10s on a Strat

[darkandrew]

I've always worked on the principle that in E standard tuning you string an LP/SG with 10s and Teles/Strats (or similar scale) with 9s. Until last night, my Fender Showmaster superstrat was tuned to D standard and strung with 10.5s (D'addario EXL110+) to give it the same string tension as 9s at E standard but having recently decided to use a different guitar as my default D standard guitar, I decided to re-string and re-tune my Showmaster to E standard but having had 9s on there before and not liking them (too fizzy) I thought I'd try 10s this time instead. So having re-strung, re-tuned and re-setup I gave it a go, and was really surprised by the results - despite the increased tension, the strings didn't feel that much stiffer to be honest and the fizzyness was also gone, so all's good! What do other people put on their Strats when tuned to E standard?

Edited July 25, 2020 by darkandrew

[ezbass]

I just use 10s whatever. I've used other gauges but always come back to 10s.

[Jazz Club]

I like 10’s but haven’t used them on our strats because of trust rod adjustments on normal tuning.

[leftybassman392]

Like the OP, 9s on a Strat/Tele scale length, 10s on a Gibson.

[Matt P]

10's on all my electric guitars (superstrat's, Tele, Lp, 335) i used 9's when i first started as i just asked for super slinkies because that was what i had heard Eric Clapton used, i went to 10's about 4 years later on the suggestion of my guitar tutor and haven't changed since (about 20 years)

for about the first 20 years i think i mainly used D'addario on the suggestion of my tutor as they were cheap enough and easy to get everywhere (especially as the D'addario uk bass is 4 miles from my house)  but recently i have been using Fender as they are a bit cheaper and IFAIK they are made by D'addario anyway. I have experimented with rolled strings on my 335 copy which were nice and i will use pure Nickel wound if i can get them cheaply enough (DR pure blues for a while and fenders in more recent years)

 

Matt

[EdwardMarlowe]

Started on nines, kept snapping the high E, so for years I played every guiitar I owned with a set of nines except with the high E substituted with a ten. WEventually switched to tens and have staqyed with them ever since on both scale lengths.