2 Questions

[Jerry06]

I have a couple questions...I'm wanting to put a thicker string gauge on my bass since I'm going from GDAE to FCGC. My first question is if the strings I get dont fit and I have to file the nut, would that nut still work fine for lower gauges? Or would I have to replace it?

And my 2nd question is totally unrelated...I use a needle type tuner, and sometimes when I tune my E string (Or C if I downtune it) the needle seems to move all over the place...It doesnt usually happen with the other strings. Could anybody give an idea of why that happens? Thanks to anybody that can answer.

[XylemBassGuitar]

Hi Jerry06,

I'm not quite sure what you mean in your first question by "would that nut still work fine for 'lower' gauges?"

I think what you mean is: would the nut still work fine for lighter gauges.

If that's what you meant, the answer is: it depends on how much heavier the new strings are going to be and thus, how much wider you file the nut slot.

An ideal nut slot (in my opinion) will be about .003" wider than the actual string measurement. The extra space seems to help prevent the string from binding in the nut and causing tuning issues.

So, a .050" gauge string could have a nut slot that was .053" wide and still work just fine.

I wouldn't use a nut slot that was more than about .004" wider than the string gauge you are using though.

Let me know if you need more clarification/information on that question.

As far as the tuner goes, is it a tuner designed for basses, guitars or both? Some guitar tuners have trouble tuning very low notes properly. I always have trouble tuning my six-string bass' low B with guitar tuners. Get a bass tuner if yours is a guitar tuner.

You might also want to check how old the batteries are on the tuner. Think about how old the tuner is too. How much did you spend on the tuner? In my experience, tuners that cost less than about $19 are not very good, they usually jump all over the place and don't quite get the instrument in tune.

Finally, you want to use the reading that occurs the fastest on the tuner. That is, the very first reading of the tuner right after you strike the string is the best. You don't want to wait for the note to ring for a long time and use later readings from the tuner.

Good luck!

[Jerry06]

Yeah sorry, on my first question I did mean would it work with a lighter gauge. My E string is like 100 or 105, and I'm wanting to put either 115 or 120 when I tune to FCGC. But when I go back to standard tuning I want 105.

The tuner I have is for guitars and basses. I think my brother payed around $100 for it when he got it, it's a Boss TU-15. And yeah, it mostly happens when I tune lower than usual. I was thinking it might be because I need a heavier string gauge so the string isn't so loose but I dunno.

Thanks for the reply!

[ReidK]

Some tuners are easily confused and do best with a signal that's as close as possible to a sine wave at the fundamental frequency.

English translation: try using a single pickup (usually the neck pickup works best) with the tone turned down.

Reid

[XylemBassGuitar]

Hey Jerry 06,

That's a really good idea from ReidK about the tuning. I've heard the same thing: that you want to just have one pickup on and that the neck pickup works the best for tuning. The TU-15 is a pretty good tuner too. I am surprised that it's giving you trouble, but it happens sometimes. Like I said earlier, check your batteries and keep in mind how old the tuner is.

As far as the string gauges go, you might not be able to switch between those two gauges. They are pretty far apart in terms of measurement. If you didn't file the nut slots wider at the very best the strings would sit on top of the slots, your action near the nut would be pretty hard and high, and the strings might bind in the slots when you tune them, causing more issues.

If you did file the nut slots wider, at best your 105 might rattle around in the slot, causing buzz.

I wouldn't recommend switching between the two gauges on the same bass.

If it were me, I would invest in another bass that I could setup and tune to FCGC while keeping the original bass setup for the standard tuning.

But, I don't know everything and may be missing some really good solution to the dilema.

Have a good one!