Just changed the string gauge of my Les Paul (string gauge 'problem')

[PixelDream]

.. from .010 to .011, because I thought it would be cool to play in Drop C# for a few heavier songs of my band.

Guess what? I don't like it at all, the tone suffers and the sustain the Les Paul is famous for is gone.

So I guess I'll be back to good ol' 0.010 in no time. The 'problem' is: I'd love to play a part here and there that's below your average Drop D stuff, but the music we play doesn't command that we, as a band, tune down. It's basically all standard, except that the bass player has a 5-string with a low B.

How do you guitarists handle such things? Any of you had similar issues with going up in gauge, and losing tone?

[RobD]

I'm a heavy string user - I use 11s or 12s in standard. For my SG in open B I use 13s or 14s at the moment and have noticed no problems in tone or sustain, but this could be due to there being more string to resonate and sustain. As long as you remember to set the action properly once you've changed to a different gauge, the only difference you should notice is the tuning itself.

What gauge do you use for standard? It may be that 11s aren't thick enough relative to that.

[LTE]

What I've noticed from changing string gauge a lot, is the tone may be affected, but not completely because of the thicker strings. If you are used to 10s in standard, when 11's are put on, because they are thicker you aren't picking them as harder as 10s would be picked. I don't know if this is making sense but..  
So if you go up a gauge, try picking harder, to compensate for the thickness increase.

Also it may be your pickups, if you dropped down to C, stock les paul pickups might not handle those lower frequencies well and you'll get a ton of mud and no definition.

[PixelDream]

Thanks guys, I'll try the things you listed next time. I just HAD to change them back to .010 and standard tuning, I was too afraid I'd screw up my beloved Les Paul. I have an unused guitar body + neck, I guess I'm going to make that my downtuned guitar.

[MykeHavoc]

If you bring your guitar to get setup, you can pretty much get it set for any tuning. they'll adjust the neck, the intonation, pickup height etc. to get it ready for the thicker stringed tuning. I play a step down from standard and use, like, REALLY heavy strings on my SG. They are the coated Cleartone dropped C# set, which are like 13's or something. I have no real issues with my guitar...except for bends, which are pretty tough.