String Me Up

I started with a nice set of D'Addario .09's on my PRS in 1986. Boy... I really loved those .09's. Then I found out that Rich Robinson used .095's... so I went to them... I also became a blow-hard... telling everyone that they were the best of both
.09's and .10's... and in the middle too. Once hand strength has been built up though, it seems to be good advice to go
higher, unless you REALLY need those .09's (for bending notes)... but even then, this doesn't necessarily make all that much sense. I currently play .10's (.10-.46) Fender Vintage strings. I was thinking of moving up to .11's... and eventually .12's. Stevie Ray usually played .13's, and then detuned. (This actually gives you more ooumph to your strings, and then allows you to ALSO bend that string more easily... because of detuning.. sort of like having the cake and eating it too). I asked my Luthier whether I should go for .12's... his answer... "either .09's or .10's are what the guitar is 'set up' for". I didn't question him, or necessarily understand his answer, but went with the .10's. I found my answer last night though in a Fender Stratocaster book... the NUT is filed for strings in the range of .09 to .10 for the high 'E'... and anything bigger probably will require filing. Without filing, you will probably get binding of the string and also 'pinging'. The book mentions a touring musician, who would start with .09's on tour, but by the end of the tour, he would be setting up and playing .13's... (as his hand strength adjusted on tour, I guess). This drove his tech nuts (literally), since he had to get out the file, and work on all the nut's on all the guy's guitars. So string me up, but unless I want .13's.. and will detune... AND plan on permanently filing my nut... Hey, stay down to earth on string gauges.