What do I gain (or lose) going to lighter strings?

GHS Pressurewound 40-96 Light gauge are my go to now for gigs. Was using the Med-lights but lost nothing going to the lights. They are a great string for live performance, especially here in SW Florida with the high humidity. I still love my flats for recording and such, but live they get too sticky.

I also just want to join and say I am a light set only player pretty much as well. I tried meidum, I liked it but enjoyed light and lighter gauges way more. Heavy does not work with me, maybe I'm just a weakling but I was getting tired way too fast. Lighter all the way, I find the with the modern gear we have today, you can EQ and fix most of the issues of lack of punch some say. I however personally find no lost of punch personally with lights but as always YMMV!

If you found a B string has match tonal with the current PW 44-106, maybe you need find others B string to match 40-96 tonal.

About the thicker string = better tone are joke to me. Each bass guitar has their character/unique. We need to find a match gauge/type of bass string and playing style to make "Your Bass Tone" or nail "That Bass Tone " through different bass amp and EQ setting.

Even just a finger style playing, all player has different plucking skill and different fingertip pad to make sound different on same bass , right ?

Some ppl said Victor wooden bass tone are thin, but, that is his signature voice .

I started with 45-105 and now use 40-95 on my Fenders. I like the clarity and looseness of thinner strings.

Apparently someone can tell the sonic difference. This demo does capture one thing about heavier strings, which is that they kinda ring out like strings on an acoustic guitar vs. electric.

JazznFunk said:

Even that is questionable on the upright side of things. Depends on the bass. Some basses 'come alive' with higher tension strings.... some choke and lose volume. Synthetic core 'mediums' on upright always seem to hit the sweet spot for me, and they feel significantly softer vs a steel core of the same gauge, whereas anything with a steel core has to be light gauge.... both for the bass to speak and to not rip my fingers to shreds.

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Haven’t played upright in some years now. When I first started upright (I was 12) the old jazzer I had as teacher way back in ‘67 always told me go heavier rather than lighter when it came to strings. And that misconception followed me when I eventually migrated over to electric.

I’ve long since learned better.

J-Mags said:

Apparently someone can tell the sonic difference. This demo does capture one thing about heavier strings, which is that they kinda ring out like strings on an acoustic guitar vs. electric.

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I’d suspect it has more to do with that particular set of strings rather than being a general rule for all brands and sets of strings.

FWIW i haven’t found Anderton videos to be all that reliable a source of info since the departure of Rabea Massaad. But maybe that’s just me.

40Hz said:

I’d suspect it has more to do with that particular set of strings rather than being a general rule for all brands and sets of strings.

FWIW i haven’t found Anderton videos to be all that reliable a source of info since the departure of Rabea Massaad. But maybe that’s just me.

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All of them are sales vids with varying degrees of credibility. I like Lee and Cici's vids although I don't use them to make buying decisions. They come across as creative and enthusiastic.

I think her experience here is congruent with mine within a given model of strings. Throwing different string types in would definitely obscure the difference between different gauges.

J-Mags said:

27528177[/URL], member: 328091"]I think her experience here is congruent with mine within a given model of strings. Throwing different string types in would definitely obscure the difference between different gauges.

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Could be. But my experiences with the flats I use don’t match her experience. Still, there are so many other variables in play (pickups, amps, amp settings, playing style, etc.) that her results may not match someone else’s even with the same strings. So I wouldn’t extrapolate too much from it. You still need to try things for yourself.

J-Mags said:

27528177[/URL], member: 328091"]I like Lee and Cici's vids although I don't use them to make buying decisions. They come across as creative and enthusiastic.

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They come across more as being disorganized and a little goofy to me whereas I’m more the technical type. Which makes me somewhat impatient and a little grumpy at times. No knock on them personally. I’m sure they’re nice people. Probably know their stuff too. But I prefer a higher signal to noise ratio when I’m watching demos rather than any entertainment value. It’s just me and the way I’m wired.

I think the point is that she had been given the opportunity to get to know the four different sets, and learnt to differentiate sufficiently to have a worthwhile preference that was based on more than just feel.

For what it's worth, I could hear what I especially like in a string increasing with each step up in gauge, but I wouldn't have any idea how to put it into words. Except perhaps "they sound more tense"

Jefenator said:

What can I say? I just like to dig in.

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me too!

but here's what i've learned about digging in* with lighter gauges: the lighter the gauge = the less muscle you need to "dig in!" IME/IMO, the "digging in" effect needs to be 'renegotiated' as you go lighter and lighter, it's relative...and i think you can create more nuance with less effort and without any losses in 'bass-ness'...and you can always tweak the amp/preamp...but i think the secret is the touch.
* on fretless axes

i've tried ridiculously light gauges on some of my axes, e.g., 4-string with a 27-75 set --- they sounded great! i just love to dig in on light-gauge strings!

kesslari said:

I'm curious to find out how ghost notes work on lighter strings. That will be a big tell for me.
BTW, I do play with a pretty light touch.
FWIW, I decided to see if I could find what gauge strings Richard Bona (a master of ghost notes if ever there was one) uses, and on his site under his equipment there's a set of Markbass nickel plated .040-.125's.

I'm feeling excited to try the light experiment.

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I tell you, I get a lot more traction on my ghosting now. I used to play (medium gauge 45 to 105s) on both fretted and fretless. Wow! Since I switched to the light flats on my fretless. (42-100) I'm digging it. Both physically and groovily. Oh yeah, on my fretted I dropped my rounds slightly to 44-102 and even that feels good.

I cannot concur that there is zero tradeoff. But if the thing you are trading off is something you didn't want & won't miss (like playing resistance - or decay) then your decision becomes a lot easier.

kesslari said:

I'm curious to find out how ghost notes work on lighter strings. That will be a big tell for me.

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if i couldn't ghost those notes = i wouldn't still be playing! i think the 'ghosts' are easier and more impressive, IME.

seriously, it's all about the lighter, less muscle-y touch! i hope you like 'em --- 'cause i can't take responsibility if you don't... ...even though i realize i'm doing a sales job here...

kesslari said:

I play Pressurewounds (GHS or Smith) - .044 to .106 (I stick a different B on them because I haven't bonded with the B in the sets).
What do I gain or lose by switching (besides some time resetting intonation)?
I'm intrigued after learning that "thicker strings = better tone" is not necessarily true (from this thread - How does Vic Wooten get such a FULL sound with such THIN strings? )

Talk to me.

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Careful. Too light and you can't get the tension needed to tune to E standard. If you're going lighter, go one set lighter and see what you think.

JRA said:

me too!

but here's what i've learned about digging in* with lighter gauges: the lighter the gauge = the less muscle you need to "dig in!" IME/IMO, the "digging in" effect needs to be 'renegotiated' as you go lighter and lighter, it's relative...and i think you can create more nuance with less effort and without any losses in 'bass-ness'...and you can always tweak the amp/preamp...but i think the secret is the touch.
* on fretless axes

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exactly! why work harder if you don't have to?

alex1fly said:

Careful. Too light and you can't get the tension needed to tune to E standard. If you're going lighter, go one set lighter and see what you think.

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i haven't found that to be the case, but maybe it's string or bass specific. i tried some super-duper, extra-ultra light strings (i think they were 35 to 85) and didn't have any problems tuning to E standard. i disliked the way the thin strings felt on my fingertips, though, and switched back to 40-95s.

alex1fly said:

Too light and you can't get the tension needed to tune to E standard.

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that's not correct.

40Hz said:

Could be. But my experiences with the flats I use don’t match her experience. Still, there are so many other variables in play (pickups, amps, amp settings, playing style, etc.) that her results may not match someone else’s even with the same strings. So I wouldn’t extrapolate too much from it. You still need to try things for yourself.

They come across more as being disorganized and a little goofy to me whereas I’m more the technical type. Which makes me somewhat impatient and a little grumpy at times. No knock on them personally. I’m sure they’re nice people. Probably know their stuff too. But I prefer a higher signal to noise ratio when I’m watching demos rather than any entertainment value. It’s just me and the way I’m wired.

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There's a certain punch and stiffness in heavier strings that I can hear almost always. Not that it's always preferable.

I sometimes use heavier strings playing guitar too, because I like the full-scale grind sometimes, like the sound of chords on an acoustic guitar with a round 3rd vs. your average electric guitar sound. I also tried to cure myself of unison bend cliches by getting successively heavier strings, but I just made my hand stronger and my occasional tendonitis worse, so I backed off, but I can't really play 95 bass strings or .09 guitar strings in tune.

If I were an hours-per-day practicer, or 100 gig-per-year performer, I'd probably drop down at least 1 notch for both guitar and bass. For bass, I just go for 100-ish for stiffer strings and 105-ish for softer. I don't feel like I'm working harder, because I'm not doing the kind of wankery I do on guitar. Conversely, I've never played a 55-110 set that sounded good to me, and I hated trying to set up an instrument to take that.

With regard to the demos generally, I can't stand much talking at all, but with those guys it seems like they're having fun. If it's like, "Hey, hey, hey, check this out!" then I can deal with it, but I can't stand the solemn rig rundowns, etc. My favorites are the ones that have no talking. I've got to be in a really specific mood to watch That Pedal Show, for instance. At the same time, certain omissions of info drive me crazy, like when people will compare a J-bass to a P-bass and then not say what pickups they're using on the J.

alex1fly said:

Careful. Too light and you can't get the tension needed to tune to E standard. If you're going lighter, go one set lighter and see what you think.

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pcake said:

i haven't found that to be the case, but maybe it's string or bass specific. i tried some super-duper, extra-ultra light strings (i think they were 35 to 85) and didn't have any problems tuning to E standard.

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JRA said:

that's not correct.

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A "sproing point", as I like to call it, certainly exists, but is dependent on scale, inherent stiffness of the string (flexible strings move more and need more plucking discipline and/or higher action not to smack against the frets than stiff strings do, but the former maintain a steadier pitch upon the attack at very light tensions), and playing style to an extent (it is true that past a certain tuning/gauge point, no matter how lightly you pluck, pitch won't be steady).
Especially with (but not limited to) long-scale basses, there's folks out there (and among us) playing incredibly light strings. The usable window is certainly not limited to, say, .095" (lightest commonly available low-E gauge).