Strings Lesson by Tangent

 Tone....The all important yet widely overlooked aspect
of guitar playing that can make or break a performance. 
Tone is the reason most professional players have a job,
being in tune and having a distinct tone sets them apart 
from the crowd.

 When dealing with country music the most distinct type
tone that comes to mind is that of the Telecaster. The
twanging ring and country fried fever that the Tele pro-
duces is what legends are made of. But will buying a Tele
automatically give someone the right tone or for that matter
KILLER tone? The answer is no.

 There are so many things made up in producing a good tone,
that it is hard to say do this or do that to get good tone.
But we can stack the deck in our favor by doing a few 
relatively easy things.

 1) Decent strings: Don't keep using those same old worn
out strings. Get rid of them, let them go to a better 
place!!! Really, strings that are old do not have the ring
or sustain of a new string and do not have near the tone 
of a new one. Oil and skin deposits limit the tone and 
deaden the sound of old strings.

 So what strings to use? Well I use a hybrid of many different types. 
I use mostly a light guage D'addario
but replace the G and the high E strings for some thicker
strings. I like to use thicker strings then a lot of people
because I like a real thick tone with lots of under belly.
I string different guitars differently. I use very heavy 
strings on my Strat to get away from a tinny tone. I string
my Les Paul with lighter guage because I can still get a 
decent tone and lighter strings are easier to play for me.

I mostly sting the Strat for lots and lots of bottom end.
I put a Hot Rail in the back end position of it and as
I said I string with heavy guage (end up with a .13 on the 
bottom think it's a .48 or 50 on top). Why? Well it's a 
cheaper model Mexican made Strat, can't see the wood grain
so I'm sure it's full of knotty wood. Knots don't resinate,
so it