Guitar string gauge changes can cause problems that reduce the lifespan of your guitar!
There are two ways to go when changing guitar string gauges – Heavier or Lighter. Let’s check out both..
Changing String Gauge on Electric Guitars
YouTube, many Forums, FB Pages, etc., will tell you that if you’re “only” going up one gauge size, like from nines to tens on an electric guitar, you have nothing to worry about.
Guess what?
They’re all wrong!
No problem with nut slot widths though..
Most electric guitar nuts are cut for tens. That means some of the strings in a set of nines will have a bit of “slop” to them. The low-E in nines is 0.042″ while it’s 0.046 in tens. But that 0.004″ difference is well within the 15% of tolerance allowed for wider slots and you won’t have much of an issue.
I’ve even read nonsense about having to file for nut slot height differences when changing from nines to tens – Malarkey!
Come on now! The bottom of the string still sits in the bottom of the slot, so the string heights over the first fret don’t change – unless you’re moving up to twelves where the strings won’t fit in the too-narrow slots and won’t touch the slot bottoms.
Exception: If a shop installed your nut and filed it for nines, then it will definitely need to be re-filed for tens.
Nearly an Extra 20 Pounds of String Tension!
Have you thought about the difference in string tension?
Remember, your guitar has a constant tug-of-war going on – strings trying to bend the neck upward and truss rod trying to hold the neck straight-ish.
How much difference do you think there is between guitar string sets of nines and tens?
According to D’Addario, a set of nines has a total of (roughly) eighty-five pounds of tension, while tens have 103 pounds. That’s eighteen pounds of extra upward pull on your headstock.
That’s roughly the equivalent of two one-gallon cans of paint!
You’re obviously gonna need a truss rod adjustment.
What happens if you don’t adjust the truss rod?
A couple of things – first you’ll not only have that extra eighteen pounds pulling up on your headstock, but a little extra “bow” is going to occur immediately. That means your headstock is slightly higher than before. So what?
Well, that means the guitar strings don’t just have an extra eighteen pounds of pull, they also have a bit of leverage now.
How important is leverage? Try to lift the front end of your car. Didn’t move much, did it? Now, get the jack out of the trunk. THAT’S LEVERAGE!
And what happens when you bend a stick of wood for a long while? After all, your guitar’s neck is just a stick of wood, right?
You make it much more difficult to ever straighten out again.
You’ve heard of truss rods that didn’t have any adjustment left – well, this is probably why. Someone neglected to regularly setup their guitar and the neck bow gets “set” in the wood until the truss rod can no longer straighten the neck.
Changing String Gauge on Acoustic Guitars
It’s just about the same story for acoustic guitars. Acoustic guitar nuts are typically cut for twelve-gauge strings, and a set of elevens are slightly narrower, but well within our 15% tolerance.
Like electrics, if you’re going to a heavier gauge set of strings than the guitar nut was cut for, you HAVE TO have the nut re-cut or the strings will be pinched; won’t sit in the bottom of the nut slots, and you’ll have a terrible time.
Like electric guitars, going from elevens to twelves increases the total string tension, but it can be even greater than eighteen pounds – some sets can give nearly thirty more pounds of total tension.
I hate to think of what can happen to your neck if your truss rod is set for elevens and you install twelves, without a re-adjustment.
Lefty-Righty?
We recently had a rather extreme case where a customer wanted his guitar converted from lefty to righty, but DID NOT want a new nut.
We had to file the former e-B-G- nut slots, of course, but the old E, A & D now became e, B & G. Those solid strings were swimming in the huge nut slots!
How badly did it affect playing?
Surprisingly, not too awful bad.
But the constant horizontal movement of strings in the nut slots will eventually cause ridges and problems will increase dramatically.
String Gauge Changes Summary
So changing between nines and tens on electrics only requires a truss rod adjustment, no matter which direction you change.
Changing between elevens and twelves on steel-string acoustic guitars, only requires a truss rod adjustment, no matter which direction you change.
Going up or down beyond those string gauges, should be done with some oversight from your trusted guitar tech. Going up will surely require nut slot filing and truss rod adjustment, at a minimum.
As for how they’ll sound – if you’re going through an amplifier, SRV might disagree, but my eighty-year-old ears don’t hear a big difference.
Most restrings are just $15 at Hank’s Guitar Shop in Clearwater, so why not let us put those new strings on and take care of any needed filing or adjusting, at the same time?
