Has anyone had to drop gauges due to health issues?

[boardn10]

I have RSD which give some wrist pain and lighter gauges I'm funding seem to help me a bit.
But I'm struggling with missing the feel and tone of heavier gauges. The wound strings are not the issue, so I keep this heavy. It's the plan strings and only with bends. Bends can be painful. I've also developed some other wrist related issues that are impacted as well.
I did a half gauge drop from 10s for the plain strings to 9.5s. I know it's a small drop but it's noticable on bends.
I must be a glutton for punishment since I bumped them back up to 10s to better balance of with my wound strings and I think they sound better and are easier to play for everything with the exception of bends.

I should mention, only a handful of songs have a lit of bending and half of those are in standard tuning.
For rehearsal I use one guitar rather than having to haul to guitars to practice each week and just detune the guitar for Eb and drop C# songs. We play in standard E, drop D, half step down Eb and drop C#.
When we gif, I use two guitars and will probably have the standard tuned guitar with 9s or 9.5s and the half step down guitar with 10s for plain strings.
If I find I really like the 10s in standard as I used to, I'll have my Eb guitar with 11s.

 

[László]

Not on my electrics, where tens are fine, but my PS acoustic has a bluegrass set - sounds great, and is what the guitar came with - medium bottoms, light tops. I may have to go to a full light gauge set due to some nerve issues in my fretting hand.

When I ordered the guitar, I figured I'd try the 1 3/4" wide neck finger style players prefer. Huge mistake for me, I find it too wide, but when my hand was OK I was able to adjust more easily. Now...between the wide neck and the strings, I'm having some issues.

I can't change the neck width, so I might have to dick around with different strings. Bah!

 

[boardn10]

That's good you are fine on electrics.
I haven't played much acoustic in years.
Sorry that was such a big mistake for you.

 

[DISTORT6]

I have RSD which give some wrist pain and lighter gauges I'm funding seem to help me a bit.
But I'm struggling with missing the feel and tone of heavier gauges. The wound strings are not the issue, so I keep this heavy. It's the plan strings and only with bends. Bends can be painful. I've also developed some other wrist related issues that are impacted as well.
I did a half gauge drop from 10s for the plain strings to 9.5s. I know it's a small drop but it's noticable on bends.
I must be a glutton for punishment since I bumped them back up to 10s to better balance of with my wound strings and I think they sound better and are easier to play for everything with the exception of bends.

I should mention, only a handful of songs have a lit of bending and half of those are in standard tuning.
For rehearsal I use one guitar rather than having to haul to guitars to practice each week and just detune the guitar for Eb and drop C# songs. We play in standard E, drop D, half step down Eb and drop C#.
When we gif, I use two guitars and will probably have the standard tuned guitar with 9s or 9.5s and the half step down guitar with 10s for plain strings.
If I find I really like the 10s in standard as I used to, I'll have my Eb guitar with 11s.

Have you tried one of these?
https://digitech.com/dp/drop/

 

[RickP]

I'll say yes if you count getting older as a medical condition.

I've tried a set of 9.5s and liked them. I played 9s for years and years early on, then changed to 10s when many guitars I bought came with them. Honestly, I ought to go back to 9s now. My finger joints aren't getting any younger, but I've got a bunch of 10 sets to burn through before that's going to happen.

 

[TFC]

If laziness is a health condition, then yes. Three hour gigs with .09s is waaaay less work than with .10s.

 

[boardn10]

Have you tried one of these?
https://digitech.com/dp/drop/

That would be better for me if it could tune up. I love heavy strings and the feel for rhythm but not the impact in my bad wrist at times.
This pedal would come in handy for rehearsals and even gigs if I wanted to use one guitar. I wonder if it sounds accurate or artificial.

 

[László]

That's good you are fine on electrics.
I haven't played much acoustic in years.
Sorry that was such a big mistake for you.

It's OK, I've had the guitar for 9 years and used it on plenty of commercials, so it's paid for itself.

The mistake is that it sounds so good, it'd be great if it was perfect for my hands at this point!

 

[boardn10]

If laziness is a health condition, then yes. Three hour gigs with .09s is waaaay less work than with .10s.

Exactly. Just fretting the strings has an impact, not just bending. Sucks, because I love the feel of that tension for rhythm but it does wear on you after long sessions.
I guess it's all a compromise.

 

[Glide-bpm]

I'm still on 10's, but I can do that lighter touch thing good. Now the heavy right hand is another story. LoL!

 

[Prina]

I played 9s for years and years early on, then changed to 10s when many guitars I bought came with them. Honestly, I ought to go back to 9s now. My finger joints aren't getting any younger, but I've got a bunch of 10 sets to burn through before that's going to happen.

With my joints entering their eighth decade next year, mine aren't getting any younger either. Lighter strings and limiting high stress/impact motions like large bends makes a huge difference in how long I can practice, like 3x to 5x longer. I've gone into modeling in a big way and between compressor and eq can go a long way to help with the difference in tone. My solution is having guitars with lighter guages for practice and different guitars with heavier strings for performance & recording.

In my humble opinion, PRS seems to have optimized their Core/S2 lines for 10's. I think that a decade ago they often shipped with 9's. My S2 594 SC sounds great with the stock strings but the tone degrades quickly with lighter guages.

 

[Moondog Wily]

I know I am the odd man out here on this topic (because of my green behind the ears status compared to most of you), but here is my deal with hand issues and string gauges. I have owned some of my guitars for over 30 years, but in those 30 years, I had probably less than 100 hours play time on those guitars in that time. In 2021, I played more guitar than I had in all of my previous years combined. Somewhere around 1500 hours would be my estimate. 2022, probably a little over 1000 hours and this year so far, I would estimate about 400 hours. Now in Jan 2022 after having done the first real year in my life of guitar playing, I was starting to get pains in both of my hands, and they were clearly related to my playing. I realized that something had to change, or I could end up with some permanent damage to both hands. My first move was to move from 10's to 8's (this is all on electrics, I use 12's on my acoustics I believe). Unfortunately, the e kept on breaking, so I gave up on 8's and tried 9's. Did not have any breakage issues, but my hands were not getting any better. I took a step back and rationalized what was happening, and came to the conclusion that the monkey grip (aka ham fisted grip) on my fretting hand, and my pick holding on my strumming hand were the issues. I spent the entire 2022 and this year so far on getting rid of that tight grip. I have probably only eliminated it 30% of the time, but I do keep getting better at the light touch, which not only has eliminated any problems in the way my fretting hand feels (fine even after 5 hours of play in a day), but it has also helped me to move around the board more efficiently and of course sounds better because I am not pushing the strings further out of tune with the tight grip. I will note that my bending is minimal, but even there, I have noticed the lighter touch allowing the bends to be easier and smoother sounding. I will continue to work on that as it's benefits are noticeable and enhance my playing and will likely help to allow me to play longer both daily and into my golden years (that is the dream anyway) and I am back on 10's. On the pick hand, I had been holding the pick with thumb, index finger AND middle finger. So in this case, I was getting pains at the base of my middle finger, in the knuckle where finger joins the hand. I have worked on shifting the pick so that I am generally holding it with my thumb and the side of my curled index finger. The middle finger is giving the index finger some support from below, but it completely eliminated my developing pains. I still fall back into the old pick holding pattern often, but when I notice it, I correct it right away. I am probably at 70% new hold style compared to 30% old style. All that counts for me though is that the pain no longer creeps in and I do not feel that I will be suffering any long term issues now that I have adjusted. And just to be clear, I am not saying this will solve anybody else's problem, or that anybody else is doing anything wrong, or that string gauge change is not your solution, just saying what I went through when it came to hand issues and my playing in conjunction with string gauge changes. Hope all works out for you and you are able to find a long term solution!!!

 

[boardn10]

I know heavier strings supposedly are warmer, add low end, sound thicker, punchier, etc. I think it's minimal but I have noticed a difference in my tone dropping from my normal 10s to 9s.
Honestly I love the feel of high tension in strings. I find strings way more responsive that way. They are only harder to bend, but prefer the feel, response and sound by far.

I am going to get one of those Digitch drop tune pedals because then I won't have to have other guitars set up in different tunings trying to match the feel I have from one guitar to the next.

I wonder if that pedal can do drop D/C#, not just all strings. Looks like it can do anything you want tuning wise.

 

[Greywolf]

old broken up fingers and creeping arthritis prompted my to drop down a bit . I tried the 9.5 PRS (D'addario) sets and love them.
I put 9's on my 335's and while the shift forced a lighter playing touch , it actually was a huge benefit . I can play faster and longer with less effort and no tone issues.

 

[boardn10]

With my joints entering their eighth decade next year, mine aren't getting any younger either. Lighter strings and limiting high stress/impact motions like large bends makes a huge difference in how long I can practice, like 3x to 5x longer. I've gone into modeling in a big way and between compressor and eq can go a long way to help with the difference in tone. My solution is having guitars with lighter guages for practice and different guitars with heavier strings for performance & recording.

In my humble opinion, PRS seems to have optimized their Core/S2 lines for 10's. I think that a decade ago they often shipped with 9's. My S2 594 SC sounds great with the stock strings but the tone degrades quickly with lighter guages.

How does one optimize a guitar for a string gauge other than the non adjustable bridge?
I have gigged 10-52/54 and 11-54 for years on my PRS guitars without issue. No I to Arion issues either. I also love the PRS adjustable bridge on my SC250.

I switched to 9.5-52 and am now back to 10-54. Only reason the low E is so heavy is because we do a good amount of drop D and C# songs.

I play much faster with heavier gauges.

The fact that lighter strings take longer to snap back, slows me down I have noticed and makes me sloppy.

 

[boardn10]

Thanks for the experience and input, Moondog.

I totally hear what mean about technique. I've worked hard over the years to ensure I don't have the ham fisted approach and my issues is all my left hand, not my right. I have issues in that arm from shoulder to elbow and wrist. I've had surgeries, one for a nerve issues and I have RSD which can cause chronic pain that is pretty severe. That's been much better in recent years but I noticed at the gym I was having wrist pain. That pain comes and goes and can be aggravated by string bends. No other playing aggravates it, only bending.
I believe my issues are I related to playing but are aggravated by playing, if that makes sense.
That said, I live how my guitars feel with 10-54.

I am really curious about that drop tune pedal.

 

[bodia]

Do they really make that much difference?

 

[DISTORT6]

I wonder if that pedal can do drop D/C#, not just all strings. Looks like it can do anything you want tuning wise.

If you use a guitar tuned to E Standard just drop the E to D and use that pedal to get Drop C#.
From the demos I’ve seen, going SUPER low (E standard down to B Standard) is the one thing that doesn’t sound too good. It will get the low tuning to the correct pitch, it just gets “phasey”.

 

[boardn10]

Do they really make that much difference?

I like that video. I've watched it a few times in years past.

That said, nothing beats real world experience and what works for you.
I know what feels best and works best for me. I know what sounds beat to my ears too. Part of the sound is the fact that you will play better on something that feels better.

 

[bodia]

I like that video. I've watched it a few times in years past.

That said, nothing beats real world experience and what works for you.
I know what feels best and works best for me. I know what sounds beat to my ears too. Part of the sound is the fact that you will play better on something that feels better.

So true.