A caution to Schecter 5er owners...

Kermin VH · #1 02-08-2011, 08:49 AM

Hey all! I did a search on this and turned up with nothing, so I thought I'd post this and hopefully save a few of you the grief and expense I incurred with this problem.

I own a Schecter C-5, and I've been using DR Lo-Riders on it for the past few years now. I bought a set to restring for my gig last weekend, but when I opened it up, to my surprise, the B string was missing! I went back to GC only to find that was the last 5er set they had of the Lo-Riders, so they gave me a single D'Addario B string. I got home, put it on, and realized it was too short to work on my bass. The string taper started before it crossed the nut! So, back to GC I go. I bought a full set of D'Addario strings, making sure to purchase long scale, assuming the one they'd given me was for a short scale bass. Back home, I attempted to put the low B on only to fnd this set has the same problem! After looking on D'Addario's website, I realized I needed a Super Long Scale set. The 35" scale length on the Schecter 5ers makes the taper of the B sit in the nut, resulting in the string resting on the frets. Don' get me wrong, I'm not trying to bash D'Addario; my buddy uses them on his Warwick, and they sound/feel GREAT! I just wish I'd known about this earlier.

After yet another trip to GC, I came home with a set of DR Marus Miller Fat Beams, which work great. I plan on trying the super long scale D'Addarios on my next change, but MAN, talk about a hassle! Hope I can save a few of you similar troubles.

lug · #2 02-08-2011, 09:03 AM

Yep. D'Addario "long scale" means 34" scale with something like the Fender bent bridge, nothing that puts the ball of the string further back than that will work.

JTE · #3 02-08-2011, 09:03 AM

D'Addario long-scale strings don't work on 35" scale basses, nor on most basses that string-through the body. They've been that way since at least 1993. Before that the regular long-scale strings would work on through-body bridges (specifically the pre-Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay), but they changed the spec at some point in the early '90s. You gotta use extra-long if you want to use D'Addario

John

Rickett Customs · #4 02-08-2011, 09:08 AM

Is the schecter a string through body?

Kermin VH · #5 02-08-2011, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rickett Customs

Is the schecter a string through body?

Nay. It's a top loader, but the way the bridge is made, the balls of the strings sit almost all the way at the end of the body. The taper for the tuner side of the string started about a 1/4" before the nut. As Homer Simpson would say, "DOH!"

lug · #6 02-09-2011, 10:01 AM

D'Addario long scale has even come up short on my Ric. If it's not a fender bent bridge type, I go with extra long.

PhatBasstard · #7 02-09-2011, 11:17 AM

I thought I had read somewhere that D'Addario recently started extending the outer winding 1/4".

If so, this would make the regular Long Scales work on my 35" scale Spectors, as right now they are just a hair too short. The winding actually terminates right in the center of the nut slot.

If this is true I'm sure there still are plenty of the old length out there on the shelves.

Anyone heard/know if this is true.

rstaggs01 · #8 03-16-2011, 09:58 AM

After yet another trip to GC, I came home with a set of DR Marus Miller Fat Beams, which work great. I plan on trying the super long scale D'Addarios on my next change, but MAN, talk about a hassle! Hope I can save a few of you similar troubles.[/quote]

Conversely, I found that the Marcus Miller Fat Beams are too long for what I thought was a long scale bass. The taper tries to wrap around the tuning post on my Fender Jazz, and shreds... Now that I have a new Studio 5, I think I'll be able to use all 5 of the Fat Beams...

vince a · #9 03-16-2011, 03:23 PM

I had the exact same experience . . . three trips to GC . . . three credit card transactions, then finally cancelled when they couldn't provide me with a string long enough to go thru-the-body on a 35 inch scale bass.

I ordered a set of La Bella extra long scale nickel "Slappers" from Just Strings. Five days later, before my next gig, I had them on . . . and am so glad I did! Great strings! Highly recommended.

tutumiley · #10 03-17-2011, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kermin VH

Hey all! I did a search on this and turned up with nothing, so I thought I'd post this and hopefully save a few of you the grief and expense I incurred with this problem.

I own a Schecter C-5, and I've been using DR Lo-Riders on it for the past few years now. I bought a set to restring for my gig last weekend, but when I opened it up, to my surprise, the B string was missing! I went back to GC only to find that was the last 5er set they had of the Lo-Riders, so they gave me a single D'Addario B string. I got home, put it on, and realized it was too short to work on my bass. The string taper started before it crossed the nut! So, back to GC I go. I bought a full set of D'Addario strings, making sure to purchase long scale, assuming the one they'd given me was for a short scale bass. Back home, I attempted to put the low B on only to fnd this set has the same problem! After looking on D'Addario's website, I realized I needed a Super Long Scale set. The 35" scale length on the Schecter 5ers makes the taper of the B sit in the nut, resulting in the string resting on the frets. Don' get me wrong, I'm not trying to bash D'Addario; my buddy uses them on his Warwick, and they sound/feel GREAT! I just wish I'd known about this earlier.

After yet another trip to GC, I came home with a set of DR Marus Miller Fat Beams, which work great. I plan on trying the super long scale D'Addarios on my next change, but MAN, talk about a hassle! Hope I can save a few of you similar troubles.

I recently got a Schecter Studio 5-LONG neck LONG strings. Sorry you went thru that BS....Quite a shock when you are used to snipping them down cuz they're too long!