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Acoustic bass 25.6" scale

#21
HaphAsSard said:
@CARLOS VALINHAS:
Actually there is an option 4) that I didn't include above because it's a set I've never seen for sale anywhere. In fact, I've only seen it mentioned in relation to the instrument that it was made for, which is produced under the same brand as the strings:
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In practice, Magma Strings has announced - and is perhaps already producing, but I've no idea - a 5-string bass in standard guitar scale, the Transpositor Bass, equipped with strings designed under the same principles as the Transpositor series sets that I discussed in post #15, with an added low B string. The interesting thing is that the company has disclosed string diameters and tensions for the accompanying string set, for the purpose of comparing them to those of a conventional, long-scale steel-core set and bass:
Invalid Link Removed
If you look at the second tab, last two columns, we have the following gauges and tensions converted in (decimal) inches and pounds:
G .04", 15.75lbs
D .053", 15.86lbs
A .063", 15.53lbs
E .095", 17.4lbs
B .12", 17.62lbs

This can be useful to you in two ways:
a) if you're expect the LaBella Silverback set to be too much of an increase in tension, you could get this Magma set (assuming you can order it from where you live) and simply not use the low B; or you could contact them and ask if the G-D-A-E strings in this 5-string set are the same as those in the GCT-E and GCT-BG10, if those are easier to find or more interesting to you;
b) if, conversely, the LaBella .115 gauge still looks thin to you, you could get this new Magma set, discard the G, install the B-E-A-D and tune them up to E-A-D-G. However, I'm only saying the option exists, not recommending the experiment: if you decide to try it, proceed at your own risk. (All this assumes these strings can be found/ordered at all; if they cannot the points are irrelevant.)

__

Finally, in case you live in Portugal, you could just contact the AGI/NOVAGI/Dragão string company and order a custom set from them. They already make nylon-core bass guitar sets - here's an oddity, a set made for two-octave-down violin tuning (G1-D2-A2-E3):
Dragão D037 Violã Baixo Acoustic bass Bass Classical 4 string
but there's another one for regular EADG (long-scale, I guess) that has G:.048 / D:.065 / A:.093 / E:.11,
so it would just be a matter of winding them to the correct length for your 25.6" bass.
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(Of course if you do live in Portugal chances are you already know about them... ^^)
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"...but there's another one for regular EADG (long-scale, I guess) that has G:.048 / D:.065 / A:.093 / E:.11," this is for 750mm string vibrating lenght. I ordered a set and i must try it to see what is the tension behaviour, but i presume that i can achieve some more tension because the linear mass of the strings are greater.
 
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#22
CARLOS VALINHAS said:
"...but there's another one for regular EADG (long-scale, I guess) that has G:.048 / D:.065 / A:.093 / E:.11," this is for 750mm string vibrating lenght. I ordered a set and i must try it to see what is the tension behaviour, but i presume that i can achieve some more tension because the linear mass of the strings are greater.
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Oh, OK, 750mm, thanks. I also think you should get more tension with that one than the Savarez LOW640R set. If you have the time, please come back here when you receive it and let us know how it worked. :)
Was it expensive? I've been planning to get a Dragão set myself, that's why I'd saved the link to their website.
 
#23
HaphAsSard said:
Oh, OK, 750mm, thanks. I also think you should get more tension with that one than the Savarez LOW640R set. If you have the time, please come back here when you receive it and let us know how it worked. :)
Was it expensive? I've been planning to get a Dragão set myself, that's why I'd saved the link to their website.
Click to expand...

You can order but the Novagi do not sell directly to the consumer. To order you must look for a dealer in Portugal or outside Portugal from whom you can pay with PayPal, Visa or Money transfer, and the seller will send you the strings by mail.

Another option from Spain to 750mm scale is...Invalid Link Removed or Invalid Link Removed, but i presume those strings will have a weaker tension at all. They are multifilament nylon core silver wounded and they work fine with Esteve Classical Bass Guitar as so with Aria Classical bass Guitar. I am talking about the following instrument...Contrabass

You can listen it played by Guto Wirtti here with Yamandu Costa playing a 7 seven strings Violão...

Also you can listen a FADO ensemble with a Esteve Contrabass...

Another example...
 
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#24
Turxile said:
I just got a 26" scale. It has long scale D'Addario XLs on it and they work. Its a 5 string, with 135-45 set, tuned B-G like a 34". I'm really amazed, low tension but they don't feel like noodles.
My original intention was to tune this set of strings E-C, sort of like cutting off the top 5 frets off a 5 string, but I'm enjoying it as it is.
I'll try a set of Chromes for 8 string guitar to see if they work.
I might do a video next weekend if I have time.
Click to expand...

What kind of bass?
 
#25
CARLOS VALINHAS said:
You can listen it played by Guto Wirtti here with Yamandu Costa playing a 7 seven strings Violão, the 7th string is a B0 (30.87Hz)...
Click to expand...

Nah, no one is tuned to B0 in that video. Here, as usual, Yamandu tunes to B1=61.735Hz (though I guess he may on occasion tune up or down to C2 or A1 depending on the song, as is the custom among Brazilian 7-string guitarists). I've seen him live by the way, he is a most impressive player: highly technical, fiery and nuanced at the same time. Wirtti appears to be tuned to standard E1-A1-D2-G2.

Many thanks for the Maria Emília examples! I as well as others on another thread had heard about classical contrabass guitars used in fado but had never seen it in action in that context. I'm gonna quote that part of your post on said thread to their benefit. (Ignore the instrument naming debate. ;))

So far I've seen Dragão sets being sold online only at that Dutch-based webstore, Lord of the Strings, and as said they don't sell all of them, and unfortunately the 48/65/93/110 you ordered (I guess it's called the D038?) isn't among them. Oh well, it's a place to start anyway. Royal Classics and especially Savarez (I use their 4-string 810mm set, the 4CB640R), Hannabach, Pyramid and LaBella sets are much easier to find on the net, but, as we both know, sometimes one has specific gauge and scale needs. :)
 
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#26
HaphAsSard said:
Nah, no one is tuned to B0 in that video. Here, as usual, Yamandu tunes to B1=61.735Hz (though I guess he may on occasion tune up or down to C2 or A1 depending on the song, as is the custom among Brazilian 7-string guitarists). I've seen him live by the way, he is a most impressive player: highly technical, fiery and nuanced at the same time. Wirtti appears to be tuned to standard E1-A1-D2-G2.

Many thanks for the Maria Emília examples! I as well as others on another thread had heard about classical contrabass guitars used in fado but had never seen it in action in that context. I'm gonna quote that part of your post on said thread to their benefit. (Ignore the instrument naming debate. ;))

So far I've seen Dragão sets being sold online only at that Dutch-based webstore, Lord of the Strings, and as said they don't sell all of them, and unfortunately the 48/65/93/110 you ordered (I guess it's called the D038?) isn't among them. Oh well, it's a place to start anyway. Royal Classics and especially Savarez (I use their 4-string 810mm set, the 4CB640R), Hannabach, Pyramid and LaBella sets are much easier to find on the net, but, as we both know, sometimes one has specific gauge and scale needs. :)
Click to expand...

Excuse me about the B0 'cos i am completly wrong, is B1.
The Dragão set of strings is
Novagi_Dragão_Cordas para Baixo.jpg
 
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#29
bholder said:
Just ordered a set of the LaBella Silverbacks thanks, will try to remember to update here with impressions and winding length measurements when they come in.
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The strings arrived - there is no increase or reduction in windings at either end of the strings, the usable windings run the full string length, which is 37" for the E string - plenty for OP's scale length. Gauges are .115 .090 .065 .049. Further impressions when I get them on, they look pretty nice though.
 
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#30
bholder said:
The strings arrived - there is no increase or reduction in windings at either end of the strings, the usable windings run the full string length, which is 37" for the E string - plenty for OP's scale length. Gauges are .115 .090 .065 .049. Further impressions when I get them on, they look pretty nice though.
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Thanks for the recommendation, @HaphAsSard - they're on and sounding good! :thumbsup::bassist: A big improvement over the stock white rubber strings in both volume and tone. Slight increase in finger noise, too, but manageable.
 
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#31
bholder said:
Thanks for the recommendation, @HaphAsSard - they're on and sounding good! :thumbsup::bassist: A big improvement over the stock white rubber strings in both volume and tone. Slight increase in finger noise, too, but manageable.
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You're very welcome! My pet interest of keeping track of nylon-core bass string products aside, I had set my sight on the Silverbacks to try them myself sometime. Money is tight though, and either getting them from a Euro source or having them shipped from the US would have made the experiment a somewhat expensive one.

Knowing that they're not tapered, which means that La Bella is confident they're plenty flexible for installation on at least the MicroBass tuning posts,* gives me hope that the alternative I'd envisioned, namely mounting an extra Savarez medium-scale set (that I already have) on my baritone-size guilele (with classical-style, slotted-headstock tuners), should work too.

(I may have dreamt it, but I seem to remember a note from Pyramid advising against putting the longish scale version of their ukulele bass nyloncore roundwounds on a >21" model Ubass. Kinda like what happens with steel-core bass E and B strings, which risk breakage (not guaranteed, but it can happen) if wound full-thickness on a post.
Dunno. It might have been about the low B string only, from the 5-string set; perhaps it wasn't even about breakage, just the fact that the B is fatter than tuner slots and needs to taper a little in order to fit.)


* Speaking of which, is it the 25" scale Gold Tone (you mention in post #9 of this thread) where you've put this new Silverback set on?
 
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#34
CARLOS VALINHAS said:
Acoustic Bass 65cm scale, nylon filament silver wounded, 100cm full lenght.
View attachment 3117168
post #17
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Yeah, that's the same set that I mentioned in post #17. I didn't know/hadn't noticed the 1m winding length though. Have you found a place that sells them in Europe?

I was wondering, since some of these products don't see as a problem that the full winding ends on the tuning post, that this Fisoma set (5-string, tuning B to C judging from the C/H5 designation - "H" means "♮B" in German; 34" scale; gauges unknown) could also work:
Fisoma F2716 Classical 5 string Bass Guitar 860mm Standard Tension Ball end Bass Classical 5 string
This other set is probably the same, only shorter (32" scale):
Fisoma F2716 Classical 5 string Bass Guitar 810mm Standard Tension Bass Classical 5 string
I wonder why they (and Hannabach, and Savarez) bother making different sets with different lengths if there's no risk of breakage at the post with nylon-core strings. Maybe the risk is there with some products but not others. No idea.
 
#36
SBassman said:
I Have to try those strings on my Ibanez Parlor bass. Does anyone know the gauges and where to buy them in the U.S.?
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Gauges are reported, in millimetres, at the link provided (which is unfortunately down, at least from my end), and conveniently imperialised in post #17.
I've tried and failed to identify a US dealer for Magma strings a couple times, in occasions like this one (mentioning their strings to a North American poster); you might be luckier, but in case you aren't, the company email is [email protected] - I'd have told you to use the contact form on their website but...I still can't access it.
 
#38
On that new thread you asked a question to the owner of an Ortega
SBassman said:
D-Walker. I just looked them up. Very nice. Does it come tuned to standard pitch? What kind of strings come stock on it?
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Until you get an answer there, I'll provide one here, mostly so I can have one easily-retrievable reference thread for ≤750mm nylon-core string options. Apologies to @CARLOS VALINHAS, since this one is of even less interest to him (the E string is a paltry .08", i.e. even thinner than the .083" low E in the OCTA-8NS 8-string Ortega set I mentioned in post #15.). The stock set for the Ortega D-Walker mini-bass is the Ortega ODW-4:

post #15
https://www.amazon.com/Ortega-Guitars-ODW-4-Acoustic-D-Walker/dp/B00YTTAIPK
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Invalid Link Removed
Ortega Stringset for D-Walker Acoustic Bass Short Scale - Custom Made in Germany (ODW-4)
 
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#39

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#40
CARLOS VALINHAS said:
https://www.thomannmusic.com/magma_strings_gct_e_classic_bass_strings.htm?ref=prod_rel_226868_4

Multifilament core, Silver Nickel wounded.

25.6" (650mm) strings vibrating length.

Need to have some further information about:
- gauges;
- strings tensions when tunned up;
- ball end or no ball end.

In fact the most strings builders do not give this information that would be very helpfull to the luthiers first and to the bass players after.
View attachment 3138824 View attachment 3138826
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As I said on another post above, I have them, but I have not used them yet: I don't plan to, until I find a "silent" or travel classical within my budget and to my liking (I am about to try using my spare Savarez 82cm set on a shorter-scale instrument, but that's another story).

- gauges/tensions aren't written on the package (which I've finally found) and I have no micrometer available, sorry. In fact, I still have the sealed plastic bag intact. You could contact Magma and see if they're willing to disclose the info.
Gauges of the lowest four strings in the set (EADG), and thus the strings themselves, may be the same as the corresponding strings in the 5-string (BT5) set we discussed earlier (posts #17 and #33), namely
G .04"/1.02mm/15.75lbs/7.15kg
D .053"/1.35mm/15.86lbs/7.2kg
A .063"/1.59mm/15.53lbs/7.05kg
E .095"/2.42mm/17.4lbs/7.9kg
and it would stand to reason that they're the same strings (as it would regarding the lowest 4 strings of the 10-string, bass+guitar set they also make), but asking the manufacturer is the only way to be sure;

- no ball end. I can't feel any from the plastic bag, and in all videos the strings look tied to the bridge tie-block.


By the way, have you received/tried the Dragão set? If so, how do you like it?
 

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