Why all the hate for 9s?

[TNT]

Luke,

Playin' with Slinky 9's in South America - what a life!!!

 

[paranoid70]

I never realized that Lucious was Luke himself.... that's pretty cool.

 

[luke69]

Luke69,

It's not your poor English it's our poor French!!

oh ! TNT
your poor french.......it's possible but music is universal no !!!!!!!
what does you mean ?

if you don't understand i appreciate you tell me
it's very interisting for me
i would like to much better communicate with all of us

thank's bye bye

 

[luke69]

Lucious thank's for the comments

it's a great honnor for us to read you each time

if i play EBMM it's your fault

and i say thank you MISTER

 

[fogman]

Don't worry boys, we won't judge you on what gauge you use .. just how well you shredddd!

Thanks, but in case you're asking, I'm using 14s!

I never realized that Lucious was Luke himself.... that's pretty cool.

Dude! Where you been?

Thanks for the speak Luke! Always great to hear the realities of the professional side!

 

[marsguitars]

Nuttin wrong with 9's! OK, if you're playing punk/thrash you might struggle, but for regular pop/rock type stuff 9's are the most popular with most lead players.

 

[Adwex]

The thicker the strings,
The thicker the tone.

 

[TonyEVH5150]

Once I found the hybrid slinky 9's I never looked back............

+1. These are a perfect mix. The wound strings from a set of 10's, combined with the steel strings from a set of 9's. I can tune down (Eb or drop D) and still have zero trouble bending.

 

[petruccirocks02]

It seems whenever I go to the store to buy strings, the sales guys always try to convince me to get 10s or 11s rather than 9s. Is it just a personal preference or is there really something there? I have been playing Super Slinkys pretty much the whole time (over 20 years). I don't know if I want to get used to changing to a thicker guage at this point. Old dog and new tricks.

I do sometimes have issues with string breakages, but I don't think a slightly thicker guage would make that big of a difference.

If the guitar was previously strung with 9s does one need to make adjustments to the truss rod or action if one decides to go with 10s? Or is the difference pretty negligible? I mean we are only talking .001".

Personally, I love 9's, but my new favorite strings are Hybrid Slinky's. I get the low end chunk of 10's with the high end sparkle of 9's. Best of both worlds. Pete recently hooked me up with some RPS Slinky's which I'm gonna try next. I wonder how they'll compare to the Hybrid's. Thanks for the strings by the way Pete!

-Phil

 

[Bman]

Once I found the hybrid slinky 9's I never looked back............

Ditto! Fatter bottom end, still easily bendable.

 

[SteveB]

I use Super Slinky (9's) exclusively on electric guitars. Everything else just feels wrong.

I did try some regular Slinky (10's) on my JP after I first bought it.. not bad, but I felt like the tension was a little high for my liking.. I had to play a lot harder to keep my fingers from slipping off the strings when making bends.

So I changed it over to my beloved Super Slinky (9's) and the world was right again.

 

[Karlsson-75]

I have always used Super Slinkys (9's). They really sound good to my ear and the feel under fingers is excellent. Can't work with anything else.

 

[Petersonic]

See, the thing is 9s ARE a little gay... Nah, just kidding. But I'm partial to 11s, so I'll just keep saying that they're not what real men play, ok? Makes me feel more macho to say so. Like Rambo or something...
Serious now, as a lot of people said, it comes down to personal taste... I like to 'wrestle' with the strings a little (Richie Kotzen does too), some people don't. Also, there's a bit of an image thing. 11s associate to a certain kind of playing, to some extent; 8s or 9s, for example, to another, and so on...

 

[robertmoore]

it could be that the good guys at ernie ball are giving you this advice because they know that their lighter guage strings are substandard, i play ernie ball 8s and my last 3 packs havent even made it to standard tuning before snapping on me. 2 weeks ago id have recommended EB to anyone, but im pounds down and not the only person who has noticed this...

 

[robelinda2]

9's are great, over the years the more i play the more i appreciate 9's.

 

[Norrin Radd]

I played 9s for about 20 years. Then I tried a whole bunch of different gauges on lots of different guitars through a 2 year process. I came to like a 10-52 set the best (that's EB's ST/HB set). I really dig the 10s on top and thicker ones on the bottom. I think for me it's because my technique is very clod like - too heavy and imprecise and inconsistent. The 10-52s fight me (and my bad tendencies!) enough that the guitar stays in tune despite my poor technique. And I really dig the clean tones a lot better with these than with 9s or 10s. Just my two cents.

 

[KennethB]

Regular 10-46 gauge strings are for me personally the gold standard when it comes to electric guitar strings in standard tuning. Feels and sounds great to me.
If there's a different tuning involved I get strings to approx. match the tension of a 10-46 set in standard tuning.

 

[Colin]

I personally don't think there is hate for 9s. 8s are a different story

 

[candid_x]

After using Slinky 9's forever, I've been trying different strings. Currently I'm using a 9.5 pure nickel (called 9+) from a small boo-teek maker, on my maple board silo, but have come back to Hybrid Slinky on my rosewood board silo, for the greater power/crunch factor. I'll still throw on a set of Slinky 9's once in awhile, too. Even though they feel a bit rubber-bandish, they have a perfectly balanced feel and chimey sound across all strings. Just requires a lighter touch.

I know there's a general consensus that heavier strings sound better, and that the only thing 9's have going for it is that they're easier (for some) to play, but I think Slinky 9's have a distinct vibe that the others lack.

 

[Eilif]

Here's how I look at it: Luke, EVH*, and JP use Super Slinkys, and anyone who thinks they are wusses is just cuckoo. If 9s are good enough for them, they're certainly good enough for me!


* I'm making an assumption in the case of EVH. Since the Axis comes with 9s, I assume the EVH guitar did also, and if this was so, it would have been because EVH wanted it that way. Whether EVH uses 9s now is not relevant as he at least used to back in the day. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong.