Synners, Advice 🙂Are My Strings Too Heavy?

[Jak Angelescu]

I have many different guitars that all have different string gauges for different reasons. My schecter demon 6 has 11 gauge strings and I find myself preferring that tone over all others. In most of the hail to the king videos you have seen with me, and in many of my work you see, I tend to favor my schecter. However as of recently, I’m finding myself barely being able to play for 30 minutes at a time without the joints in my fret hand knuckles hurting. It’s not like a soreness it’s like a feeling like they start to hurt. I warm up and I stretched them out but bends are especially daunting. However, I haven’t played on my schecter in a few weeks. Actually maybe close to a month. Do you think my string gauge is too heavy or are my hands just weak from the break?
I also have another problem with my schecter. It has active pickups in it and I’m not used to any type of gear knowledge at all. I had to change the battery in it when the pick up started to sound too round and not enough crunch or high gain. It used to scream and squeal and have such an awesome lead tone and a fat heavy distorted rhythm tone. But now it almost seems like no matter what I mess with the settings on my amp, it constantly sounds like I’m playing on the middle pick up Position. Could it be my strings are too old as it has been almost 4 months since I change them or do you think it’s time for a battery change? Thank you so much! I will probably be asking a lot of gear questions as it’s one thing I really don’t know a lot of

 

[BrandonJ]

Try changing the battery before you change strings, and if you haven’t used the guitar in a long time then I don’t see how the strings could’ve lost their tone.

 

[Rad Synner]

While im not sure I can give a good advice on the first part of your message, I think I can answer your second part even though you basically answered it yourself. I dont know when was the last time you changed your battery but if you dont hear the difference in tone between pickups, I highly doubt its the strings as, in at least my experience, never heard of such huge tone difference as you describe it when its about string gauge! So for your pickups, change the battery. If nothing changed then its maybe the wiring inside but that would be a stretch. And if I was wrong and it was the string’s ”old age”, then ill be damned. Also, the battery uses energy as soon as the jack is plugged in the guitar. doesnt matter if you play it through and amp or not: If the guitar is plugged in, the battery will be working and it was last less! I hope I helped!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Thank you both SOOO MUCH!! @Radu I literally leave my guitar plugged in constantly. Are you saying even if the amp isn’t on it’ll drain the battery?

 

[BrandonJ]

Oh yeah that’s another thing, if you leave your guitar plugged in then it will drain any battery you have in the guitar, same goes for pedals.

 

[Rad Synner]

Yes thats what im saying! Basically when plugged in, the jack connects the whole circuit and the battery will get used up! since you dont have a on/off switch on your guitar, the jack acts as a on/off switch for the circuit since the pickups need to be activated from an energy source whithin the guitar since the amp doesnt send any energy to the guitar! I hope what im saying makes sense hahaha!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

OMG You both are AMAZING!!! Thank you so much! I was thinking, “But I just changed my battery a few months ago.” And I literally leave it plugged in all night, all day, until I play on it. Thank you both so much!!! I literally didn’t know that about pedals or active pickups

 

[Ed Seith]

Absolutely. The jack is like the “power on” for actives. Unplug when not playing and the battery will last longer.
11s are REALLY tough to maintain happiness with. SRV famously started tours with 11s and finished with 13s because he played so much. I like a little looseness and bendiness, and he was insane. I tried 10-46s and I didn’t care for the plain strings. On 9-42 sets, I didn’t like the wound strings. I found my happy place in a hybrid set – 9-46, which they almost all make now (but they never go on sale).
Again. 11s are thick. Try 10s on the Schecter – it may be the actives giving you the tone you recognize, rather than the string gauge. Try them, but don’t get a “setup” unless you decide you still like the tone.

 

[Rad Synner]

Pleasure! We all learn new things everyday here!Happy Brandon and me helped!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

@Ed I actually use Hybrids on my other guitars I love them a lot! And thank you for your insight, especially with the nod about Stevie because when I COULD play on my Schecter well, I was playing on my other guitars for roughly 5 hours a day. But now I’m tracking in the studio and haven’t truly used it in a long while for long lead work, that I went to go play today and I swear I thought my knuckles broke after 30 minutes.
You all are the best I literally learned so much and you all helped a TON.

 

[Filip Tomiša]

A lot of people don’t know that you need to unplug your guitar if you have active pickups when you are not playing but hopefully they will read this and learn . As for the strings, I think .11 are great for drop C, for me .11 are kinda too hard if they are in standard tuning or drop D. .9 are too loose for me so I just use .10 they work great with standard and drop d, even drop c is not bad but they do get a little loose so i think .11 are better for that.

 

[Filip Tomiša]

Also, by unpluging your guitar when you are not playing, your battery can basically last 1 year, it just depends on how much time you spend playing it.

 

[idssdi]

This definitely sound like your hands aren’t used to the string gauge anymore depending on what you are used to playing. As for the strings. Since you say you usely play like 4 hours a day 4 months for one set of string definitely seems to long to me even with elixirs. Depending on how much I play I tend to change my strings every 1-3 months. Especially on my gitane is like once every month when I play regularly. Old strings do really make you sound dull and not as clear/rich as new strings.

 

[Ed Seith]

Agree there. When I was playing and gigging heavily, new strings on every guitar in a rotating schedule got them all fresh ones about every 2 weeks. I do go months on most of them now and 3-4 weeks on my main guitar.

 

[TheMighty Jambi]

When it comes to string gauge I always go by this chart. Also of course always get it setup for the gauge and tuning you are using.
View post on imgur.com

As far as the pickup goes. Start with trying a fresh battery. I’ve bought batteries before and I admit they were cheap and didn’t seem to last long. Try that or a volt meter if you can get one.
Like others have said don’t leave the guitar or pedals plugged in cause that will drain the batteries for sure.
Strings can lose their luster by just not playing them. Specially when the guitar might be in an area with lots temperature and humidity changes. I know some people have had more issues when leaving in an area next to an ocean where there may be more salt and humidity in the air.
Hope this helps some.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Thank you all SOOO much!! You have made me feel so much better! And @Jambi, that’s an excellent tool. I’m totally printing that shit off! Thanks, my man!

 

[Josh Wright]

I’m in the process of switching my normal string gauge from 11-48 to 11-54 and the top strings with just that little difference feel like I’m trying to move a mountain . You’ve just gotta build that strength back up. At times it feels like I know what I’m doing but I’m using beginner’s hands .

 

[TheMighty Jambi]

No problem @jakangelescu

 

[Dan Shipway]

I have used super slinkys on all my guitars due to neck bowing and I Have been dropping down to d standard (can be seen in endless sacrifice)
and drop c and I find it very easy to play, I like fairly loose strings as I find that I can play lighter and that for me reduces tension but also still allows for the notes not to be too muddy in the low end. If you are struggling try Fluffs video “String gauge 101”