piccolo string question

[metalandjazzman]

Hey i am thinking about buying some piccolo strings. But i heard that you got to do alot to you bass in order to put them on. Like cut the nut on it. But heres the question what would happen if you just put them on? What would the tone be or would it damage the strings?

Oh and don't bash me on my spelling i can't stress that enough

[line6man]

They would just buzz like hell in the nut slots because they are too small to fit.

I'm not sure how different the tension would be, you might need to adjust your truss rod.

Oh, you might want to check your spelling.
(Actually, you didn't misspell anything, don't worry about it.)

[knuckle_head]

You could cut a new nut after you've tried the piccolo tuning, once you know you like it and want to commit to it.

If you have decent tension and a good break angle at the nut you should get little to no buzz. It won't affect tone or damage the strings.

[R. Laevinus]

You shouldn't have to cut a new nut unless you've been doing significant downtuning - the strings will be smaller than the slots, but tension will hold them in place, and thinner strings can get away with lower action anyway.

You WILL need to reintonate - drastically - and you WILL need to adjust your trussrod. You will also, almost certainly, wish to adjust your string and pickup heights.