- byStringjoy
- | June 15, 2016
Metal. It’s loud, aggressive, sweaty, and above all, heavy. The brutality, sheer volume, and collapsed-star-weighthasmade metal a force to be reckoned with in popular music for over 40 years, from the firstnotes of Black Sabbath’s self-titled album to today’s mind-melting djent explorations.
At the forefront of this scene, ever since he began playing for Ozzy Osbourne at the ripe old age of 20, isZakk Wylde.
The Key to Zakk Wylde’s Sound: Custom Guitar String Gauges
Zakk Wylde is known for his crushing, punishing down-tuned tones, lightning leads — both bluesy andheavy — and loads of squealing pinch harmonics. His love for Gibson Les Pauls, particularly with theiconic bull’s eye graphics, as well as Marshall amps, is well known.
However, at the core of this signature sound, even going all the way back to his Ozzy days and his now-famous 1988 guitar rig, are Zakk Wylde’s guitar string gauges.
The High End: Strings That Sing
Like the music he plays, Zakk Wylde’s guitar strings areheavy, or at least the low three are. The high three areactually fairly light, running 10, 13, 17, which is pretty standard for a light gauge string set. This allowshim to break into those signature leads with little effort in the bends and an improved sustain, clarity,and get some bite compared with lighter guitar strings running from 9 down.
The Low End: Pure Heaviness
It’s on the low end that his guitar string gauges start to get seriously heavy. Zakk Wylde favors an unbelievable36, 52, 60 in his bottom three guitar string gauges. The monstrous thickness all but guarantees that there will be zerofret buzz and string flab, even in tunings reaching down to a Sabbathian C#.
It also facilitates Zakk’sgenerous use of screaming pinch harmonics. The primary benefit, however, is a vastly improved punchand clarity from the meaty strings, giving those punishing riffs the proper strength they need to reallystand out over the powerful drums and thick bass of today’s heavy metal.
Emulating Zakk Wylde’s Sound with Your Own Guitar String Gauges
If you want to incorporate Wylde’s sound into your own playing, first things first: practice. The man hasbeen in the business for almost thirty years and he didn’t achieve his goals by wasting time on some rockand roll party lifestyle. But another step is to experiment with your own custom guitar strings. Before you do,there are a few elements to consider:
First, those extremely heavy low strings require some handstrength, so be prepared to put in the time building that up. Second, the high tension caused by the thickgauge is going to put stress on your bridge and neck, so make sure those things are on point before youset up your guitar. You may want to consider blocking your floating tremolo, or taking your axe to a techto make the proper adjustments.
Still, if you often play in lower tunings, and are looking for aserious increase in attack, definition, and sustain from the lower strings, ultra-heavy custom guitar string gauges like Zakk’s are one way to get you there.
