String materials

[God Of Atheism]

Are there strings made of different materials, even to the extreme that all strings on a bass could be of (nearly) equal gauge, due to having lighter materials for the higher strings and heavier materials for the lower strings? I'd like my first string thicker and my fifth string thinner, but don't want higher tensions in the g string and certainly not lower tension in the b string.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Well, they are going to sound different and also have a different output level.

Upright bass's for example it is common to have steal core / wrapped E and A strings while having plain GUT strings for the D & G.

You can do this on an electric bass, but would most likely need to make some pickup adjustment to get the output to your liking...

For example:

.065 .075 Black nylon Tape Wounds for the G & D string
.085 .105 Flatwounds for the A & E string

[FunkMetalBass]

You could play around with strings of varying flexibility. With a very stiff string, it can sit at a low tension while remaining stiff and feeling as though there is more tension than is actually there. I believe the key to making a stiffer string is to use a larger core and smaller wraps.

Conversely, you could get a very flexible thick string that, although having higher tension, will feel floppier.


May I ask why you want all of your strings to span a more narrow range of gauges?

[God Of Atheism]

So tape wounds are lighter per unit length and flatwounds heavier per unit length (when comparing equal gauge strings). Is there a source to find a weight per length comparion of different types of string?

I was thinking of some strings made of say aluminium and others of say osmium. It could be only the core or only the winding that is of different material.

Why I want to do this is easier playing. The most comfortable strings seem to be the a and the d string. The thickness of the b and e strings makes it harder to fret other notes on the high strings simultaneously as well as harder to play fast (note that most stuff I play is well under 60 bpm, but nonetheless).

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Very few string manufacturers release tension data let along overall string weight data.

The only company that really does is D'Addario and I believe only for the XL and Pro-Steels as far as weight. The others do list tensions but no weight info.

You may want to look into something of a very light gauge string set of equal materials per string... or an overall low tension string set.

[Fangry]

Originally Posted by SLaPiNFuNK

Upright bass's for example it is common to have steal core / wrapped E and A strings while having plain GUT strings for the D & G.

You can do this on an electric bass, but would most likely need to make some pickup adjustment to get the output to your liking...

You'll need a LOT of pickup adjustment to get satisfactory output from the gut strings

[SLaPiNFuNK]

gut simply wont work on electric bass... I was reffereing to upright bass players on that one... you would also need to find a way to get magnetic cut material... Maybe fed with lead grass?

Most upright players use piezo pickups so dont NEED magnetic strings... however gut sounds best mic'ed up...


There are some ABG strings made with Nylon Cores that are wrapped in phosphor bronze wire. These are made with piezo in mind as well...

For electric bass... you would probably like a string best that is very flexible with a silk wrapped core and then outer windings wrapped over that. these strings are very flexible and in round wound the gauges are very light.

[FunkMetalBass]

Originally Posted by God Of Atheism

So tape wounds are lighter per unit length and flatwounds heavier per unit length (when comparing equal gauge strings). Is there a source to find a weight per length comparion of different types of string?

I was thinking of some strings made of say aluminium and others of say osmium. It could be only the core or only the winding that is of different material.

Why I want to do this is easier playing. The most comfortable strings seem to be the a and the d string. The thickness of the b and e strings makes it harder to fret other notes on the high strings simultaneously as well as harder to play fast (note that most stuff I play is well under 60 bpm, but nonetheless).

Which string brand(s) do you normally play? The B and E strings are often under considerably less tension and shouldn't be harder to fret or play (unless you suffer from the play-faster/play-harder syndrome like I do and you're getting massive fret buzz).

I'm a bit confused by this statement: "The thickness of the b and e strings makes it harder to fret other notes on the high strings simultaneously as well". Can you elaborate on that? Did you mean to say that the string thickness is making it harder to fret notes higher up on the neck? If so, that's usually a result of having to use high action to alleviate fret buzz with low-tension strings. Truthfully, getting a thicker string to replace each low string will give you higher tension, but with no adjustment to playing technique and considerably lower action, all of which makes fretting anywhere a breeze.

Also, when is the last time your bass has had a proper set up?