Bending difficulty due to extremely tight strings tension. how to solve this problem?

[mschafft]

In the case I'm talking about it was less about string tension and more that the guitar felt stiff. Very stiff. The rod was way tighter then it should have been loosening it and giving the guitar a few adjustments (trem claw, saddle height, etc...) really made a difference. It felt like a completely different instrument. YMMV

 

There is a potential truss rod impact on string tension, but it goes the other way round. You switch from 9s to 10s, consequently, the strings put more pressure on the neck. The truss rod may then be too loose. Consequence : excessive relief, which may cause slightly higher tension on fretted notes.

[Angry Tele]

downtune half a step

[thecornman]

I agree with those that say play the string gauge that is most comfortable to you! There are so many other ways to get a bigger sound then big strings.

[HanSolo]

Um No. Skinny top, heavy bottom just means the gauges vary from the standard set. 10-52 rather than 10-46.

I just read the package and feel pretty stupid. I have been playing these for years and always assumed the core was tapered or something because they always felt slinkier than D'Addarios in the same gauge. Doh!

[Flatspotter]

Tune down a half step with the 10s, go back to 9s, get a guitar with a shorter scale, or get used to the 10s. Those are pretty much your options.

[Darkstorm]

If you need to use tens instead of nines. Switch to a brand like dean markley blue steels. They have less tension then other strings of same gauges that ive used. resulting in need for truss rod tweak. Theyre tens are closer to most brands Ive used 9's.

[Mesa/Kramer]

Keep playing with them and eventually .010s will seem very easy. You should keep moving up until you reach a string gauge intended for adult players, like .012 or .013.

Great idea for a new Thread

".013's are for adult players" Anything less is for non-serious players"

[Grant Harding]

Sounds like 9.5 is the way to go. I've used them and went back to 10s, but I have really strong hands and no trouble bending even with 10.5 or 11. I just like the sound of the 10s best. Don't listen to meatheads that think you need to use piano wire to be a serious guitarist.

[cephus]

I think that heavier strings require a bit higher action to facilitate bending. I have 11s on most of my electrics now and it fortunately took care of any adjustment by adding tension. Just bowed that neck a little more so I could get leverage on the bigger strings. I guess I did progressively move to bigger strings. I had 11s on my gibson scale hollow body for a couple years, still using 10s on my strats. One of them ended up having a neck without enough relief, so I just strung it with 11s rather than went for the truss wrench. I just liked it, and eventually migrated all my fender scale guitars to 11s.

 

The size of the strings does make a huge difference in tone if you play clean. If you play with that soupy saturated distortion, it won't matter at all. But the more your tone relies on the actual sound of the strings and the wood, you will find a difference - but you may not like it. I never used to like the sound of the big E string that comes with 11s. It kind of bongs like a piano sometimes and doesn't blend well with the other strings. I overlook it now because I change strings too often to fool with some custom gauges.

[Skyforger]

Practice bends on a bass

[Django Sentenza]

Great idea for a new Thread ".013's are for adult players" Anything less is for non-serious players"

 

Well, it's sort of like weights. These are the ones they give to women and kids:

 

 

And these are the ones for men:

 

 

The same applies with guitar strings.

[Skyforger]

 

That's more than I weigh

[thecornman]

Well, it's sort of like weights. These are the ones they give to women and kids: And these are the ones for men: The same applies with guitar strings.

This is just a stupid statement! Playing a guitar is nothing like lifting weights.

[Django Sentenza]

This is just a stupid statement! Playing a guitar is nothing like lifting weights.

 

Well, obviously the difference is finger strength vs arm strength. Some people just have very weak fingers and need to use lighter strings. No shame in that!

[warriorpoet]

The problem is that you're playing with .10s. I'd never dare to play with any gauge over .014. .10 is THICK! Kudos for bending those bridge cables a full tone!

[tlbonehead]

I've just recently changed my Stratocaster's strings gauge from .9 to .10 because I felt like I wanted a thicker sounding. .9 was a bit too soft sounding and too thin for me. However, I found now the strings tension is extremely tight that it makes bending VERY difficult. Now very often I tend to bend out of tune (a semi tone lower) even when I try to bend really hard with the right posture. And it result in my fingertip's skin are falling off, and within a few hours of playing my fingertips are already hurting so bad that I can't bend anymore, and I have to wait till the next day to be able to play again. I play quite often, it shouldn't hurt this bad, and I think .10 is alright for me, and I've used .10 before, but it's just that this time the tension becomes so tight that makes bending extremely difficult. I don't know is it the setup or what. Is there a way I can release the strings tension and make it less tight by myself? I thought the action is already pretty low, but if lowering the action is the only way to solve this problem, how do I lower the action?

lower action makes bending more difficult, not easier.

[Django Sentenza]

The problem is that you're playing with .10s. I'd never dare to play with any gauge over .014. .10 is THICK! Kudos for bending those bridge cables a full tone!

 

[Grant Harding]

lower action makes bending more difficult, not easier.

Only if the frets are low as well. A guitar with low action and jumbo SS frets bends like butter.

 

Edit: Not sure if I've ever bent butter, but I think it would feel like my Anderson.

[Darkstorm]

Yes if yoiu have high action, redoing for low action via truss rod and bridge adjustment would help a lot as others have indicated. But again 9's are better choice but makers like dean markley blue steel are also loweer tension strings for same gauages compared to most

[Jimmy25]

alright, so I've decided to change the string gauge from .10s to .9s (D'Addario), and still, the strings tension is still almost as tight as with .10s strings. I don't see much difference. I don't understand, because long before my strings were easy to bend and they seems a bit loosen. I was able to bend the strings easily in tune without having to use so much force that kills my fingers so fast. And I tried other guitars in the shop when I went to buy the strings, other guitars were much easier to bend and not so tight like mine now. However, I didn't have this problem with my guitar until I had my pickup change to Lindy Fralin Blues Special and the tech might have done some change with the setup, perhaps it's the neck relief or truss rod or... idk. After that the tension becomes super tight, it just doesn't seem normal... I mean, I've been playing for a while already, "I used to be able to bend in tune"... but now, it just becomes so tight I don't know what happened. Even changing back to .9 doesn't seems to help much.

[Skyforger]

What kind of bridge is it? Hard tail, Tune-O, Floyd, Strat...

 

If it's a tremolo bridge, it might be that it needs setting up again.

[Django Sentenza]

Seriously, this topic and reply's like this would be an Epic 30 page thread

 

I think the forum needs a break from that for a while. I'd hate for someone to literally do this:

 

 

[Skyforger]

I think the forum needs a break from that for a while. I'd hate for someone to literally do this:

 

Lemme change from this:

 

 

to this:

 

 

and we're good to go

[Grant Harding]

9's are fine. Let the amp do the work and play with a light touch.

[McCain]

Bends would probably 'feel' easier with a floating bridge or the springs loosened to where the bridge barely is held down to the body and raises/gives a little when bending.