# What gauge strings to use for my Schecter Hellraiser C8?



## foreverburn (Nov 30, 2009)

I am trying to decide what gauges to use on my c8 when I get it...

I use 11-52 (elixirs) on my 7, I was thinking of sticking with that set and just adding a .70 for the F#

It would be (low to high) .70-.52-.49-.38-.28-.18-.14-.11

If anyone has a better suggestion, please feel free to post it as I'd like to hear a couple of ideas of what you guys are putting on your 8s... the next size up for the low string in the elixirs is a .75, but I thought .52 jumping to .75 was pretty drastic...

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what comes stock on the c8 (please list individual gauges) Thanks guys!


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## dreamsfrag (Nov 30, 2009)

I think the stock gauges post on Schecter's site should be fine, they are 

.10 - .13 - .17 - .30 - .42 - .52 - .64 - .74

Just standard 10-52 plus .64 and .74, I also used this on my intreprid.


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## foreverburn (Dec 1, 2009)

dreamsfrag said:


> I think the stock gauges post on Schecter's site should be fine, they are
> 
> .10 - .13 - .17 - .30 - .42 - .52 - .64 - .74
> 
> Just standard 10-52 plus .64 and .74, I also used this on my intreprid.


 
I've been getting my strings from juststings.com for years

I can't get a .74 in the Elixirs... I can get a .75 though...

as for the .64 the closest they come is a single .65 under their bass guitar strings, that is where I found the single .75 but I think that is as close as I can get for the F#

As far as Elixir goes on guitar strings is a .68 so far as I've found...

Their 10-52 set is:

.10-.13-.17-.32-.42-.52

so that would make my Elixir set for 8 string

.10-.13-.17-.32-.42-.52-.65-.75 (the .65 and .75 actually being bass guitar strings)

Does this sound like it would be a pretty good route to go with? Keep in mind that the low F# is actually going to be dropped down to E.


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## Ben.Last (Dec 1, 2009)

Don't use bass strings. I repeat... DO NOT use bass strings. I understand you're fond of the elixirs and are trying to figure out a way to make a workable set for your 8 but... DO NOT USE BASS STRINGS.


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## zimbloth (Dec 1, 2009)

Lern2swim said:


> Don't use bass strings. I repeat... DO NOT use bass strings. I understand you're fond of the elixirs and are trying to figure out a way to make a workable set for your 8 but... DO NOT USE BASS STRINGS.



Dude what are you talking about? Elixir NanoWeb Bass strings are 100% identical to their guitar strings. I've been using their bass strings for years, they're the exact same just longer. Same amazing tone and feel. Zero difference. I use their .060 bass string on my 7s and I've compared their Elixir Guitar .068 and the Elixir Bass .070 and they sound and feel almost identical.

With some brands I agree this is a bad idea, but DEFINITELY not with Elixir NanoWeb.

Personally when I had an 8 I used their 9-42+52+68, all guitar strings but the 70 was cool too.


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## foreverburn (Dec 1, 2009)

Lern2swim said:


> Don't use bass strings. I repeat... DO NOT use bass strings. I understand you're fond of the elixirs and are trying to figure out a way to make a workable set for your 8 but... DO NOT USE BASS STRINGS.


 
Care to elaborate on why this is a bad idea, or should I just "trust you because you know what you're talking about"?



zimbloth said:


> Dude what are you talking about? Elixir NanoWeb Bass strings are 100% identical to their guitar strings. I've been using their bass strings for years, they're the exact same just longer. Same amazing tone and feel. Zero difference. I use their .060 bass string on my 7s and I've compared their Elixir Guitar .068 and the Elixir Bass .070 and they sound and feel almost identical.
> 
> With some brands I agree this is a bad idea, but DEFINITELY not with Elixir NanoWeb.
> 
> Personally when I had an 8 I used their 9-42+52+68, all guitar strings but the 70 was cool too.


 
I am concerned about using only a .68 for my low string because I'll be tuning it to low E, I don't want to make the string floppy and shitty...

I guess I could go 10s with a 56 and a 68 though if you think that will provide ample tension for the string to be tuned down to E.


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## Shredcow (Dec 1, 2009)

I have a C8...

I play 9 - 42, then a 56 and a 70. I find the .70 too loose in relation to the low B and low E. I think a .72 or the original .74 would be optimal, in terms of tension balance.

Elixirs have more tension than regular strings... I reckon a .68 elixir is similar in tension to a .70 d'addario, if memory serves me right.


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## foreverburn (Dec 1, 2009)

Yes I can do the 10-46 with a 56 and a 68! Nice... I don't particularly WANT to use bass strings, but I also worry about string tension...



Shredcow said:


> I have a C8...
> 
> I play 9 - 42, then a 56 and a 70. I find the .70 too loose in relation to the low B and low E. I think a .72 or the original .74 would be optimal, in terms of tension balance.
> 
> Elixirs have more tension than regular strings... I reckon a .68 elixir is similar in tension to a .70 d'addario, if memory serves me right.


 
What strings would you recommend for the C8 then? I'm going to drop tune the F# to E and I want to make sure there is a fair amount of tension in the string.

I would like to continue to use the Elixir because I love the tone and longevity, but if this is a bad idea I want to know why it is and what is a good string to use instead.


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## Shredcow (Dec 1, 2009)

foreverburn said:


> What strings would you recommend for the C8 then? I'm going to drop tune the F# to E and I want to make sure there is a fair amount of tension in the string.
> 
> I would like to continue to use the Elixir because I love the tone and longevity, but if this is a bad idea I want to know why it is and what is a good string to use instead.



I really am not sure what would be optimal for a low E... right now, I think .72/.74 is going to be good for a low F# but probably still not tight enough if you're a heavy fast technical picker methinks.

I suppose you really will have to buy a few different guages and take it from there. 

Not sure if the widened low F# tuner can take a .80 but I suppose that is a good place to start. 


I think Elixirs are fine for longevity... I personally don't like the tone - they sound like 1-2 week worn in strings but they do stay that way forever.


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## foreverburn (Dec 1, 2009)

Shredcow said:


> I really am not sure what would be optimal for a low E... right now, I think .72/.74 is going to be good for a low F# but probably still not tight enough if you're a heavy fast technical picker methinks.
> 
> I suppose you really will have to buy a few different guages and take it from there.
> 
> ...


 
Yeah, they never sound like a fresh set of Blue Steels, but they are very consistent for a long time. I'm trying to find a company that makes strings in the mid 60s to high 70s in gauges. Throw me a few brand names that I can check into! Thanks for the help man, appreciated!


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## Shredcow (Dec 1, 2009)

D'addario makes .70, .74 and I think .80.


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## Ben.Last (Dec 1, 2009)

foreverburn said:


> Care to elaborate on why this is a bad idea, or should I just "trust you because you know what you're talking about"?



They're composed differently than guitar strings and will not resonate the same as a guitar string is designed to. They won't sound the same as guitar strings so they wouldn't go well with the other 7 guitar strings.

However, in this case it's a non-issue, because, as Zimbloth says, when it comes to Elixirs, they're all the same. I don't use Elixirs and wasn't aware of this. It is an issue with other brands though.


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## Cheesebuiscut (Dec 1, 2009)

For a low E I would at least do 80 if not 85 or 90. 

.080 at the 26.5" scale is 14.2 lbs so I wouldn't go lower than that.


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## foreverburn (Dec 1, 2009)

Cheesebuiscut said:


> For a low E I would at least do 80 if not 85 or 90.
> 
> .080 at the 26.5" scale is 14.2 lbs so I wouldn't go lower than that.


 
I don't want the balance of strings to be really off, I would hate to jump from a 50 B to an 80 F#

Can a few of you guys post what gauges and brands you use (please post all string gauges, not just the F#) so I can get a better idea of what is working? Especially you guys with the C8s... but I'll take ideas from anyone that plays an 8.


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## Cheesebuiscut (Dec 1, 2009)

Your drop tuning, the balance is off if you don't have the gauges jump like that.

Think about it, your increasing the interval from a 4th to a 5th, in order to keep the tension balanced you need to up the gauge of the lower string. Or you can use a 70 gauge string and have it flop all over the place, whatever floats your boat.

Your 56 gauge string has 14.8 lbs on a 25.5" scale, 16 lbs on a 26.5" scale. If you put on a 70 gauge string for E on the 26.5" scale its 11 lbs = flop city.

Take your low B on one of your current guitars with a .056 gauge string and tune it down to G# / Ab and see if you like how it feels because that's how the 70 gauge is going to feel on the low E. Tune that same string to A to see what E feels like with a 75 gauge string. 

Hikky Z's String Assembler

I post this in the 500 string gauge threads that show up in any given week. Use it to figure out what tension you like. Take a look at your current strings and write the tensions down then figure out what gauge you need for what note in whatever new tuning your going into. Personally I like my low strings to be closer to 16lbs as a minimum and 14~ish for my high strings. Gets my strings tight enough without having the gauges unbearably thick.


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## foreverburn (Dec 1, 2009)

Cheesebuiscut said:


> Your drop tuning, the balance is off if you don't have the gauges jump like that.
> 
> Think about it, your increasing the interval from a 4th to a 5th, in order to keep the tension balanced you need to up the gauge of the lower string. Or you can use a 70 gauge string and have it flop all over the place, whatever floats your boat.
> 
> ...


 
Very good info here, thank you very much. The only thing I was really concerned about with a really big string was it feeling awkward and cumbersome to go from an 80 F# to a 56 B, but I understand what you are saying about keeping the tensions good across the guitar, which in the end would be the most important thing to me.

Once again, thanks for the info.

Oh and dropping my 7 to G sucks, there is no way I could feel good about playing on strings that loose...


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## Cheesebuiscut (Dec 1, 2009)

Yup, if your concerned about the gauge difference between the .056 and the .080 I would just up the .056. What do you plan to use the guitar for? You may want to try keeping the guitar in standard before dropping the low string.

I have the 2 low strings on my 6 jump from .060 to .042 and I don't have any problem with a difference in size. The majority of the difference is in sound and even that's not a huge deal until the upper frets. Think about your usual bass string pack, the strings usually jump around .020 between strings and since your in the bass register at that point it makes sense for the gauges to jump at least that much.


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## foreverburn (Dec 1, 2009)

Cheesebuiscut said:


> Yup, if your concerned about the gauge difference between the .056 and the .080 I would just up the .056. What do you plan to use the guitar for? You may want to try keeping the guitar in standard before dropping the low string.
> 
> I have the 2 low strings on my 6 jump from .060 to .042 and I don't have any problem with a difference in size. The majority of the difference is in sound and even that's not a huge deal until the upper frets. Think about your usual bass string pack, the strings usually jump around .020 between strings and since your in the bass register at that point it makes sense for the gauges to jump at least that much.


 
I will be doing metal on this guitar, I will not be keeping it in standard, there are just too many odd shapes that I do with the drop tuning that are really REALLY hard to do in a standard tuning... 

I will for sure be tuning it E-B-E-A-D-G-B-E

And I couldn't get the String Tool site you showed me to work, I'll give it another shot though, maybe the page didn't load correctly...

Yeah the string builder just says error on page every time I try to get info from it.

I really want to stick with the Elixir strings because they last a bit longer, and my european decent doesn't help with the oily complexion junking up my strings all the time. Can anyone tell me if going with a .080 Elixir bass string would be a bad idea? Like seriously the pros and cons of it, if it makes a shit of a difference, etc...


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## Cheesebuiscut (Dec 1, 2009)

Are your 7's in a dropped tuning at the moment? You could always tune the first 7 strings up instead of the low string down you know. I just say this because 26.5 is a very short scale for even a low F# yet alone a low E. if you tuned to drop F# you would still have crazy low end but you could slim down on the strings a bit and you would get even higher with a high F#. You could even leave the low B alone and just tune the first 6 strings up and get F#Bf#beg#c#f# and still have your drop tuned shapes with an added low F#.

Just some things to think about. 

As for the tension calculator there's several posted on this site if you use the search function. The one I posted is by far the easiest to use but the others work if you can't open the page.


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## foreverburn (Dec 1, 2009)

Cheesebuiscut said:


> Are your 7's in a dropped tuning at the moment? You could always tune the first 7 strings up instead of the low string down you know. I just say this because 26.5 is a very short scale for even a low F# yet alone a low E. if you tuned to drop F# you would still have crazy low end but you could slim down on the strings a bit and you would get even higher with a high F#. You could even leave the low B alone and just tune the first 6 strings up and get F#Bf#beg#c#f# and still have your drop tuned shapes with an added low F#.
> 
> Just some things to think about.
> 
> As for the tension calculator there's several posted on this site if you use the search function. The one I posted is by far the easiest to use but the others work if you can't open the page.


 
Yeah my 7 is tuned A-E-A-D-G-B-E

I don't really want the tuning of my other 7 strings (on the 8) to be higher than the standard 7 because when I hit the standard 7 portion of it I still want to have that nice low end that supports the style of music that I am shooting for.

I guess in the end I am just going to have to experiment with stuff until I find something that suits what it is I am doing.

I appreciate all the opinions, they will certainly steer me in the right direction. I was just looking at the octave4plus line, and I think the 8 String 1B config with a low 80 will probably be a good idea, I just really want to stay with the Elixir's though for the reasons I have stated.

I had toyed with the idea of tuning the 8 F#-A-E-A-D-G-B-E but then I realized that the really cool shapes I like will be even weirder and more complicated to pull off on the lower register of the guitar, so the E-B-E-A-D-G-B-E is the way to go for me.


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## Ben.Last (Dec 1, 2009)

Since you asked...

On my intrepid(28.625 scale) I use a D'addario 7 string set plus a single .074. So...

.009, .011, .016, .024, .032, .042, .054, .074

I play pretty hard and the action is incredibly low and there's not a whole lot of buzz with those gauges on that scale.


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## troyguitar (Dec 1, 2009)

My 9 is 27.5" scale tuned low E to high G. I'm using:

74 54 40 30 22 16 12 9.5 7

If I were to do low E at 26.5" I would start with a .080"


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## johnnyboy102 (Dec 9, 2009)

I have a blackjack atx C-8 which is the same scale length (26.5in) and I am also curious what gauge I should use. I downtune 1/2 step to F. can anyone help me out?


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