Actually, the .011s aren't all that difficult to get used to (as I originally feared, as well). But, finding the Tomastik-Infeld brand & correct gauge was a big chore. Took me about a week or so to get the strength in my fingers built up to be able to bend those .011s like I wanted. I still use Super Slinkys (.009s) on my Strat.
In fact, now, I've built up to where I'm using .012s on my M1 now. (I bend a lot, and in the 7-1/2 years I've had my M1, the grooves in the nut had widened to where this past February, I had to switch to larger gauge of strings.) I do have to watch out when I'm playing the lower strings because with the bigger gauged strings, I start tip-toeing into the bass' upper sonic range. Those bigger strings just roar, though...really cut through a three-guitar, bass, drums mix when need be.
I don't recall the brand of strings I'm using, I got so many different ones when I went to the NAMM show in January, I don't remember which were the ones I put on the acoustic and which I put on the M1.
I still pretty much ritually use the aforementioned Super Slinkys exclusively on the Strat. (I tried Fender's Super Bullets and didn't like 'em at all, so I've gotten kind of OCD-like in my use of the Ernie Balls on the Strat over the years).
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Among God's creations, two, the dog and the guitar, have taken all the sizes and all the shapes in order not to be separated from the man.---Andres Segovia
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