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30" Scale Bass with Bass VI Strings?

Salem6127

Salem6127

Jan 7, 2021
231
299
Canada
#1
I know the idea has been proposed here once or twice, but has anyone actually tried it? Specifically with either of these two sets?

1738862031629.png
1738862066917.png


My 30" bass has a Hipshot A style bridge, so I don't think smaller ball ends will be a problem. Just wanna make sure the tapers reach the nut. I'm big on extra light strings (we're talking 30-90 on a 34"), but my shortie is hard to shop for. Of course I could buy regular scale 30-90 strings and cut 'em to size, but neither is "proper" procedure here and these 2 sets are easier on the wallet.
 
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#2
HUGE THANKS to strings direct for providing ball to taper lengths:

EB: These strings measure 32.5" / 82.5cm from the ball end to the start of the taper.
DA: These strings measure 35" / 88.5cm from the ball end to the start of the taper.


www.stringsdirect.co.uk

Ernie Ball Slinky 20-90 Bass VI Nickel Wound Strings

Our guitar strings store has been supplying musicians since '97. We are guitar players and strings fanatics, and we're here to help you discover your favourite set from the widest range of acoustic, electric, and bass guitar strings anywhere in the UK.
www.stringsdirect.co.uk www.stringsdirect.co.uk

www.stringsdirect.co.uk

D'Addario XL-Series Fender Bass VI Nickel 24-84 Bass Guitar Strings [EXL156]

Our guitar strings store has been supplying musicians since '97. We are guitar players and strings fanatics, and we're here to help you discover your favourite set from the widest range of acoustic, electric, and bass guitar strings anywhere in the UK.
www.stringsdirect.co.uk www.stringsdirect.co.uk

I'll report back after my experiences for the 0.001% of fellow short scale users interested in super lite strings.
 
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#3
Have you considered the bottom 4 of these

www.daddario.com

NYXL0980 Nickel Wound | Electric Guitar Strings | D'Addario

EVANS Hydraulic snare drumheads deliver a deep, fat tone with easy tuning and maximum durability. Available in black, red, or blue.
www.daddario.com www.daddario.com

Mentions 30” scale on the back of the pack used for the tension data. Tuning them down a full tone would make em realy light though e.g the E1 would be like a 42 on a Strat, tension wise
 
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#6
Salem6127 said:
I know the idea has been proposed here once or twice, but has anyone actually tried it? Specifically with either of these two sets?

View attachment 7144654View attachment 7144655

My 30" bass has a Hipshot A style bridge, so I don't think smaller ball ends will be a problem. Just wanna make sure the tapers reach the nut. I'm big on extra light strings (we're talking 30-90 on a 34"), but my shortie is hard to shop for. Of course I could buy regular scale 30-90 strings and cut 'em to size, but neither is "proper" procedure here and these 2 sets are easier on the wallet.
Click to expand...
The smaller ball ends is not a problem if you use the cut off bigger ball ends of old bass strings and pull them down over the strings.
 
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#9
Prodigus Filius said:
Have you considered the bottom 4 of these

www.daddario.com

NYXL0980 Nickel Wound | Electric Guitar Strings | D'Addario

EVANS Hydraulic snare drumheads deliver a deep, fat tone with easy tuning and maximum durability. Available in black, red, or blue.
www.daddario.com www.daddario.com

Mentions 30” scale on the back of the pack used for the tension data. Tuning them down a full tone would make em realy light though e.g the E1 would be like a 42 on a Strat, tension wise
Click to expand...
Never considered an 8 string set before, appreciate the tip. Still cheaper than shortie bass sets, even been NYXL.
 
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#10
Salem6127 said:
Mind elaborating on what you didn't like? Also did you try them on an actual bass or the bass VI?
Click to expand...

I used both sets trying to turn my Dano Baritone into a Bass VI. They're the same scale length. The Ernie Ball set was a floppy mess. Maybe it would be better tuned up to G. But it was too low tension for my taste. The D'Addario set's tension was all over the place. The low E felt like it had no tension, some of the high strings felt like they might break. I just didn't like them at all.

Last week, I learned that Stringjoy provides strings to Hybrid Guitars, the guitars Charlie Hunter plays. They make a Bass VI. The gauges are 24-32-42-65-85-105. So I asked Stringjoy if the low strings have small ball ends, like in their regular Bass VI packs, or if they use bass strings. They just use short scale bass strings. So my Dano Baritone is now with my tech, and he's going to set it up for those gauges. And yes, the short scale bass strings do indeed fit perfectly into the guitar tuners. I should get it back in the next week or so.

As for roundwound short scale bass strings, I use Dunlop. They're like $22. Not too bad.
 
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#11
UPDATE: The Ernie Ball Bass VI strings are successfully installed!

As per @Ritter667's brilliant advice, sliding ball ends from old bass sets overtop of the new strings got me past the small ball end issue. Although two minor issues did arise:

1. Taper length: I was worried about the taper not reaching the nut, but the exact opposite was true! The specification was 32.5, I measured a solid 33" which brought the tapers way past the tuning pegs on my E & A strings. I hesitate to cut the full thickness of the string in fear of the rounds unraveling, so I'm left with lots of excess string on a tiny peg. Not a huge issue with this set, but this would definitely render the DA EXL156 set mentioned in my OG post unusable, had I went with those instead.

2. Locking tuners: I'm probably the only one on this forum with a locking tuner equipped short scale bass, so this probably won't pose a problem for anyone else... But I intended to use the 90-74-54-30 strings: Bottom 3 installed no problem, but the 30 lacked enough beef for the locking tuner to grip well enough. Had to go with the 42 for a G instead. Ended up not being a problem, since I think a 30 for a short scale G might be pushing it. Bottom line, anything thinner than a 40 probably isn't usable for locking pegs.

Review:

Tone - Massive upgrade IMO. With shorties already being, in fact, quite punchy... The heavy sets it wore prior had a little too much oomph to it for my taste. I felt the lows always vastly overshadowed the highs. Since the change, I feel as though I'm now hearing the full tonal spectrum of the bass for the first time with the 90-42 set. It's proving much more versatile of an instrument than it was before.

Feel/Playability - Also a great improvement. I'm no stranger to thicker strings on a standard scale, but for my 30" scale I feel like anything beefier than 100-40 chokes out on the higher frets, especially this being a 24 fret bass. The string feel, response and tension of the 90-42 EBs on this short scale feel much more similar to a 45-105 on my long scales than the true 45-105 Sunbeams this bass wore prior.

Overall, I'm happy I tried these, especially for the cost! Although the excess taper length for the E & A mean I'll probably move on to other sets. Likely sooner than later as well, since we all know how long EB strings last... Will update as I go, and I appreciate you guys help!:thumbsup:
 
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#13
Prodigus Filius said:
To the OP. What is the specific bass in question?
Click to expand...

It's a secondhand custom built instrument. The original owner who commissioned it was definitely a guitarist seeing as he opted for XJ stainless steel frets and a neck thin enough to put an Ibanez SR to shame:thumbsdown: Was kind of an impulse buy to be honest, it's a very difficult bass to find strings for given all the specs.

a.jpgb.jpg
 
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#15
I've used sets of the newest Fender Bass VI strings on a 5-string medium scale bass (32") to good effect using the bass ball-end trick to hold them in the bridge. Fender Bass VIs actually use (essentially) medium-scale strings as the Jazzmaster-style tremolo + floating bridge setup increases the length of the string by a couple inches vs a typical bridge-mount string. Unfortunately there is no exact standard for "Bass VI" style instruments so some of them require these longer strings and some require standard short-scale strings. The D'addarios I believe were made specifically for a Fender-style Bass VI, hence the longer length.
 
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#16
Salem6127 said:
UPDATE: The Ernie Ball Bass VI strings are successfully installed!

As per @Ritter667's brilliant advice, sliding ball ends from old bass sets overtop of the new strings got me past the small ball end issue. Although two minor issues did arise:

1. Taper length: I was worried about the taper not reaching the nut, but the exact opposite was true! The specification was 32.5, I measured a solid 33" which brought the tapers way past the tuning pegs on my E & A strings. I hesitate to cut the full thickness of the string in fear of the rounds unraveling, so I'm left with lots of excess string on a tiny peg. Not a huge issue with this set, but this would definitely render the DA EXL156 set mentioned in my OG post unusable, had I went with those instead.

2. Locking tuners: I'm probably the only one on this forum with a locking tuner equipped short scale bass, so this probably won't pose a problem for anyone else... But I intended to use the 90-74-54-30 strings: Bottom 3 installed no problem, but the 30 lacked enough beef for the locking tuner to grip well enough. Had to go with the 42 for a G instead. Ended up not being a problem, since I think a 30 for a short scale G might be pushing it. Bottom line, anything thinner than a 40 probably isn't usable for locking pegs.

Review:

Tone - Massive upgrade IMO. With shorties already being, in fact, quite punchy... The heavy sets it wore prior had a little too much oomph to it for my taste. I felt the lows always vastly overshadowed the highs. Since the change, I feel as though I'm now hearing the full tonal spectrum of the bass for the first time with the 90-42 set. It's proving much more versatile of an instrument than it was before.

Feel/Playability - Also a great improvement. I'm no stranger to thicker strings on a standard scale, but for my 30" scale I feel like anything beefier than 100-40 chokes out on the higher frets, especially this being a 24 fret bass. The string feel, response and tension of the 90-42 EBs on this short scale feel much more similar to a 45-105 on my long scales than the true 45-105 Sunbeams this bass wore prior.

Overall, I'm happy I tried these, especially for the cost! Although the excess taper length for the E & A mean I'll probably move on to other sets. Likely sooner than later as well, since we all know how long EB strings last... Will update as I go, and I appreciate you guys help!:thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Glad I stumbled upon this thread. I play an Ibanez SRC6MS with the nut and bridge modified to accommodate a custom assemblage of .120–.030 GHS bass and guitar strings for B0–B2. As it has become a go-to instrument for me, I have considered replacing the serviceable stock tuning machines with locking Sperzels. Those claim to take up to .125 with no need of any taper to the string, which would really open up my options for strings; but based on what I’ve read here, I would want to check with Sperzel to see if they can handle diameters down to .030. I wonder whether some constructions of strings would slip in the locking mechanism less than others at lower diameters 🤔

Also glad of course to hear that these strings worked out well for your unique situation! While it wouldn’t likely save you anything on cost, you could consider ordering four singles in the diameters you prefer; at least you wouldn’t find yourself stuck with two superfluous strings with every change. You might even like this set from Rotosound.
 
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#18
sunbeast said:
I've tried some short-scale Rotosound 66 strings on my short-scale Jaguar bass and they were honestly some of the worst strings I've ever tried- reading reviews for them on the net it seems I'm not alone. Love those strings on long-scales, but the shorties had terrible pitch/intonation stability and were incredibly floppy
Click to expand...
Oh, I despised them 🤣🤣🤣 but I thought it was just me, since I’ve never cared for stainless steel roundwounds of any kind.
 
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#19
Riff Ranger said:
Oh, I despised them 🤣🤣🤣 but I thought it was just me, since I’ve never cared for stainless steel roundwounds of any kind.
Click to expand...
Yeah they were the first strings I've tried in a loooong time that I couldn't even stand long enough to try to break in- basically no redeeming qualities! I've used steel DR strings on shorties before and liked them, so it definitely wasn't just a steel roundwound on a short-scale issue- I think there is just something off about those Roto short-scale sets
 
#20
sunbeast said:
Yeah they were the first strings I've tried in a loooong time that I couldn't even stand long enough to try to break in- basically no redeeming qualities! I've used steel DR strings on shorties before and liked them, so it definitely wasn't just a steel roundwound on a short-scale issue- I think there is just something off about those Roto short-scale sets
Click to expand...
Maybe they were made specifically for @Salem6127 ’s unique instrument 😆
 

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