Low tension strings

[mcconnachiea]

How are EB extra slinkies? Are they any good for heavy whammy use? I mean do they stay in tune and not break easily?

[TNT]

MC,

Man, you gotta spend more time playing your guitar dude!!! Ernie Ball strings are the "best" strings on the planet - hands down!!! So, let's get past this.

It doesn't matter which gauge you use or how much you use your trem (which doesn't appear to be too much these days, lol,lol,lol) it'll stay in tune if your guitar doesn't have tuning concerns (which it does).

The strings are not the issue, so pick the guage you like and start "wigglin' the fingers"!!!

[patpark]

classical nylon strings can be bigger and have a lot less tension. but may not help in this particular situation.

[mcconnachiea]

And I DO NOT have tuning problems! Floating non-locking fender trems FTW!!!

[Zenrad]

Mc,

Just out of curiosity, do you like that trem unit?? Wouldn't it be easier to replace it and then have the advantages of using std. EB strings?

Or better, yet get a pivot screw that does not "wear" out the edge so quickly on the trem.

This is like the '65 Mustang trem, it's a unique design and there aren't any drop-in replacements aside from units exactly the same.

It's not the most useful trem for sure (I owned a '69 Fender Mustang at one point), but for gentle wiggling it'll work ok. Kind of like a Bigsby in that sense.

To the OP - a set of .009's won't hurt the trem. You can't get much lighter gauge than that and have a usable tone. FWIW I used to use .010's on my Mustang, it was 20 years old when I got it and I played it for years without any issues at all.

Just play it with the strings you like, if the trem wears out in 10 or 20 years you can get a replacement.

[GHWelles]

I have a 24" scale guitar and always play 1/2 step down and oce you round off the knife edge with a file, it will stop wearing down but still stays in tune.

Right, downtune.

[DrKev]

Poppa, are we talking about plain strings only? Can there be a tension difference between wound strings of the same gauge but different brands? My impression was that Fender wound strings are higher tension than my beloved Balls.

[Tim Brosnan]

Beloved "balls" hahahaha

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Big Poppa]

Poppa, are we talking about plain strings only? Can there be a tension difference between wound strings of the same gauge but different brands? My impression was that Fender wound strings are higher tension than my beloved Balls.

yes very much so. different core to wrap formula will create different tensionsc

[DrKev]

Thanks BP.