If you’ve never dropped below your nines and 10s, you might be surprised by the choice you have. Our Rotosound set (£5.49) is gauged at 0.008, 0.011, 0.014, 0.022, 0.030, 0.038. Like all our set suggestions here, the bottom three are wound, the tops are plain. This seems a pretty popular set gauge, with most of the main string brands – including Ernie Ball and D’Addario – offering the same.
Of course, Billy F Gibbons has his own quaintly titled Rev Willy by Dunlop sets (£6.99) at slightly different gauges: 0.008, 0.010, 0.012, 0.020, 0.030, 0.040, and he also dares to drop to 0.007, 0.009, 0.011, 0.020, 0.030, 0.038. Other artist sets we stumbled across include the Fender Yngwie Malmsteen set (£7.99) at 0.008, 0.011, 0.014, 0.022, 0.032, 0.046, while Optima’s Frank Zappa set (£14.99) are 0.008, 0.010, 0.013, 0.024, 0.032, 0.046 and gold-plated.