Can anyone tell me what gauge strings to use to drop my floyd tuning to drop C......
Right now I am playing on an Ibanez RG-570. It of course came equiped with the Floyed Rose Edge Trem. I've been around free float trems for a while. A lot of people think that the best way to accomidate lower tuning you have to adjust your springs. (Which is not true) The standard gauge for the Floyed Rose is set for Extra light gauge 9's And if you put reg light gauge 10's all you have to do is drop all your strings down a whole step D tuning and you'd have the same action you did with the 9's at standard E tuning. But even so my problem is that I don't have much expierence drop tuning. My guitar has the Wizard styleII neck and I was wondering if anyone out there can tell me the best route to go with heavier gauge strings without having to worry about the neck on my guitar getting warped.... Please any help would be great.
# 1
I probably won't be much help, as I only use hardtail guitars (no trem), but I use 10-52 gauge strings, and have had no problem tunning a whole step down and dropping to C. You might have to adjust your truss rod and intonation a little, but that's no big task. There are some tutorials around here somewhere on adjusting the truss rod and setting the intonation.
# 2
10's will surfice, (I normally use 10's and have been known to drop down to C - even got down to Bb once, but that was pushing it).
Personally, I'd recommend 12's as they'll give you enough tension to produce a "clean" sound without sounding too loose; although it very much depends on both your guitar and the sound you're after.
Experiment with you're current strings, if you're not happy try going up the gauges (I've never tried with anything below a 10-52, although I'd imagine it wouldn't sound too good?...Anyone?!) until you find something you're happy with.
If you're tuning down, the tension on the neck shouldn't be any (or significantly) different from standard tuning with lower gauge strings; I've never had a problem, but then again I don't regularly use the heavier gauges.
Hope that's of some use.
Personally, I'd recommend 12's as they'll give you enough tension to produce a "clean" sound without sounding too loose; although it very much depends on both your guitar and the sound you're after.
Experiment with you're current strings, if you're not happy try going up the gauges (I've never tried with anything below a 10-52, although I'd imagine it wouldn't sound too good?...Anyone?!) until you find something you're happy with.
If you're tuning down, the tension on the neck shouldn't be any (or significantly) different from standard tuning with lower gauge strings; I've never had a problem, but then again I don't regularly use the heavier gauges.
Hope that's of some use.
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# 3
I play in drop C and use Ernie Ball Power Slinkys on all my guitars. I do have one Ibanez with a Floyd that worked perfect with that gauge. They are 11's (11-48) in the purple pack....You'll still have to do some adjustments to the springs on the floyd though...
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# 4
if you want a really, really mean sound... check out the GHS Zakk Wylde sets. They're pretty high gauge strings... one set is for standard and drop d... and the bigger set is for anything lower than that. I use them on one of my strats and they sound great.
# 5
For tuning in C, I'd use at least a 11 guage set, preferably a set of 12's.
# 6
# 7
Originally Posted by: aschlemanif you want a really, really mean sound... check out the GHS Zakk Wylde sets. They're pretty high gauge strings... one set is for standard and drop d... and the bigger set is for anything lower than that. I use them on one of my strats and they sound great.
like i said... the GHS ZW sets are specifically made for either standard and drop d... then the heaviest set is made for anything lower than that.
# 8
If you step up on gauge like from say 09-42 go up to 11-50 and it shouldent be much to set it up
# 9