Tuning BEAD on a 34" scale.

mebusdriver · #1 05-22-2009, 01:38 AM

Okay I know it's possible and I understand the technical aspect of setting the bass up for this situation. My question has to do with the scale length and whether or not it's worth it. I understand that the longer the scale the tighter the string, the better the intonation, the better the response. Well my bass has a 34" scale. I know most fivers come with at least a 35". Would it be worth it to try this on my 34" scale? Or would the string be too loose?

Thanks. There are too many ways to search for this question and I don't have four hours to spend on the net. A simple yes or no or any technical advise or trickery you guys know of would be greatly appreciated.

bongomania · #2 05-22-2009, 01:44 AM

First thing to know is that while scale length is certainly part of the equation, it is not the only factor. Lots and lots of us have 34" scale 5'ers with awesome low B's. What makes a 34" low B sound awesome? It's really hard to say for sure. The quality of the bass, the stiffness of the neck, the rigidity of the neck/body joint, the length of the string above the nut (can of worms there), the design of the core of the string, personal taste in different tone/feel, and many other factors are claimed to have an effect on whether the low B sounds good at 34".

IOW there really is no simple yes or no, sorry. All I can say by way of encouragement is I have owned five 34" scale 5'ers with killer low B's, and two of them sound the same to me (in both tone and "quality") as the 35" 5'ers I've owned.

bongomania · #3 05-22-2009, 01:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mebusdriver

I know most fivers come with at least a 35".

Forgot to mention, that ^^^ is not actually true.

GeoffByrne · #4 05-22-2009, 03:29 AM

I used an Ibanez Roadstar II:

and a Westone Thunder IIIb Fretless:

tuned BEAD, for a year in a Blues band.

They were just fine - no floppy B - however, one observation is that I've found decent Bs tend to be on basses with either an angled headstock or with a full-length string tree - to me, there's something about the break angle that's important here.

All I needed to do with both these basses was to WIDEN (NOT deepen) the slots in the nut & re-intonate. I didn't even need to move the truss rod.

Going back to EADG caused no problems either, again, as the angled head/string trees held the smaller guage strings well.

Darkstrike · #5 05-22-2009, 04:01 AM

Yup, 34" is no problem, often use a Jazz in BEAD, never had a lick of trouble.

mebusdriver · #6 05-22-2009, 05:10 AM

Well awesome I feel much better about what I'm about to attempt. I'm helping a buddy with a studio project and I don't own a fiver. It's imperative that I have one, but like I said it's a project so I'm not about to run out and buy one. I have to replace the nut on my P anyway. So I figured I'd try this out since I'm about to get some work done. Thanks.

HogieWan · #7 05-22-2009, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mebusdriver

I know most fivers come with at least a 35".

not true at all, though I wish it were. I love a 35"+ low B, but there are very few people making them (in my price range)

ByF · #8 05-22-2009, 08:16 AM

If you do it, you might want to look for a set of strings with the B that is taper wound. When I did the same mod on a cheap Dean, a fat B would not sit in the bridge saddle, and I ended up taking a file to the saddle. I didn't mind doing that to a cheap bass, but I wouldn't have done it to anything of any value.

Ed

T-Bird · #9 06-02-2009, 12:59 PM

Hi.

^An exxellent point. Not all bridges take the taper strings well though.

Another thing to consider is that You'll need to move the B saddle quite a bit backwards on some FBs in order to get it to intonate accurately. Some basses allow that, my old Ibanez SR something didn't. I had to move the bridge about 10mm to be on the safe side.

Other than that, no problems. Well... that's not entirely true, but that's because of the Ibby electronics, not because of the BEAD conversion.

Regards
Sam

megadan · #10 06-02-2009, 01:14 PM

Sorry for the threadjack, but I have a related question and I thought, better than starting a new thread.

I have only 4 string, 34" scale basses. I'm interested in tuning one of them to BEAD. Which one would you recommend, and why?
-Musicman Stingray
-Ric 4003
-Squier VM Jazz w/ Fender pups and Gotoh bridge

Ric5 · #11 06-02-2009, 01:20 PM

34" is fine for a low B. I have 14 5 string basses and all of them are 34".

Again 34" is fine for a low B.

I even do a low B on Rickenbackers and they are 33 1/4". They work fine also.

Darkstrike · #12 06-02-2009, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megadan

Sorry for the threadjack, but I have a related question and I thought, better than starting a new thread.

I have only 4 string, 34" scale basses. I'm interested in tuning one of them to BEAD. Which one would you recommend, and why?
-Musicman Stingray
-Ric 4003
-Squier VM Jazz w/ Fender pups and Gotoh bridge

Which one is your main bass, becuse not that one(in case you don't like it), I'd reccomend the Jazz, but I have no particular reason, any of those three basses would work equally well in BEAD.

Chowderboots · #13 06-02-2009, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffByrne

I used an Ibanez Roadstar II:

and a Westone Thunder IIIb Fretless:

tuned BEAD, for a year in a Blues band.

They were just fine - no floppy B - however, one observation is that I've found decent Bs tend to be on basses with either an angled headstock or with a full-length string tree - to me, there's something about the break angle that's important here.

All I needed to do with both these basses was to WIDEN (NOT deepen) the slots in the nut & re-intonate. I didn't even need to move the truss rod.

Going back to EADG caused no problems either, again, as the angled head/string trees held the smaller guage strings well.

I second this post. I have an Ibanez Roadstar II Deluxe 4 string that I keep in BEAD and it thunders. Needs different pickups to sound better, but that has nothing to do with how good the strings feel on it. I also have a Roadstar 5 string that is the best sounding bass I own. When it has a spanky new set of rounds on it, it can raise hell with a tube amp.

NortyFiner · #14 06-02-2009, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ByF

If you do it, you might want to look for a set of strings with the B that is taper wound. When I did the same mod on a cheap Dean, a fat B would not sit in the bridge saddle, and I ended up taking a file to the saddle. I didn't mind doing that to a cheap bass, but I wouldn't have done it to anything of any value.

Ed

I know a guy who got around this by having two bridges for his Fender J. One bridge was standard, the other had the saddles filed for BEAD, and the nut was modified to allow the bigger strings. That allowed him to change between BEAD and standard tuning with a simple bridge swap and a quick setup. Obviously that's not something you can do on stage, but it worked for him for practicing, and a second Fender bridge is a lot cheaper than a second bass...

msiner · #15 06-02-2009, 01:39 PM

From my understanding, it is not the scale length, but the total string length that matters most. Check out the short scale 5-string from Birdsong.
http://www.birdsongguitars.com/5string.htm

megadan · #16 06-02-2009, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

Which one is your main bass, because not that one(in case you don't like it), I'd recommend the Jazz, but I have no particular reason, any of those three basses would work equally well in BEAD.

I use all three about equally. I'll probably just pick one at random and give it a shot, and rotate the BEAD set among the 3.

Rockin John · #17 07-19-2009, 05:53 AM

I used D'Ad half rounds on a 1985 Vox White Shadow fretless tuned BEAD and it's one of the best kick-ass basses I've ever played. Was my main gigging bass for a while before I moved to the fretless 6er.

The B was awesome!

John

BassDudeSA · #18 07-19-2009, 10:37 AM

I recently strung my 34" scale 4-string Hohner Steinberger copy BEAD. No problems whatsoever and the B string sounds great. This was an easier than normal change since the bridge and zero-fret nut accomodate any size string. Throws me off a little since I have plenty of other "normal" 4 and 5 string basses, but other than a few brainless moments this bass works out pretty dang good.