I'm so fucking sick of...

[Dylan Thomas]

Todd, the guitarist from Warhorse, used to use 11-49 strings, tuned down to G.  Figure that one out....

I have a hard time believing this. Some cool tones can be had when your strings are super floppy but sustain is generally very weak and it's hard to get and stay in tune for a whole song. I use a 68 for the F# string on my 27" scale baritone and even that is kind of floppy to the point where I have to be careful not to press it too hard when fretting or I'll sound out of tune.

This was what he actually told me, and live, he bent the crap out of notes and such.

He also used a small, Crate solid state amp for recording As Heaven Turns To Ash.

[RAGER]

Been using Beefy Slinky's for about the last 8 years.  But I get into ruts where I get used to something and stick with it.  Been using the same old dumb guitars and the same big old dumb amps forever too though.

[fallen]

Ever since SRV I've been hearing people brag about string gauges. Whatever it is someone will take it to extremes. To each his own but bragging about it is a bit silly. 16-72 in C standard bra.

The worst recent trend is this quest for "clarity". Some guitars are sounding like a Lars Urlrich bass drum. All pick attack and no meat. Just as scooped as the 90s but just at a different frequency to go with the lower tunings.

Are they going to start putting tweeters on guitar cabs so you can get that ice pick clarity on your low F string on your 29" scale 9 string guitar. Yuk.

I guess some people are already running full range cabs with their fractals so any tone is possible. Bad and good.

[Jake]

It's sometimes hard to tell sarcasm over the internets, but I'm fairly certain that no one is actually bragging about their sting gauges.

[lordfinesse]

Haha... tweeters in guitar cabs. Up next, treble drops to go with all those bass drops.

[fallen]

Maybe not in here but I've seen it. Whatever makes it possible to make the music in your head is cool with me.

In bike riding there has been some crazy extremes, fixed gear riders chopping their bars down to under a foot wide while MTBers run bars up to 32" wide or more. Extremes in either direction and no one's shoulders are getting any wider or narrower overnight.

Same with guitars. Some people with light strings and super low action, some people running super huge strings, some people in the middle.

I learned on 10s in E standard. So now I'm stuck at that tension. 13s in B or whatever feels not too tight with a bit of mush but not too much twang.

Edit: sometimes I'll go even lighter if recording something to get that Doppler-like bloom that you get on down tuned guitars because I like that sound. Just like a low tuned bass drum or floor tom when you hit it really hard.

[spookstrickland]

I think if you are having a string flapping problem you could be picking too hard.   I've had to soften up my pick attack over the years and I actually really like it now.