String gauge

The diameter of a guitar string, measured in thousandths of an inch or in millimetres, quoted as a set such as ten to forty-six.

Gauge decides tension, and tension decides everything else: how hard the string is to bend, how much volume it produces, how much relief the neck needs and how bright or full the instrument sounds. Sets are described by the plain string's diameter, so a ten is lighter than an eleven even though both contain a wound bass set. Players match gauge to tuning and scale, since a heavy string in a low tuning and a light string in a high one both create problems.

Example: dropping the tuning of a guitar by a whole step usually needs a heavier set to keep the strings from feeling slack.

String gauge

See also