Long scale versus regular scale strings?

[Dkerwood]

So for as long as I can remember, I've been buying long scale strings for my regular scale basses. As far as I have been able to tell, they're just longer. I bought a set of regular scale strings once for an axe I had with a tricky bridge, and because the tail was so far back from the bridge, the reg scale strings wouldn't quite reach to the G on the headstock (4 in a row tuners). I've bought long scale ever since.

Of course, now I'm dealing with four basses - none of which require long scale. I just get them so I have plenty of string to sit in the tuners. Is there anything significantly different about "long scale" strings, or are they really just longer? I read a thread on here about strings being "designed" for a certain scale, so I thought I'd get some feedback on that from you guys.

Thoughts?

[Jazzin']

Long scale is for 34" basses, the regular scale of an electric bass guitar.

[MysticMichael]

There's nothing significantly different about long-scale strings - except the length...

MM

[georgestrings]

Originally Posted by Jazzin'

Long scale is for 34" basses, the regular scale of an electric bass guitar.

That's my understanding of things, as well - AFAIK, there's Short Scale(30" - 31"), Medium Scale(32" - 33"), Standard Long Scale(43"), and Long Scale Plus(34" - 36")...



- georgestrings

[werbo1]

Originally Posted by georgestrings

That's my understanding of things, as well - AFAIK, there's Short Scale(30" - 31"), Medium Scale(32" - 33"), Standard Long Scale(43"), and Long Scale Plus(34" - 36")...



- georgestrings

43 inches eh?

I always thought it weird how most basses are 34 or 35 and its considered long scale. I walways think of long as 35-36 medium 33-34 and short anything else...Damn bassists always have to think outside the box

[Kronos]

Try putting regular long scale strings on a 35" scale bass...the windings start to end before the nut.

[Fuzzbass]

Originally Posted by Kronos

Try putting regular long scale strings on a 35" scale bass...the windings start to end before the nut.

This isn't true for all long scale string sets. I've never tried it, but I asked Modulus about this, and they said that some brands of regular long scale strings will fit the 35" Quantum bass. But of course the use of regular long scale strings on a 35" bass is not recommended... there are other risks besides the windings ending too early.

Side note: isn't there a 1" or more difference between top-load and through-body on some basses? Many regular long scale strings work with through-body stringing, so I would think that these would also work top-load on a 35" bass.