String Gauge!! need advice

Lately I've started going up string gauges due to a guitar which lacks good tone and for finger strength which mine is too bad I guess. (F#*king Ltds :( ) Well today I put on some 12-54's but I read on some stuff from the forums on Ultimate Guitar and i feel the advice on that site is rather stupid and sounds like people who have just started guitar giving advice so I thought Id come here for it
The questions are
What effects will having a heavy gauge do to my guitar?

I've set the intonation and now play in E Flat
Is there anything else I need to do and should I tune even lower?

Thank you (Dam Ultimate guitar :mad: )

:eek:

Using a heavier than normal (light being some what normal but what is normal anyway?) Should increase the tone of the guitar, and the strings shouldn't go dead as fast unless you are oozing acid from your fingers.

But the short comings of using a heavier weight string is that you can put more stress on the neck, barre chords are harder, and you need more finger strength.

I use Extra Lights 10's and what I call in betweens 11's. Since my fingers strength isn't what it used to be.

:cool:

Using way heavier strings will have a physical effect on the guitar, which guys like LATS or Aschleman are better qualified to go into detail on. It'll mean more load on the neck so you'll probably need to adjust your truss rod if you haven't.

In terms of playing, the wider strings could get caught in the slots in the nut (unless you've already widened them) and I can't imagine you being able to do much but grind power chords... I couldn't anyway - I use 9s or 10s on my guitars.... I couldn't play fast on that much wire.... but then that's me... I'd cut my fingers to ribbons...

Andrew and Ren pretty much touched on the main stuff...

With the heavier gauge strings you're definitely going to want to check the intonation (which you did), adjust the truss rod, and probably adjust the pickup height... Larger strings put off much wider ranges of frequencies and on some high gain pickups like the ones that are most likely on your LTD the tone can become what guitar techs call "natural distortion". When the pickups are too close to the strings the sound is less clean. Even in the cleanest of settings it may still sound a little bit broken up and you may notice a lot of string noise as well.... With larger guage strings you also may increase string pull... which is also caused when the strings are too close to the pickups. Pickups are not much more than magnets, and since strings are made of metal they pull on the strings and if the pickups are close enough to the strings it can shorten sustain. What techs do to combat this is adjust the pickup height and find what's called the "Sweet spot". The sweet spot is the point where the string itself is not sitting in the magnetic field of the pickup but rather just outside it... This gives the optimal clean tone... Also, when you pluck the string it will vibrate in and out of the magnetic field which optimizes sustain... Too far away and sustain gets shorter and too close and sustain gets shorter... Here are the steps to find the sweet spot without having to take it to a tech...


1. Get the neccessary tools to adjust your pickup height...
2. Have your guitar and amp set to the cleanest tone you can get.
3. You're going to use the E,A, B, and e strings to test this out... there's no need to use the D and G strings because they're in the middle and they're going to be affected just like the other strings... Start at the E string and pluck it... Raise the bass side (the screw on the side of the bass strings) a few touches and keep doing that until you notice the string breaking up a bit.... Now back it off a little. Do the same for the treble side... the e and B strings. This is the optimal clean zone... The treble side will end up being a bit closer to the strings than the bass side because the strings are smaller...
4. Now you're going to look to maximize the sustain... so turn on some distortion or overdrive
5. now you're going to have to lower the strings a bit now... Just keep doing trial and error until you find the zone where you feel like you're getting the most sustain.

It may take awhile to get it right the first time but the more you do it the more you get use to it and the easier it is... Remember that if you have high output pickups the clean sound is going to sound dirty no matter how close they are... So you may want to skip that step and go straight to finding the sustain zone....

You won't get that answer at UG......... haha

Another thing to consider when going to heavier gauge strings, is if your guitar has a tremolo system. The spring tension may need adjusting if the new strings cause the system to tilt from it's original position. Make sure to check that the system is parallel to the body of the guitar.

Thanks for every ones help :)
As for playing on the 12-54's I actuly like playing on heavier strings believe it or not I can play everything much cleaner too.

Ashleman you're completly right about that natural distortion thing, but im confused about adjusting my trust rod can you clarify what Im ment to do to it.

Also im not to worried about the tone and sustain Im going to adjust the pickups for sustain though just to know how to get it right for when I finaly get my new guitar which will definatly not be some LTD or any other metal guitar lol my musical tastes have changed a lot lately from metal and "shred" stuff to more bluesy stuff like Joe Bonamassa, SRV, Eric Johnson and well I dont know im looking for some good bluesy stuff sort of like Jo Bo which I found from this site btw ;) I think i can thank Aschleman for that too?

Ps- YAY on Post 100 :D

Haha. You're welcome... yeah, I was a big promoter of Joe Bonamassa on this site awhile back. Now he's pretty much a household name here.

As far as adjusting the truss rod goes... there are some things that people don't fully understand or are often misunderstood. People often immediately associate fret buzz to a maladjusted truss rod... Which isn't always the case. The general rule is that if the fret buzz is happening from the first fret to about the 9-12 fret area you adjust the action at the truss rod... If the fret buzz occurs from the 12th fret on up the fret board you adjust the action at the bridge by raising the saddles or bridge itself.

An ideal setup on an electric guitar is quite different from an acoustic. Most electric players like a slight relief in the neck.... Relief is basically a slight bow. Acoustics generally are ALL setup with noticeable relief. However, some players choose to go with a more straight neck approach which simply means the neck is straight as an arrow. You can decide which one you want to use and adjust it accordingly.

Some things to keep in mind while adjusting your truss rod are:

-Always loosen before tightening. Sometimes if you have a second hand guitar people tighten the truss rod as tight as it will go and if you try to crank on it you can break the nut or even worse, the truss rod... Loosening it first will allow you to be sure if it's tight or not.

-Allow a day or so for the truss rod adjustment to take effect. The wood will not immediately set into place. So make sure you use small quarter turns to start out with... until you get use to your guitars specific range of adjustments

-Never loosen the truss rod nut completely... The nut can come off and be put back on but in some cases the truss rod will snap forward or back and be in a position where you can't get the nut back on and you'll have to take it to a tech who won't be very happy with you. haha

-Once again... Start slooooow. Quarter turns at a time. In most situations you're never going to need more than a quarter turn in either direction to be where you want to be.

For anyone interested in working on their own guitars I HIGHLY suggest getting a book called "The Guitar Players Repair Guide" by Dan Erlewin... A world renknown luthier that has pretty much invented all modern luthiery techniques and tools... It's a wealth of knowledge for any guitar player and it covers all this stuff pretty welll.

Everyone here has made great comments about higher gauge strings, but I noticed in your first comment you said that your guitar lacked good tone before.

Now, a lack of good tone can come about as a result of your touch, the guitar itself, the amplifier, and yes--the strings.

Why not shop around for a different guitar, or take your current one to the music store and tell them about it's lack of tone? Even if you want to stick with your current higher gauge strings, it will sound a billion times better through a guitar that sounds good no matter what gauge strings are on it. Just my two cents, hope you look into it.

You will need to get the nut slots opened up a bit to accomodate the heavier strings.

Once all of the physical adjustments have been done to set up for the strings, you might try installing a higher value of pot for the tone and volume controls. As a generalization, low values of pot resistance bleed off the treble, and high values allow more treble to come out.

Some factory Tone pots are made such that turning them up fully will actually disconnect the capacitor and the internal resistor, which is ideal, but aftermarket pots don't have this feature. So even at the highest setting, there is still some treble bleed-off.

The Volume pot is always across the pup output, so the value of this pot will definitely have an effect on the tone. Too low a resistance will make a pup sound muddy. Too high can sound screechy.

Even top-quality pots are less than $10 each, so it's a cheap way to tweak your tone.

Originally Posted by: PlatonicShredEveryone here has made great comments about higher gauge strings, but I noticed in your first comment you said that your guitar lacked good tone before.

Now, a lack of good tone can come about as a result of your touch, the guitar itself, the amplifier, and yes--the strings.

Why not shop around for a different guitar, or take your current one to the music store and tell them about it's lack of tone? Even if you want to stick with your current higher gauge strings, it will sound a billion times better through a guitar that sounds good no matter what gauge strings are on it. Just my two cents, hope you look into it.

Its not horribly bad tone its just not good either, the LTD I use is one of the lowest range LTD's and yeah I'm saving for a new guitar as we speak :p

Thanks lord I will look into changing the pots :)