly hours on end. Neither is right, it’s a matter of style and your own biomechanics and the guitar. My general preference is for Regular Slinky's, which when the guitar is set up correctly means it can be fitted with the same or smaller gauge strings without having to file down nuts or saddles (more on that in later articles).

Strings are usually steel core with nickel wound around the outside. They often come with some sort of coating to prevent against corrosion, but before embarking on a marathon session it’s more than wise to use a string lubricant to improve playability and reduce squeak.

There are different types of winding - round-wound (or hexagonal in the case of nickel wound strings), flat-wound and ground-wound. The trade-off between winding types tends to be sound characteristics versus playability.

The round-wound has a bumpy surface susceptible to squeaking and greater wear and tear (fingers, frets, nuts etc.), but with the better sound clarity.

Flat-wound are more rigid and smoother on the fingers with less string squeak at the expense of some of the higher harmonics, sustain and bend-ability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viZ9PzxY-Ec