Different strings

[Stilettoprefer]

Hey all,
I play a schecter stiletto and use it for jazz, pep band, and praise team at church. Im getting tired of ernie ball regular slinky's. The G seems to always ring louder and sound brighter than the other strings. It would be nice to get a set with a little higher tension also.

Any suggestions? I have never tried flatwounds on this bass, anyone tried a set?

[carlos840]

Maybe you need to lower the G side of the pickups...

[Stilettoprefer]

I'll do that tonight! Would still be nice to get some higher tension though.....

[carlos840]

Well regular slinkys are already a pretty heavy gauge, you have a 50 G and 70 D which is already pretty thick, do you downtune a lot?
You wont be able to go any thicker without doing some work on your nut!

[Stilettoprefer]

I have to downtune from standard to BEAD occasionally because some jazz charts require a 5-string, where i only have one 4 string electric working (in the process of building one that will stay in BEAD) And the nut shouldnt require much work if it does need some.

[ixlramp]

These are D'Addario's published tensions for their 50 70 85 105 nickel set, the Ernie Ball regular slinkys will have similar tensions ...

XLB050 G 0.050 53.4 pounds of tension
XLB070 D 0.070 60.1
XLB085 A 0.085 48.4
XLB105 E 0.105 40.3

The high strings are much tighter, 25 pounds more tension on the D and G than the E and A. The centre strings are also much tighter than the outer strings. This is an extreme example of tension imbalance. The tightness of the G compared to the others is probably the cause of the brightness.

I recommend building a set from singles that has equal tension on each string (or buy a tension-balanced set from Circle K Strings), this will even-out the tone, and strength of your technique, across the strings. it will also spread the stresses on the instrument evenly across the neck.

[Stilettoprefer]

Holy cow. Thanks for sharing that info. I'll have to look into building a mixed set.

[ixlramp]

If you download the excellent D'Addario tension chart pdf and scroll down to the 'XL Nickelplated Round Wound' table you can then design a set with similar tension on each string. You can use this table to construct a set from a manufacturer other than D'Addario since the variation will be minimal.

The average tension of your 50 70 85 105 set is roughly 50 pounds per string so you could choose gauges to give you close to 50 pounds on each string. This will re-distribute the tension, tighten up the E and loosen the stupid-tight D

[Stilettoprefer]

Awesome thanks man!

[ixlramp]

Yeah almost all sets are either top or centre heavy by a large amount. It's still a mystery to me why this is It's a decades-old tradition that perhaps compensated for the inferior technology of the past. For example, loosening the low strings makes them floppier and output more fundamental, to compensate for the low frequency response roll-off of vintage amplifiers.

Originally Posted by Stilettoprefer

It would be nice to get a set with a little higher tension also.

Originally Posted by Stilettoprefer

I have to downtune from standard to BEAD occasionally because some jazz charts require a 5-string

Do you want more tension because they feel floppy at BEAD? In fact detuning from EADG to BEAD halves the tension, it's a massive and extreme retune that I would advise against No set of strings will feel good at both tunings. 50-105 is actually a heavy set, it irritates me how D'Addario and Ernie are calling it medium / regular Medium should be 40-100. I wouldn't go much above 50 pounds on each string, that's very tight. I'm thinking 45 60 85 110/115 or similar? Roughly 45 pounds each string.

[Stilettoprefer]

Alright i'll save those numbers thanks for all the help man.

Today i actually received the pickup for a bass project ive been working on, so soon as i have the money for some electronics ($50) i'll have a bass to keep in BEAD and leave my schecter in standard, or other way around depending on how the project turns out.

Now that I think about it, the ernie balls that are on now (and have been since the end of september) could be a little floppy due to the changes in tuning alm2forehead: but even tension on my bass necks will be in the near future!!

[ixlramp]

As an alternative to buying singles, If you want to buy a set that is already designed to have equal tension on each string then one of these two sets from Circle K Strings will work well ...

4 String Set - Balanced Standard 112
.112 .084 .061 .043

4 String Set - Balanced Standard 118
.118 .088 .064 .046

Circle K is a new company whose entire operation is based around providing sets with equal tension on each string (and this is why I'm such an enthusiastic supporter, this is a much needed revolution). They are excellent nickel-plated strings, you can read reviews towards the end of this TalkBass thread.

If you want to check the tensions of their sets download the Circle K tension chart pdf.

EDIT: I should mention that Circle K's may not work with through body stringing due to a short tapered section. See the Circle K specs pdf.