This will work, right?

Basstovsky · #1 10-07-2008, 08:35 PM

Doing somewhat of an odd tuning on a 4, rather than BEAD, doing what I guess would be Drop-B tuning, BF#BE. I compared tension ratings on d'addario's site between strings ive used and know how the tension feels, and what I'm thinking of using for this tuning. I settled on these because the tension of the strings I'll be tuning up from their standard are around 10lbs. of tension less than the flats I have on my seldom-played 5 string. I know the B will be 'floppier' than the others, but the .135 B only adds around a pound of tension and I'd have to buy a separate string.

I also have to mention that the neck of the bass these are going on is rather strong, with 45-105 strings in EADG i had to really tighten my truss rod to get a slight bow, so I'm not concerned about the neck. The bridge is also string-through-body so no worries there.

I'm mostly concerned that even though these are low tension light gauge strings, could they possibly break under the strain of tuning each up a step farther than they are intended? This is one of the things about strings I'm never sure about.

Basstovsky · #2 10-08-2008, 09:48 AM

bump for the morning

Basstovsky · #3 10-09-2008, 04:38 PM

well despite the flurry of resonses

I did it anyway.
the D tuned to E is a bit tighter than is usually most comfortable, but it sounds great. Hooray for unusual tunings!

DaveF · #4 10-09-2008, 06:17 PM

What kind of music are you playing?

Darkstrike · #5 10-09-2008, 06:21 PM

A bit late, but yeah, I'da done it, no diferent from using an extra heavy guage of string.

Basstovsky · #6 10-09-2008, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF

What kind of music are you playing?

I have no band involvement or anything (im entirely self taught and writing/theory eludes me), at first it was an idea to cover songs at a severe detuning, but its become a chance to mess around with some really low bass lines. Trying a lot of things like the melvins, grungy sludgy kinda stuff. Worst part is breaking in the strings, I always forget how long it takes to get the clang and finger noise out of a new set of rounds.

Solarmist · #7 10-10-2008, 02:04 AM

SIT will make custom gauge sets at customer request through your local dealer at the same cost as standard sets ($17 / $22). I use, and am quite happy using a custom set of SIT Powerwounds 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 for CGCF. Perfect tension IMO.

insomniac2295 · #8 10-10-2008, 02:10 AM

my band used to play in drop b (before we went to drop a). I use a 5 string and just used a regular gauge set of strings and was fine. lowered the action more to comp. for the added tension but loved it. i found that light gauge strings were actually too floppy for me. i even used heavies and was fine!