A different approach
On the face of it, electric guitar strings don’t seem like they should be that engaging a subject, but we guitarists are a very particular bunch, and debating the benefits of one set vs another often inspires fairly impassioned discussion. Preferences are many and varied, but luckily, so is the array of choices.
One proprietor of such options is Ernie Ball. A long-time maker of strings, guitars, and much more, the company has a storied history and an impressive roster of players, with the likes of John Mayer, Slash, Paul McCartney, and Eric Clapton adorning their artists page. Joining them is Polyphia’s Tim Henson with an interesting signature set of strings.
Polyphia are impossible not to mention in any conversation regarding the progression of modern guitar music and how it sits in the current landscape. Intricate composition combined with mind-bending musical chops has, rightly, catapulted the band to fame with G.O.A.T., The Worst, and Playing God being just a few of the songs that have captured the imagination of a new breed of guitar player.
Beyond that, Tim has worked on various projects as a composer, which he discusses with Guitar World's Michael Astley-Brown in a recent interview, and has gotten into the guitar building game with his signature Ibanez electric and nylon-strung acoustic guitars, and now turns his head towards strings.
As he put it in an Ernie Ball promo video, he had a few “unreasonable requests”. A set of strings that are "lighter than a 10, but still retains that stability", having an “air of percussiveness, but not being too shrill” and a “low string that doesn't overpower the harmonics” of the higher string, to name a few of them.
Can you make a string that is lighter than a 10, but still retains that stability?
Tim Henson
In short, we have a discerning player, impressive in his musical accomplishments and ability, teaming up with a company backed with decades of know-how at the forefront of what they do.
So we can be safe in the certainty that what we have here is going to be a quality product. However, the interesting thing about guitar strings is that it’s a personal choice, without a right or wrong.
I have periodically given the lighter gauges a shot, only to come crawling back to 10s for two main reasons
My preference has been in 10-46 gauge strings, which I have stuck with for around 15 years, but this doesn’t mean I haven't experimented a bit. Working as a reviewer, guitars frequently come out of their boxes strung with 9s, with the reduction in string tension meaning fluid bends and liquid vibrato coming off the fingers with markedly more ease.
With this and B.B. King's “Why you working so hard?” quote in mind, I have periodically given the lighter gauges a shot, only to come crawling back to 10s for two main reasons.
Firstly, playing live and getting a little carried away at times, it is a lot easier to get that unwanted wobble when hitting an open low E on a thinner gauge. Secondly, once the novelty of the ease has worn off, I find myself wanting a little more resistance when pushing the strings around.
Looking at Tim Hensons' new custom strings from Ernie Ball, we have a thin top, heavy bottom set of 9.5 gauge strings - 9.5, 12, 16, 26, 36, 46. For context, my usual set of 10s consists of 10, 13, 17, 26, 36, 46.
Whilst I am no Tim Henson, on paper, his signature set may give a little of that fluid feel that inspires my infrequent experiments with a lighter gauge, whilst stopping short of being too skinny and retaining the relative stability of 10s on the lower strings. It therefore felt worth a test to see if these strings could change a habit of well over a decade.
The premise is simple. Stick them on the guitar I use most - a Fender Telecaster, live with them for a few weeks, and see if I'm tempted to keep using them.
Road Testing
After restringing the guitar, the strings were worked hard over the two weeks I would usually get out of a new set. Used across my everyday playing, in review for other gear, the little bit of teaching I do outside of reviewing, and for video demo shoots with Guitar World, they had a tough term covering pretty much every genre of music.
The first thing I notice is a bit of surprise. I am used to both 9 and 10 gauge strings, so I expected to feel relatively at home on this set, which is somewhere in between. But for the first few minutes, I didn’t.
Having strings that feel like 10s at the bottom seems to have the effect of putting my fingers into 10s mode. This means that it initially feels a little odd when the B and E strings are looser than my muscle memory is expecting.
The slightly thinner top strings seem to sit nicely between 9s and 10s for my taste
This is more of an observation than a criticism, and is something that takes no time at all to get used to. After this adjustment, the slight reduction in tension on the thinner strings does indeed lend itself to that easier feel.
However, the real test in this aspect is whether I miss that extra tension from 10s after getting used to this new gauge. The quick answer is that I don’t. The slightly thinner top strings seem to sit nicely between 9s and 10s for my taste, giving a smooth feel without too much compromise on the little bit of tension that I like.
So far, it’s looking promising. Next, I hit those lower strings to see if they wobble any more than a normal set of 10s. Given that the lower strings of the Tim Henson set are of the same gauge as my usual, I didn’t expect that they would act any differently here, which is indeed the case.
Two weeks in, they still sound bright and lively
Moving on to how they sound, it’s a little difficult to comment objectively as the small differences between sets of well-made strings result in entirely subjective preferences. What I can say is that they sound great, as you would expect from a company like Ernie Ball.
It’s also worth mentioning that two weeks in, they still sound bright and lively, which is a worthwhile benefit of high-end strings that tend to be a little more expensive, like these ones.
Final thoughts
Keeping them on the Telecaster is a no-brainer
The question now, then, is, will I keep using them? Yes. It’s not that what I have used up until now falls short in any way, it's just that I enjoy this Ernie Ball Tim Henson Signature set just incrementally more.
At least on a 25.5” scale length guitar, they suit me a little bit better by allowing the thinner strings to be slightly more slinky without getting too skinny, whilst retaining the gauge and stability of the lower strings and therefore solving the issues I mentioned earlier.
Keeping them on the Telecaster is a no-brainer. When it comes to my guitars of a 24 ¾ scale length, however, I don’t want those strings holding any less tension, so I’ll be sticking to my usual there.
What’s happened here, then, is a refinement of a preference rather than a correction of any issue.
Obviously, for fans of Tim Henson or Polyphia, the name will be a draw. However, I would reiterate how personal string choice is, and suggest ignoring the fact that they are signature strings, and instead, thinking about what your preferences are, and whether there is room for refinement in what you are using.
If this thinking leads you to believe your ideal strings may be somewhere in between a set of 9s and 10s, give these a go.
- For more information on Tim Henson's signature sets check out Ernie Ball
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