How much pressure is a bass neck subject to?

[knuckle_head]

Originally Posted by kjpollo

Just curious, why would you think the D has the highest tension?

It slacks toward the bass side because rigs and amplification had and continue to have a great deal of difficulty producing the fundamentals of very thick strings.

The looser the string is the more it accentuates the fundamental (actually it lessens the overtone content making the fundamental seem more prominent). It's kind of like a Bag End ELF/Infra thing with bass and string physics as opposed to electronic EQing/processing.

FWIW you can probably assume about 35 pounds per string as an average if you have 5 strings or more (B tuning or lower) - for a 4 banger you can assume an average closer to 40 pounds at standard E.

[JustDavid]

Originally Posted by knuckle_head

It slacks toward the bass side because rigs and amplification had and continue to have a great deal of difficulty producing the fundamentals of very thick strings.

Cool, but that doesn't explain why the G would have less tension than the D.

Originally Posted by knuckle_head

The looser the string is the more it accentuates the fundamental (actually it lessens the overtone content making the fundamental seem more prominent). It's kind of like a Bag End ELF/Infra thing with bass and string physics as opposed to electronic EQing/processing.

The usual observation is that thicker (higher tension) strings have more fundamental versus overtones than thinner (lower tension.

Originally Posted by knuckle_head

FWIW you can probably assume about 35 pounds per string as an average if you have 5 strings or more (B tuning or lower) - for a 4 banger you can assume an average closer to 40 pounds at standard E.

For mid to low tension strings, OK.

[rymiraflores]

Serious poundage on the neck!!..I have a 5 stringer with flatwounds !!! how many pounds there do you think?....On the subject of neck stress, I have a theory please correct me if I´m wrong....with high tension strings I think that less neck relief is better for the neck because with more relief the neck is slightly curved and I think that with a curve already started it puts more pressure on the neck...is this correct? Does no relief ease the pressure on the neck?

[JustDavid]

Originally Posted by rymiraflores

Serious poundage on the neck!!..I have a 5 stringer with flatwounds !!! how many pounds there do you think?....On the subject of neck stress, I have a theory please correct me if I´m wrong....with high tension strings I think that less neck relief is better for the neck because with more relief the neck is slightly curved and I think that with a curve already started it puts more pressure on the neck...is this correct? Does no relief ease the pressure on the neck?

Depends which Flats. juststrings.com or the makers websites will tell you for D'Addario, TI, & LaBella.

I'd say your theory is correct, but not usable; at the end of theory discussions we still have to play these things. Set your bass up such that it's best for your playing.

[BobXboB]

Originally Posted by JustDavid

The usual observation is that thicker (higher tension) strings have more fundamental versus overtones than thinner (lower tension.

I think that's the assumption which then gets elevated to reality on the forums. I find the thicker tighter strings to be zingier and the thinner (especially B) strings to be deeper than the fat ones.

I also go against the grain on the usual "the tighter the B string the better" advice we usually see.

[JustDavid]

I haven't done massive amounts of A/Bing but awhile back I grabbed a few different weights of D'Addario XLs & tried them out sequentially over a few days & "tighter = bassier" held true there. Not a night & day difference, & at least to my ear.

I find my playability of the B is more a tension determiner than tonality.

[bassist4dalord]

Originally Posted by jasper383

At some point, all bass players should put together an even tensioned set of individual strings and put it on their bass, just to see what's it's like.

I did this a while ago, buying individual D'Addario strings. If I recall, I ended up with lighter than ususal A and D strings. 45-60-80-105, I think. All pretty close to 40 pounds per string. To add a B string would have meant a .145, which D'Addario makes.

Would that mean they all have the same feel? Like the B would be as tight as, say, the D or A??

[MichaelJordan]

Originally Posted by ehque

Since string manufacturers (or perhaps, bassists?) prefer neat looking string gauges rather than even tension, the tension of each string is thus ARBITRARILY defined by the string equation (since as i mentioned, length and frequency are also fixed).

I am confused.. the string manufacturers want neat looking string gauges? What is neat looking about strings? Maybe I am missing something? Thanks

Also, I was in GC the other day and they had a Warwick Corvette $$ 5 string. I picked it up and the neck was exctreamly bent in, and the strings raising way off the neck. I plugged in into an amp with a tuner and all the strings were tuned up a whole step. It must have been this way for at least a year because it was a 2007 bass... sad to see such an awesome bass fail like that. I tuned it back to normal so hopefully it will bend back. I am not a bass expert so I don't know if it will be alright.

[megadan]

Just to maybe put it in laymans terms, the reason the D has the most pressure is because it's the thickest thing with the most (relative) tension. That is, it's tuned almost as high as the G, but it's thicker. The A is tuned lower, as is the E, and the tension drops off.

[jasper383]

Originally Posted by bassist4dalord

Would that mean they all have the same feel? Like the B would be as tight as, say, the D or A??

Yes. They all have a pretty close feel. Try it.

We've become accustomed to the tight D string and the floppy B string, because that is what prepackaged string sets offer. Put a balanced tension set on, and you can feel it. It's not huge, but it's there.

The .145 B string will probably require a nut adjustment. And be aware that the 40 pound tension B may make your bridge fly right off and knock out your teeth.

[ehque]

Originally Posted by MichaelJordan

I am confused.. the string manufacturers want neat looking string gauges? What is neat looking about strings? Maybe I am missing something? Thanks

Also, I was in GC the other day and they had a Warwick Corvette $$ 5 string. I picked it up and the neck was exctreamly bent in, and the strings raising way off the neck. I plugged in into an amp with a tuner and all the strings were tuned up a whole step. It must have been this way for at least a year because it was a 2007 bass... sad to see such an awesome bass fail like that. I tuned it back to normal so hopefully it will bend back. I am not a bass expert so I don't know if it will be alright.

What i am saying is, 105-85-65-45 looks as "neat" as it can get.

String manufacturers probably also do not draw their own steel/nickel, so the strands that they are limited to a few choices in diameter.

[john turner]

Originally Posted by jasper383

The D string usually sticks out as the highest tension string of the set.

see post 5 (dig the wally avatar, btw).

and i've put together a custom set a long time ago, when i was still playing sr2000's. the whole 127-107-87-67-47-27-22 thing they had going on with the will lee standard set was not happening.

my set that i've used for the past 14 years or so is 135-107-078-055-035-030-027 and it does great. tighten up the "ends" and loosen up the "middle".