EUB Strings

[raycoman]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum. I'm a professional guitar builder of many types, and a semi-pro guitar & bass player (Electric Bass). I am experimenting in building a couple of EUB's, but I have little experience with some stand-up bass specifics, so I'm learning. My question to you all is what kind of strings do you prefer for EUB, and what range of options are there? A few pieces of criteria pertaining to the EUB's I plan to build:

1. These will be standard electric bass 34" scale
2. The strings need to be optimal for both saddle transducer use, as well as megnetic pickup use (akin to the NS omnibass)
3. For use in both arco & pizzicato style
4. These will be 5 string fretless basses

I know D'addario makes a set that meets this criteria, but I want some further perspective from players. Cheers, and thank you.

[TheSuzie]

A lot depends on who is going to play the basses and what sound will satisfy them. BTW you might want to post to the EUB forum on the DB side or have the mods move this.

If you want strings that sound Really good for arco, you probably need to use double bass strings like those by Corelli or someone else who makes a 1/4 or 1/2 size set that is good for arco. I know the Kydd bass by Bruce Kaminsky uses D'Addario bass guitar strings but some double bass players really do not like the arco (or pizz for that matter) sound of those instruments. Of course economics may be a factor since double bass strings are expensive. Of course one persons knock-out sound is someone else's meh...

Are the players you are building for going to use DB or BG technique? It makes a huge difference in sound and has some bearing on string selection. People who came up on trad DB technique do not usually play pizz up on their fingertips. Fingertips may not get great sound out of some DB strings unless the player is pretty strong. Heck, Stanley Clarke plays BG with the side of his fingers most of the time though I still can't figure how he manages to turn his hand that way without tremendous pain..

Peace,
S

[raycoman]

Hi, thank you for your response. I'll re-post this in the DB section.

These will be played mainly in bluegrass, blues and rock formats, and mostly pizz with occasional arco.

Cheers.