I went from 9's to 10's and finally to 11's. They are noticable harder to bend but they stay in tune much longer than the smaller gauges. Also, if you experience intonation problems you can tune your axe, then check the tunning at the 12th fret to see if its reasonably the same. If not, move the bridge saddles up or back a little at a time and recheck your open and 12th fret tuning til the notes are not sharp or flat. I had an '89 Squire II strat that I actually had to remove the spring behind the screw on the G string saddle in order to move it enough to not be flat. It was just flat enough to make me crazy.