Hellcat VI options?

Johnny Hollow · #1 06-29-2007, 02:20 PM

I recently bought a Schecter Hellcat VI and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. It was going to be a studio tool, but it's a lot of fun to play, so it gets a lot of attention.

The string gauges that it comes with are the standard bass vi gauges: .25 .35 .45 .55 .75 .95

I'd like to try some thicker ones, like: .27 .37 .47 .60 .80 .100

The problem I'm having is finding 30" scale bass strings that will accommodate the guitar tuners on the Hellcat. I'd probably have to buy single strings and make a custom set, as I haven't been able to find anything like this.

Does anybody have any recommendations? I looked at sites like juststrings, but a lot of their single strings are long or normal scale, and I'm not sure what will fit. I think the Hellcat strings have regular bass string ball ends on them.

Thanks for reading!

BmoreTele · #2 08-14-2007, 08:57 PM

I ordered my Hellcat VI yesterday. My research has turned up the 2 D'Addario sets that are lighter - XL155 and XL156 (24-34-44-56-72-84) and the Fender and LaBellas that are the standard bass VI gauges. 25-95.

The Ernie Balls are 20-90 and I think they have guitar ball ends.

If the Hellcat tuners can handle 95 gauge bass strings, I don't see why they wouldn't handle 100's. The challenge is going to be finding short scale strings in the gauges you want. Standard bass scale strings would require you to wrap 4 extra inches around the tuners - not likely. Or you would have to cut off so much of the ends that you run the risk of the wraps falling apart.

The D'Addario EXL 160S shorts are 50-70-85-105. The ENR71S "half rounds" run 45-65-80-100. You might have to mix and match them with some strings from baritone sets 12-16-22-38-52-68, 13-17-26-36-46-62, etc.

The challenge is that the highest ptiched strings on the Hellcat also have to be the longest because of the layout of the tuners on the headstock. So, standard bass strings are too long and I'm not sure all baritone sets are going to be long enough.

I feel like I've just entered the world of red headed step children.