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  #1  
Old 02-13-2013, 03:43 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Looking to buy some Circle K strings, am confused.

As the title says, I wanna buy some Circle K's, but I am completely and utterly confused. I have a Kramer DMZ 5000 that I'm using at the moment and am playing *mostly* in drop C# tuning. Any help on the best gauge set would be much appreciated.
  #2  
Old 02-14-2013, 05:43 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: UK
The "drop tune" sets will have equal tension strings in a drop tuning, but for switching between tunings you can create a more optimum set from singles.
What tunings will you be using, C#G#C#F# and D#G#C#F#? Any others?
  #3  
Old 02-14-2013, 08:37 AM
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I guess I can understand the confusion, the Circle K tension charts put a lot of information in a very compact form and then if your bass is not 34 inch scale you need to make some more confusing adjustments. If you haven't already you should open up the tension chart. I've made a perfunctory effort to find the specs on your bass and failed so I am assuming 34 inches as the CK chart does. If you look at the C# column on the second to last page you will see that strings from 0.106 to 0.130 will give you between 30.5 and 45.3 pounds tension and most players will want the tension somewhere in that range. The confusing part is that the C# column covers several octaves on three different pages. As you move up and down that column every time you cross a diagonal gap in the numbers you have jumped an octave. You just have to use common sense to determine which octave you are in since the chart gives no indication. We know that strings for the C# below the standard low E will be a bit bigger than 0.100 and that is how you determine that you are in the correct starting octave.

So you need to determine what tensions you want. I tend to prefer a balanced tension or slightly higher tension on the low strings. If I go balanced I shoot for 40 pounds. So I would choose a 0.124 string at 41.4 pounds or a 0.118 string at 37.6 pounds for the C# as seen on the second to last page of the charts. If as ixlramp suggests your next string up is a G# then you move to the G# column which is the 7th column to the right. You know that your G# string needs to be slightly smaller so you move up the G# column until you come to the first entries that get you close to the tension target and you will see that you would want to use 0.079 or 0.082 for the G# string. If the next string is another C# then you know it will be in the next higher octave so you look in the C# column for the first set of strings smaller than your low C# that give you about 40 pounds and you will find that you want 0.059 or 0.061. If your highest string is going to be an F# then you move to the F# column and find right at the top of the page that 0.043 or 0.045 will get you about 40 pounds tension.

Obviously you can use any tension target you want and you can target each string to any tension you want, they do not have to be the same tension. Depending on your tuning and tension you may need to start or end on one of the other pages but the procedure is the same. Hope this helps.

Ken
  #4  
Old 02-14-2013, 09:00 PM
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I'd probably get a Drop-Tune .124 set, or a balanced .118 set to start out with. The balanced .118 set will tune up to D# a lot easier than the .124, if you plan on doing that a lot, but it will still do C# pretty well.

These are rough estimations, I'm not sure of your exact preferences for how your strings feel, so take that into account.
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