Guitars

How to Get a Fatter Guitar Tone: Strings, Hands, and Why the Mid Knob Will Not Do It

By Mike · Published October 11, 2026

In March 2001 there was a long thread on alt.guitar.amps about how to “fatten up” a guitar tone, followed by another called “Mids = sustain, pic attack and a fuller sound.” I argued the same side in both. This is that argument, dated and kept in my own words, with the parts I can check against current sources.

The 2001 thread

The short version of my position: a mid control is not going to make a thin tone fatter. I wrote that I had never heard a mid control that could really make an amp sound fatter, just more muddy. I also said tone controls are for tweaking, and that they cannot make a lousy player or a lousy amp sound better than it actually is.

What I argued

Tone controls mostly cut. I pointed out that most tone controls are passive, so what they do is cut, not add. That is true of passive circuits. Active EQs can boost, so it is worth knowing which kind you have.

Fat means wide. In my definition, a fat tone fills the tonal spectrum. That is why I suggested you might lower the mids and raise the overall volume if you want the widest sound, because pushing one band narrows the tone. I made the point that when an engineer wants a guitar to stick out, they boost a particular band, and nobody calls that fatter. In the thread I also claimed that Mutt Lange built a famous guitar sound out of many thin-sounding guitars, each with a different band pushed, so that each had its own space. I have not verified that, so treat it as my claim from 2001.

Strings and hands. This was the main point. I had moved from 9s to 10s years earlier, and by that spring I was on 11s and 12s. I wrote that I definitely heard a tonal difference going up in gauge, especially going from 10s to 11s while playing dig-in, semi-distorted stuff. I also said I was a hard player with very heavy picks who does not use much gain. My claim was that, all else being equal, string gauge is one of the biggest components of a fat tone, and that the great tones of players like Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan came from heavy strings plus the hand strength to control them.

It changes how you play. I noted that going heavier changed my attack. With heavier strings I played with a more percussive, muted feel because of the solid feel of the strings. When someone handed me a guitar strung with 9s, I became more legato and played cleaner bends. I put part of how I play now on moving up.

Gain hides it. I added a caveat: with lots of gain, you may not hear the difference. If you tune down five steps and play through a cranked Dual Rectifier, maybe not. For players with good technique and a good amp, the difference can be pretty clear.

Checked against today

I checked the main claims against two sources. D'Addario's string gauge guide says heavier sets create more resistance when you strum and bend, and describes them as ringing out longer and having a fuller tone. That matches what I wrote in 2001, though D'Addario does not claim it is the biggest factor.

On Stevie Ray Vaughan, Guitar Player describes a half-step-down set measuring .013, .015, .019 (plain), .028, .038 and .058. The article says that set gave him more tone and took a toll on his fingers. In a February 1990 interview he said he had lightened up because his calluses had torn and he had a hole in his finger. So the cost of that heavy tone is real. I wrote about hand strength in 2001, and that is the same point from the other direction.

What to try

Go up one gauge at a time. I got to 11s and 12s over years, not in one jump. A heavier set changes the feel and your attack, and your guitar may want a setup adjustment afterward, so it is worth having it checked.

Judge it with everything else the same. Same guitar, same amp settings, same pick. That is what “all else being equal” means, and it is the only way to hear what the strings did.

Use the tone knobs to tweak, not to fix. If the tone is thin, look at strings, picking and the guitar before you reach for a mid control.

Treat the treble with care on a Tele. A related note from April 2001: on my Tele through a Budda I preferred the treble at 12 o'clock or lower, and I got a bit more fatness that way. That is one guitar and one amp. For more on getting tone without adding gear, see guitar tone without pedals.