.11 gauge

I got a thicker gauge this time upon recommendation from the music shop, these days i like to play COB a lot so i use drop C# tuning and then shift it down to drop C using the pitch shifter in guitar rig. .10 had a super flappy upper string so they said the .11 gauge set wud be better. True that, it sounded more closely to the COB sound. I first tried C tuning but it was still too flappy, so went up to C# and the rest is guitar rig xD.

Since my guitar is full body mahogany it made a pretty beefy and thick sound in this tuning, a bit too much really, had to tone down the bass setting on guitar rig, it still doesn't sound as sharp as i want it to but i guess its the pickups fault at this point, they are rather dull.

With this new gauge, i dunno, it doesn't seem any harder to keep it at C# (basically D# but with the lowest string tuned down to C#) compared to gauge .10. Sure the thin strings are harder to control as i please, and also sounds a lil, i dunno, not ringy i spose is the right word. Also i seem to be making a nintendo sorta sound when i do arpeggios on the higher frets :P, it was making that kinda sound before but now its more so.

But the improvement i get from the thick string sounds pretty much makes up for that really, and since my fingers got tougher it doesn't seem any much harder to play with this level of tension though my fingers do seem to get tired a bit faster.But well i had just installed them anyways so i guess its just a matter of getting used to it.

I do believe i cannot get the sound i want at this tuning without better pickups, its muddy as anything right now.

Also since i just installed a fresh batch i noticed sure the sound is a lot cleaner but guitar rig still makes a slight fuzz sound on the thicker strings.. maybe i didn't do the settings right, maybe i put too much gain, i cant be sure but its kinda annoying for me personally though i spose everyone else wud just shrug it off and say that's how a guitar sounds like :P

Next ive raised the action just a little bit higher than i need to, i noticed at bare minimum the strings makes a very minute buzz sound in all the frets... and it seems harder to palm mute as well, i raised it just a lil bit more and the sound suddenly cleaned up and palm muting got a lil more natural, as in i didn't have to concentrate on how i was doing the muting. I dont feel like going too high cos that makes playing rather uncomfortable, not difficult, just doesn't feel right

I may have mentioned before the guitar pick needs to be suited to the guitar string tension in order to play comfortably. I used my old delrin .4 pick and even when its the flappiest pick i have it was still easy enuf to do arpeggios with this new gauge set. interesting indeed but i still prefer my stubby.

lastly it looks like i may have found the second guitar i was looking to buy. A friend is selling his Jackson Rhoads RR3 for a reasonable price. The specs are good actually.

Pros:
1) its made from alder and got a maple neck so its gonna have a different sound and feel to it than my kinki so wud love to try that out

2) Its got a floyd rose bridge and thats good cos i was looking for a guitar with a tremolo

3) Its got proper pickups by seymour duncan XD

4) its color and shape is like... the word im looking for is in between awesome and awesome :P

Cons:
1) Its not THAT reasonable a price considering its a used guitar

2) As cool as the Rhoads looks its not the most comfy guitar to play with

3) It doesn't have 24 frets for gods sake O_O, this is pretty much a blow in the nards if u wanna play most modern metal

4) Too many controls and awkwardly placed to be honest, I don't really need two volume knobs and a tone knob, i always have the tone at full (hey it maybe a dumb idea for some ppl but i just like the biting sound it makes okay? O_O ), and the pickup switch is placed in between all that D:

5) horrible bolt on joint makes playing the 18 and higher frets really really hard...well it looks like its gonna be hard i haven't played it yet ._.

6) I prefer the ESP LTD V401DX over the RR3 in terms of looks, specs and ofcos im a huge ESP fan, all my fav guitar players use esps and ive heard only good things about even their low end guitars

7) A lot of ppl in Maldives owns jackson brand guitars and thinks they are awesome and blah...really wud prefer to have something different and unique, like my current guitar, ive not seen one person who owns my axe or even a metallic gray colored guitar for that matter :P. Id hate to go up on stage and ppl go ooh he owns a jackson rhoads too!, that's why he sounds so great!...bleh.

But it really just comes down to what it feels and sounds like in my hands, if the fabled compound radius neck that Jackson regards as its trademark is as great as they claim this might just be what im getting as my 6 string trem guitar.

Im not sure though, the playability sure looks horrible but cant tell for sure till i actually play it :P, it wud be pretty hard to beat the comfort of kinki though. Only something like the Roukangas hellcat or ESP M300 could give me more room to reach for the highest frets.

And anyways there are only two more guitars i ever want to buy, one 6 string with trem, the other is a 7 string with a trem, that wud pretty much cover anything i want to play. Kinki is great as non trem guitars are said to sound superior to floating trem guitars but ill only confirm that after i play a trem guitar myself.

As for tunings i think id have all my guitars at D# tuning and drop tune now and then. In D# all i have to do is either pitch shift one half step up or down and that pretty much covers all of the stuff i want to play, the rest can be done on the 7 string which is also going to be at D#.

Guess thats all there is to say at this moment, and here is wishing they wud bring ernie ball hybrid sets already! *waves angry fist*