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Fenders like 9s?

Cliff Gress

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 26, 2004
Messages
3,301
When I bought my only Fender, a road worn MIM, I immediately put on 10s. Now looking for another Tele I see they all sell with 9s.

Do most Fender players use 9s?
 

Bob Womack

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2002
Messages
2,191
It's all over the map, just like the LP crowd. There are the macho boys who only half the message about Stevie Ray Vaughn and ruin their fingers on .013s and thee are wimps like me who use .009s on everything. They work just fine.

Bob
 

Señor Verde

Active member
Joined
Jan 13, 2005
Messages
621
I use 10's on everything. Not because of bending, but because I like how they feel under my fingers since I built up calluses. Try whatever you normally use and go from there.
 

Keefoman

Active member
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
576
I use 10s on all my guitars, just because... That makes my Fenders a little bit harder to play than my Gibsons because of the slightly longer scale length, but it’s not really an issue.
 

guitartsar

Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2010
Messages
85
I too use 10's on most guitars in standard tuning Gibson and Fender and 11's down a 1/2 step. I do like 9's on my 335 though for some reason. Just feel right on that guitar.
 

Cliff Gress

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 26, 2004
Messages
3,301
Thanks gents. I thought there might be some magic with 9s. Pyramid 10s it is.
 

metropolis

Active member
Joined
Sep 14, 2018
Messages
390
Last week I bought Pyramid Pure Nickel Super Light Special .0095 to .044 for my Tele.

I was just coming in to say I've started using 9.5s on my Strats and am very happy (D'Addario's in my case). 9s always felt a bit too light but sometimes 10s felt too stiff so it's a good compromise.
 

S. Cane

Active member
Joined
Dec 10, 2014
Messages
656
Used 9s for years just because I didn't want to change anything on my Fenders. But recently stepped up to 10s on all of them but the Rickenbacker and I'm loving it.
 

KCFrets

New member
Joined
Mar 10, 2021
Messages
12
EB Slinky Hybrids 9-46s for Strats AND Les Pauls. Best of both worlds (and can do those Page-bends).

Hell, B. Gibbons uses 7-38s.....
 

OldStrummer

Active member
Joined
Sep 12, 2016
Messages
118
I put 11's or 10's on mine. Even with small hands, I tend to have "heavy" fingers. My Robin Trower Strat has 11's because that's what Trower uses (sometimes he even uses 12's! [.012 - .062]). Hendrix also used heavier strings. When you do a lot of bending, a heavier gauge tends to stay in tune longer.
 

Don

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 1, 2001
Messages
5,732
I use 9s on almost all of my electric guitars. The exception is my ES-225. 10s drive the hollow body a little harder and intonate a little better on the trapeze bar bridge/tailpiece.
 

Vics53

Active member
Joined
Jan 21, 2021
Messages
149
About a year ago I tried a set of 9's on my Telecaster and it didn't work. The B and high E strings sounded incredibly thin. This struck me as odd because when going from 10's to 9's on another guitar there was no volume drop off with the mentioned strings. I have an Epiphone SG Pro that came with 46 to 10's and I changed those to 42 to 9 strings. I did notice a difference in bass response with the low E, A and D strings (which I was expecting and it worked well) but there was no volume drop off with the G, B and high E strings. Yes, I did try adjusting the Tele pickups after installing the 9's but it made no difference.

I would like to use 9's on the Tele because of my hands. I'm 68, retired and spent 30 years in CNC machine shops. Lots of hands on work. Pushing, pulling, heavy lifting, grinding....you name it! My hands don't hurt but they are starting to stiffen up to some degree so I need all the help I can get.
 
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