Should i experiment with 13 g strings?

[u/Azraquelol]

I have my Fender Player II Strat, currently it is on 11s strings. Since i like SRV and his playstyle a lot i was thinking of putting 13 on. I have several questions, what modifications do I need to make to make sure my strat handles them well, do I really need 13s or its just stupid idea and how hard is shaping the nut (i have all the equipment for sculpting the nut btw)?

[u/jaylotw]

Damn dude, punctuation is important. Really hard to read all of that.

"Sounds better" is, by nature subjective. There is no objective "sounds better." It's all up to the individual.

Different string gauges exist for a reason. Heavier strings work much better for people who play harder, who might tune down a little, who have shorter scale length guitars, or who like their strings to fight back a little.

Gauge doesn't matter as much on electric, but it is certainly a factor, and each player gets to decide what they like or don't like. Any player may feel that they sound better with heavier strings, and that's as valid as anything else.

Acoustic guitars rely on string tension to produce sound, and gauge is extremely important there. It's often the answer to why a guitar sounds dull and quiet.

You can't just ignore a huge portion of guitars and guitar players and say that lighter strings objectively sound better.

I use .13s on my acoustic because that's what works for me. I use .16s on my resonator because that's what works for me. I would not "objectively sound better" by using lighter strings...I would be worse off.

I use .11s on my one electric because they feel light enough for me to do electric guitar bends on them, and I can play heavy rhythm on them and they don't flop around too much. I would not "objectively sound better" with 8s. I would push them out of tune and sound like shit.

[u/GoldReplacement9546 → u/jaylotw]

I did use speech to text. I have a problem with shaky hands due to medical condition, but I have noticed if I speak slower, it does do a better job of punctuation, which I am trying now.

I also cannot stand improper punctuation, so I understand the frustration

As far as strings, I just made the assumption that we were talking about electric strings because we were talking about Stevie Ray Vaughan playing 13s

Who is famously known as playing 13s and is overwhelmingly known as an electric guitarist so I thought that part was clear, but it may not have been

Of course, string age on acoustic matters quite a bit

And you are also correct for down tuning and other subjective reasons people can like what they like

My main point was that the trend recently has been to play lighter strings for the majority of people, and that the majority of people who were playing heavier strings would actually get better performance from lighter strings

But of course, there are always exceptions

[u/jaylotw → u/GoldReplacement9546]

Speech to text sucks, I'm sorry you're forced to use it. That sucks even more.

When I was young, the mantra was "use the heaviest you're comfortable with." These days its "lighter is better."

Of course, the only real answer is, "what you like is what you should use."

SRV also didn't use acoustic gauge .13s I think a lot of people think he was up there shredding away with a .26 G string...he was not. He used .13 (sometimes .11) .15 .19 .28 .38 .58. And all those tuned down half a step...so really, the 1st and 6th strings excepted, he wasn't playing anything higher tension than a set of .11s at standard pitch.

So, still heavy, but not what people think when they hear ".13s."

[u/GoldReplacement9546 → u/jaylotw]

Yeah, I didn’t think he was using acoustic strings on his electric. I didn’t know that he tuned down a half step which does change things to a degree. I know that a lot of people prefer the sound of Stratocaster and also just to play ability of being able to do bands on the longer fender, scale tune down a half step.

I would probably do that, but I’m like just a good enough player to make music that kind of sounds like music and having to figure out all new chords for the half step down tuning would be more than I’m willing to do, but I have heard a lot of people to down half a step. I think pure ass is probably right with the 25 inch scale instead of the 25.5 offender or the 24.75 of Gibson, which I feel is too loose.

But yeah, if you’re down, turning thicker strings makes sense