.065 D-strings have too much tension!

I know what your talking about, and it is a pain at times.

They don't make an even tensioned string set so they are all the same tension, while being in the typical 45-60-85-110-135 because if you want them to all be equal tension they would have to change the thickeness. I don't know the exact number, but i'm just going to use variable here.

If you want a string to be 45 pounds (45p) of tension while being a certain width (x), and still want them to each go up the appropiate pitch, (beadg for example). The b would have to be "this fat" and make a B sound, while the E, if it were the same width, would not create 45 lbs of tension, it would make more.

Now i think your asking, why don't they figure it all out? Thats a great question... I think there is someone on here who makes strings, (can't remember at the moment) and asking him would be a great idea. But just figuring out the math for this would be hard with out knowing how each thing would be.

I think that it is because they try to keep the go down .15 every string, which in theory could all keep 45 lbs of tension, but i guess not.

 

Fanned frets will help solve those problems. ; )

 

buy single strings.

Make sure your bass is setup totally proper.

 

Sounds like your nut slot under the D string isn't cut right. You can have the nut re-cut to compensate for the lack of balance in the string.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I'm still confused and pulled out my Sray5 fretless, Jazz Bass and MTD 6 fretless and don't see a massive difference that would affect playing?

Perhaps because on my 5 string I'm using EXL-220-5 set... On the Jazz the D is a 75, and on the 6 my d string is a 60

Have you tried altering the saddle angle on the D string?

You know, come to think of it, back when I had a Charvel P-Bass copy I remember having some sort of problem with the D string... It never got resolved... The D string felt different no matter what brand I bought...

Is that it?

 

D'Addario has a couple of formulas there too, to allow you to figure tension. So I did the math, creating a D string with 45lbs. tension.
And the math says the string would need to be .047". Nature of the beast I'm afraid.

 

I build for myself what are closer to balanced-tension sets. I like the more uniform feel. Regardless of how heavy or light I am currently favoring, I can do this for various tunings. I've also done it for multiscale/fanned instruments and different scale lengths.

See sig for downloadable spreadsheet calculator to be used in conjunction with D'Addario tension pdf.

For a standard five-string tuning based on nickel rounds starting with a .045 I might go:

G - .045 - 42.8 pounds
D - .060 - 42.9 pounds
A - .080 - 42.0 pounds
E - .105 - 40.3 pounds
B - .135 - 36.1 pounds

Some basses because of body and neck resonances, setup, pickup response and radius, might want adjusted gauges on some strings to compensate for the irregularities. Also, as strings become thicker they become less flexible, so I allow for that especially on low B, and to an extent, E.

 

Custom sets are the way to go if you want balanced.