Newbie Short Scale Strings

[pi_r_squared]

I did some searching on the site, then looked at my bass, and I'm more confused than ever.

I'm a (cough) guitar convert, and after getting my fingers lost on a full scale bass I picked up a short scale. Feels much more 'like home'.

I was drafted to play in our church's p&w team, complete rookie, playing roots and simple transitions.

Now for the string question:

After tweaking all of my settings to get the tone reasonable, I'm finding that the low E sounds 'sloppy'. There's probably some bassist technical term for it. I have a decent understanding of the physics behind resonance, and intuitively it seems that heavier strings would 'tighten' things up a little.

I'm playing a Dean EVO XM short scale, with factory strings. I read in other postings that it's important to get short scale strings, so the wound (?) portion of the string is not around the tuning peg. But when I look at my bass, the strings appear the same all the way up and around the peg. I would assume that the factory has strings on mile-long-spools, so that might explain why it's this way. My questions are:

1.) Will heavier strings really 'tighten up' the low end?

2.) Are string thicknesses 'effective'? or something real that I can put mics on to determine what size came on my bass?

3.) How important is it to make sure the strings aren't too long for my bass? My local store doesn't have much of a selection in short scale strings.

4.) Is this the sort of situation where almost anything will be better than factory stings, so I need to throw them away and start with something better before I even ask these questions?

Thanks in Advance,

-Dan

[XylemBassGuitar]

Hi Dan,

1) Heavier strings may not necessarily "tighten up" the tone, but they will tighten up the string itself so that its vibrational pattern is tighter and not as "floppy".

If you change string gauges, you may need to re-set your relief, action and intonation. But this is not true in every case.

2) Not quite sure what you mean here...

3) I've heard some conflicting arguments on this point. The idea behind making certain strings for certain scales is both to get strings that are long enough for the scale (obviously), and to make sure that the string tapers (the part that goes around the tuning pegs) are in the right place. I've heard some people say that a longer scale set on a shorter bass will tear up the tuning pegs because the portion of the strings contacting the pegs will not be tapered. On the other hand, I've put long scale strings on a few of my short scale basses and didn't notice any wear on the tuning pegs (not even paint scratches) and the strings sounded fine.

If you're really concerned about getting the right scale strings, check out juststrings.com, they have a pretty good selection.

4) Usually, doesn't hurt to replace factory strings.

[pi_r_squared]

Originally Posted by XylemBassGuitar

2) Not quite sure what you mean here...

Thanks for the reply!

Sorry, I was asking if the diameter of a string is an actual dimension that I can measure with micrometers, or is it some sort of 'effective' dimension based on who-knows-what?

Just trying to determine if I can tell what size strings I have by physical measurement so I know what's on my bass before looking for the next heavier size.

-Dan

[XylemBassGuitar]

Ah, gotcha!

Yes, the strings' diameters on the packages are actual dimensions. That is, a low E that is a .100 (or 100) is one-tenth of an inch.

Likewise a G-string that's .050 is half of one-tenth of an inch.

You can measure your strings pretty easily if you have a nice set of calipers (micrometers).

There ya have it

[fretlessguy]

Dan-

Sometimes string gauge can effect the tension. As a general rule, the lighter the string gauge, or thickeness, usually means lighter tension. This is not always the case. The tension the strings have also greatly depend on how they are constructed. Check with the manufacturer for tension levels of the strings sets they sell.

I can tell you the D'Addario XL set (nickel roundwounds) that are .50-.105 are hardly floppy at all. You may also want to try a set of flats on it as well since their tension is usually a little higher. www.juststrings.com has many of the tension levels listed with the various string sets they sell that you can use as a guide.

[SBassman]

- You gotta change those stock strings.

- You gotta buy an actual short scale set.

You're probably a string change away from much better tone.