This is news to me. DR hasn't even updated the info on their website regarding this.
https://www.drstrings.com/bass-hi-beam (Short Scale = 33 3/4")
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32" scale strings
- Thread starter Cliff Bordwell
- Start date
This is news to me. DR hasn't even updated the info on their website regarding this.
https://www.drstrings.com/bass-hi-beam (Short Scale = 33 3/4")
In that case, that would suck if DR really did change their winding length. All the many reasons I re bought a Medium scale bass for....
Meanwhile, thanks for the "inside scoop".
I'm curious to see how long it's going to take them to update their website to reflect the change.
I have, at various times, owned 30" scale, 31" scale, 32" scale, and 34" scale basses. I strung all of them with Curt Mangan 45-105 roundwounds, and they've all been fine. Strings too long? That's why God made wirecutters.
I've had problems with the fat part of the string wrapping around the tuner and then breaking, so it depends on the string.
I use Labella Deep Talkin' flats. They come in standard, 32 or 30" lengths.
I have a couple of guitars with a tailpiece instead of a Fender-style fixed bridge. Those are usually hollowbodies or semi-hollows. For those, order one size longer than the scale length.
Pretty simple. If in doubt, check the distance from the nut to the point where the string ball mounts. My Dean Cabbie measures 35" with that method, so 34" strings work great.
Example of tailpiece:
I have a couple of guitars with a tailpiece instead of a Fender-style fixed bridge. Those are usually hollowbodies or semi-hollows. For those, order one size longer than the scale length.
Pretty simple. If in doubt, check the distance from the nut to the point where the string ball mounts. My Dean Cabbie measures 35" with that method, so 34" strings work great.
Example of tailpiece:
If your 32" scale bass has cloverleaf tuners, with the fat tuning peg, you can usually use regular long scale strings. The 32" scale Squier Jaguar H is sold with regular long-scale Fender strings on it.
As @TheEmptyCell noted, the fat part of the E string will wrap partway around the peg, but not far enough to break. It's only if you have the newer-style triangle tuners, with the small tuning posts, that you may run into problems.
As @TheEmptyCell noted, the fat part of the E string will wrap partway around the peg, but not far enough to break. It's only if you have the newer-style triangle tuners, with the small tuning posts, that you may run into problems.
Meanwhile, thanks for the "inside scoop".
Just got the “inside scoop” via e-mail
Thanks for the info. So, only the "short scale" 105E has been shortened to 33", while the rest (A-G) remain at 33.75". This clarifies things a little better.
Yep! Can’t wait for my single E strings. Had an issue stringing an Ibanez Mezzo with the newly updated scale length!
As a general rule, I put long scale strings on long scale basses; short scale strings on "normal" short scale basses; and medium scale strings on... basses that force me into using them. But, IME, it's the particular bass itself, that decides which strings will fit. Examples;
- My '94 Gretsch Broadkaster is 30.5" scale. With it's trapeze tailpiece and floating TOM bridge, it should wear medium scale strings. Like the great majority of basses like that do. But, it's so big physically, that a lot of medium scale strings won't fit it - they're too short. As in, they don't even make it to the tuner posts, too short. Conversely, a lot of long scale rounds and flats will fit it perfectly... Currently, it's wearing a set of stupid-long-even-for-medium scale, "short scale" TI Jazz Rounds. On the Gretsch's 2+2 headstock, the E and G strings barely needed to be trimmed to get 3 winds on their tuner posts; the A and D strings barely have 2 winds on the tuner post - without cutting them at all...
- My Chinese Starfire violin bass is another one with a trapeze tailpiece and a floating bridge. So, it needs medium scale strings, right? Wrong. Although it doesn't look like it, this bass is actually 29" scale, and the tailpiece is slightly longer than is "normal". The "real" short scale Labella 760FL's it wears, fit it just fine... A perfect example of what happens when you ASSUME something. It often makes an ASS out of U and ME...
I've found that, with so much variance between the actual overall dimensions of bass guitars - combined with the equally wide variance in the length of strings of a nominal scale length, that it's never a good idea to simply assume that "x scale" strings will fit "x scale bass" without a problem. I've been wrong, more times than I care to think about... Measuring your bass, and looking up the actual length of the strings you'd like to use, is the best way keep from wasting your money on strings that... SURPRISE!! don't fit your bass. And, save you the grief of having to learn this stuff the hard way - like I - and lots of others - had to...
- My '94 Gretsch Broadkaster is 30.5" scale. With it's trapeze tailpiece and floating TOM bridge, it should wear medium scale strings. Like the great majority of basses like that do. But, it's so big physically, that a lot of medium scale strings won't fit it - they're too short. As in, they don't even make it to the tuner posts, too short. Conversely, a lot of long scale rounds and flats will fit it perfectly... Currently, it's wearing a set of stupid-long-even-for-medium scale, "short scale" TI Jazz Rounds. On the Gretsch's 2+2 headstock, the E and G strings barely needed to be trimmed to get 3 winds on their tuner posts; the A and D strings barely have 2 winds on the tuner post - without cutting them at all...
- My Chinese Starfire violin bass is another one with a trapeze tailpiece and a floating bridge. So, it needs medium scale strings, right? Wrong. Although it doesn't look like it, this bass is actually 29" scale, and the tailpiece is slightly longer than is "normal". The "real" short scale Labella 760FL's it wears, fit it just fine... A perfect example of what happens when you ASSUME something. It often makes an ASS out of U and ME...
I've found that, with so much variance between the actual overall dimensions of bass guitars - combined with the equally wide variance in the length of strings of a nominal scale length, that it's never a good idea to simply assume that "x scale" strings will fit "x scale bass" without a problem. I've been wrong, more times than I care to think about... Measuring your bass, and looking up the actual length of the strings you'd like to use, is the best way keep from wasting your money on strings that... SURPRISE!! don't fit your bass. And, save you the grief of having to learn this stuff the hard way - like I - and lots of others - had to...
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This has made me curious about something...
What about the DR "long scale", which is longer than most "long scale" at 37.75" in winding length? Has DR shortened the E and the B down to 37"? That would make more sense than shortening the "short scale" E from 33.75" down to 33".
Thread resurrection.
Galli do jazz flats in a 45-130 set. You can choose medium scale.
It's a wasteland out there for flats lovers wanting lower tunings on their 32". So far all I have seen that would be passable for D1 in D tuning are Dunlop's medium scale 5 set 45-125 and the Galli set.
Galli do jazz flats in a 45-130 set. You can choose medium scale.
It's a wasteland out there for flats lovers wanting lower tunings on their 32". So far all I have seen that would be passable for D1 in D tuning are Dunlop's medium scale 5 set 45-125 and the Galli set.
