How strings, tension, tuning and intonation really effect your guitar’s tone
So much of the sound of your guitar or bass comes before it’s even hit a pedal, let alone an amp. Technique plays a huge role, of course, as does the construction, assembly and quality of your instrument. A huge factor is the strings themselves, both the material and gauge of strings affecting the resulting sound. While there’s recommended tensions for different tunings, you can explore different tensions for both feel of the instrument as well as the tone they produce.
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Heavier gauge strings pull harder on the neck, closing the gap between the headstock and the bridge, and require the truss rod that runs along the neck to counteract that tension. Lighter gauges do less, and as such might cause your truss rod to be pulling too hard to counteract the tension. A little know-how, some practice and self-diagnosis can have you confidently exploring different string materials and gauges to find the sweet spot!
Raw Materials
String material has a huge effect on the tone. For electric guitars, nickel has been a common material and provides a bright, responsive tone, assuming your strings aren’t too old! Increasingly popular are coated strings, that help to reduce dirt, grime, sweat and build up getting into the core of the strings and affecting structural integrity.
Nickel and bronze alloys have always been popular, and coated strings have come a long way to preserve the brightness of an acoustic guitar. Bass guitar strings are generally pretty long life, yet there is a range of coated strings that preserve the life of even them.
Roundwound strings are generally more prone to dirt and debris, as the gaps between the string’s winds actually create more space for dirt to get in. As such, flatwound strings provide a mellow, warm sound for both guitar and bass, and are less susceptible to dirt and debris.
Image: Adam Gasson
Cable Tied
String gauge is a huge player. Traditionally you’d move up and down gauges to get the same feel and tone from different tunings, but you can use them to give your sound a unique signature as well. Heavier strings possess a punchy, low-mid presence that make them a great option for recording sessions specifically.
They’ll take a little practice to get used to, but their rigidity can also help reduce tuning issues. Simply striking strings causes them to vibrate to produce a note, and lighter strings vibrate more which can push the resulting note out of tune. A heavier gauge string can produce the same note but is harder to bend out of shape, so it’ll be more consistent.
The opposite end of the spectrum is also true and can be used to great effect for unparalleled control over vibrato, bending and expression. E Standard tuning often works well with 0.009 or 0.010 gauge strings (referring to the size of the highest string), but 0.008 gauge strings are also available. These provide an ultra-light feel, requiring very little pressure to both fret notes or bend, allowing players to bend very easily.
It’s important to keep in mind that set-up aside, your strings as a set need to balance each other out. For this reason, extreme heavy gauges on the bottom strings and ultra-light strings won’t play nice without buzz.
Image: Adam Gasson
Perfect Balance
Unbalanced tension can be a real guitar killer, the same as long term storage can on a guitar without strings strung. The truss rod that runs along a guitar’s neck is designed to counteract the pull of the strings. Heavier gauge strings offer more tension and the aforementioned punch, clarity and tuning stability, but the strings pulling harder require the truss rod to be adjusted to retain a flat fretboard.
Understanding this, as well as making small, incremental adjustments can help to navigate setting up a guitar with different strings. When using lighter gauge strings, you might find that your previous truss rod tension is too much for the light strings, and it gives the fretboard a convex shape. Here, the truss rod needs to be loosened to ensure the tension is all balanced as you explore different strings.
This exploration is all good and well, but at extreme ends of the spectrum you’ll need to keep an eye on how much your guitar can take. Low tunings and big, fat strings are common in heavier genres, but standard, factory machine heads may struggle to accommodate the thickness of strings that are 0.60 or higher.
The bridge of your guitar is the same story, with the added break angle and recessed string guides being designed for more standard sizes. Ultra-light strings are much more flexible, but are more susceptible to break because of their tiny size, especially with a sharp machine head edge or bridge; so safety goggles might be a good idea when really going for it in that solo!
Image: Adam Gasson
All The Way Up
Finally, while intonation isn’t as huge a deal here as different tunings, the subtle differences here are enough to shift those octaves out of whack, so it’s important, as always, to check it!
Heavier gauge strings might sometimes require the length of the string to be lengthened to ensure intonation is correct, while lighter strings might require the saddles to be moved forward and the string shortened. Lighter gauge strings will also vibrate more than heavier, as such be super careful to ensure the string isn’t vibrating itself out of tune while checking your intonation or the whole measurement will be off!
Much like exploring pedals, amps, pickups and technique, the strings you use can have a huge effect on your sound. Heavier gauge strings are extremely stable, but require more pressure to fret. There’s an added punch to their tone, but you’ll need to punch those notes out with a strong picking and fretting hand to get ‘em out.
Lighter gauge strings offer supreme flexibility and expression, added spank, but can vibrate themselves out of tune entirely, as well as being more susceptible to breakages before of their small size. Balance is the name of the game here, but your choice of strings in material, gauge, design and tension all play a part in giving you a unique result.
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