Buddy Guy breaks a string several times during his live sets, but it's a contrived part of the show. He's got a tech at the side of the stage waiting with a freshly-strung axe to swap with him, and you can bet that one of his bridge saddles has a burr on it to cause that string to break. A properly set up guitar will not allow a string to break unless it is being abused beyond all endurance. If you load spider-web electric strings, you can't beat on them like they were massive acoustic strings.
I'll refer you to the >D'Addario< website, because that's what I use, so I can give you some examples.
As I said earlier, my lightest strings are the EXL 110 sets I use on most of my guitars. This set is called Regular Light. If you click on the name, you will load a new page showing details of that particular set. Notice the numbers under the heading "Diameter". This is what is meant by string gauge. Usually in inches. Gauges for this set are listed as:
E: 0.010
B: 0.013
G: 0.017
D: 0.026
A: 0.036
E: 0.046
Often the string gauge is referred to in thousandths of an inch, so 0.010" diameter would be a 10 gauge string. This EXL 110 set can be called a 10 - 46 gauge set.
On my "Brand X" SBG1000, I use a slightly heavier set (11 - 49 gauge) to get richer tone. I tried the EXL 115's (called Blues/Jazz Light) but I found that the 18 gauge plain G string didn't balance well with the rest of the set. The EXL 115W set, with a 21 gauge wound G string works much better to my ears.
Before I installed DiMarzio pickups in my second SBG1000 (The Stocker), I was using the stock pickups with a EJ 21 Jazz Light set of 12 - 52 strings. This gave me killer tone for rhythm chord work, but I don't have the finger strength to do any serious bending with strings that feel like coat-hanger wire. When I installed the DiMarzio Tone Zone and PAF Pro pickups, I dropped down to a set of EXL 110 strings. I now call this axe "The Stalker" because it has a much more insidious tone.
So, if 9 or even 8 :eek: gauge strings are what you want to use, that's up to you. If you break them often, get your guitar checked out and set up. If you still break a lot of strings, you need to adjust your picking technique. No excuses. And unless you can afford to have a tech waiting at the side with backup guitars, breaking strings on stage is definitely not cool!
