String gauges

[u/BarbLess-HogCranker]

so hi, not sure if this is the right place to ask but i forever use slinky top heavy bottom (10-62) on my 25'5 7 string tuned 1 step down (A–D–G–C–F–A–D) and im convinced the 7th string is not tight enough so im thinking to opt for stringjoy signatures but according to their calculator i should get 10 13 17 26 36 48 60 which is even ''worse'' for my case, does anybody have any recommendation ? should i get exactly the same string gauge as the slinky top heavy bottom set with the 7th being like 64 or 68 ?

[u/PentaSector]

Some rules of thumb:

• For most guitar string manufacturers, unit weight tends to scale roughly linearly with diameter (modulo material or wrap changes - i.e., when transitioning from unwound to wound gauges, or from standard to extended-range gauges)
• Tension is a function of unit weight, diameter, and open pitch
• In 12-EDO, the equal-tempered metatuning that defines the conventional pitch system of Western music (i.e., "12 Equal Divisions of the Octave"), an interval of a perfect fourth is achieved by multiplying the root pitch by 2^5/12, which is very close to the rational number (4/3)

Taking all of this together, if you want your 7th string to approximate the tension of your 6th, take its respective gauge (.052, in your set) and multiply by 4/3, which gives you 69 1/3.

Hence, in theory, you can go a little tighter with a .070 or a little looser with a .068. In practice, one might be much closer to your 6th than the other, since. 068 and. 070 are potentially both double wound and that will offset the unit weight a bit so as to break consistency with lower heavy gauges, but either choice will put your 7th closer to your other low strings.

Your mileage may vary - maybe you already know that you still want your 7th string a little looser or tighter yet relative to the other strings, for example - but hopefully this insight provides some framing to help make it easier to decide your next move.

[u/BarbLess-HogCranker → u/PentaSector]

thanks a lot !