Hi everyone,
I noticed that many posters whom have had a fair bit of string experience ( hi , Uncle Toad!) have mentioned that certain basses sound better with high tension strings, and others sound better with low tension (presumably due to a confluence of factors, including, but not limited to table thickness,tailpiece mass, break angle over the bridge, afterlength, mensure, overstand, soundpost setting, neck angle, etc. etc. . .). My question is this; all things equal, is there a telltale indication in the sound of a known string (say, spiro mittels) that would indicate that a bass "prefers" (I know, anthropomorphizing) a certain tension? I know that "tone" is subjective, but if (on average) a certain tension string set created an imbalance in volume in a certain string, would that indicate that a higher (or lower) tension string would interact better with the theoretical "standardized" bass?
Yes, I know, wordy.
Cutting to it; Theoretically, if my E is weak, all other things being equal, would a higher tension string be the choice, or a lower? Or, if my D was particularly louder, which would be the way to go? If I have really wolfy places on the bass, would a lower/higher tension string ameliorate this? (this seems to be stretching it a bit I guess). For relative simplicity, I am asking for responses that are full string sets. This is more academic, as my current bass (see profile) sounds how you would expect. This is just one of those questions that is more posed for my own knowledge and edification, and will most likely help me set up my next bass a little more directly.
Oh yeah, in my case, I am playing 70% pizz, 30% arco, if that defines my particular strings qualitative "tone" requirements a bit. My Crap bass has Superflexes on it, and I'm quite happy with the balance/tradeoffs at the moment. I'm having a dedicated lefty Engel EM-1 made (all I can afford, after the CCB debacle) as we speak, so there is a bit of less-than-academic motivation behind this, I suppose.
blah blah blah. . .
I hope this is clear, as least to someone!
Thanks!
Brian
