5 string basses should be 35” scale

[TH63]

Now I have to dump my 5 string basses and get the right ones?

Yes. You can just send them to me. I'm happy to relieve your burden.

 

[Geri O]

Disagree I had a 35” and hated it.

5 string bass scales should be a choice!

Can anyone show where it's not a choice?

With all the talk in this post, some unknowing people might think there's not a choice.

How about we all just stop pontificating about "our choice" and the notion that any deviation from "our choice" is an abomination and go on about our day?

 

[Dan Knowlton]

I disagree - my Sadowsky has a great low B as did the Fodera I had and they are 34". My Lakland, Ken Lawrence and Roscoe are all equally good and they are 35".

Must be something else other than a small increase in scale length.

 

[Marlon Carbone]

It occurs to me that it could be the type of string you're using for your low B. Some manufacturers use a 3 wrap string to get it to gage and some use a 4 wrap string. That will change the tension, the flexibility, the mass, and the tone. You might try using a different brand of strings.

 

[jnottoli]

I studied the Physics of Musical instruments in college, and this is absolutely the right answer. String sets for basses are typically designed with an arithmetic progression in string diameter - 45-65-85-105. This results in uneven tension. When extended to a 5th string, this thinking flat out fails. I like really light tension - 40-55-70-95 on a 4 string. A well matched B string for that set is a 130. If you’re playing a 105E, a 140 is what you need. The 120 or 125 in the set you bought is just a bad choice.

35 inch scale is a band aid for the fact that string companies don’t make matched sets - it helps the floppy B somewhat, but makes the other strings tighter as well. With well designed string sets, none of this would be necessary.

I buy single strings to get a well matched B string. It works very well on a 34 inch scale. With the right strings, a 34 inch scale bass is better for a 5 string - shorter necks are, by definition, stiffer. That difference is small, but it is there.

I was going to let this thread go, 'cause there are a lot of opinions & mine is just another.

That is, until I saw micguy. I said "woah, it's science!".

No, seriously - I'm interested now.

I have 34s, mostly 4-strings.

My go-to bass, when I have to be able to do any style or any crazy key at the drop of a hat, is a Read Custom 34" scale 5-string.
- Alder body covered with an exotic wood sandwich
- Maple neck, and purpleheart lam., ebony board. Single truss rod - two-way (?).
- Good electronics: Agular OBP-3, Lane Poor soapbars.

When I had it built, I said "34". 35 was the rage for 5-strings at the time. Maybe I thought I'd have trouble going back & forth all the time. I bet I could though....

Strings are usually gauges 40-60-80-100-125, or 45-65-85-105-125. Sadowsky or DR. Most often nickel.

I fight the "B" like crazy. It's too "floppy", sounds different or lacks definition as I travel up the neck.

I have to put on the brakes on my plucking hand, and change up technique on the B.

So, if I like light or light/medium, probably nickel strings - what do I need?

Who sells single B strings and where can I get them?

Rock on, micguy!

 

[micguy]

I was going to let this thread go, 'cause there are a lot of opinions & mine is just another.

That is, until I saw micguy. I said "woah, it's science!".

No, seriously - I'm interested now.

I have 34s, mostly 4-strings.

My go-to bass, when I have to be able to do any style or any crazy key at the drop of a hat, is a Read Custom 34" scale 5-string.
- Alder body covered with an exotic wood sandwich
- Maple neck, and purpleheart lam., ebony board. Single truss rod - two-way (?).
- Good electronics: Agular OBP-3, Lane Poor soapbars.

When I had it built, I said "34". 35 was the rage for 5-strings at the time. Maybe I thought I'd have trouble going back & forth all the time. I bet I could though....

Strings are usually gauges 40-60-80-100-125, or 45-65-85-105-125. Sadowsky or DR. Most often nickel.

I fight the "B" like crazy. It's too "floppy", sounds different or lacks definition as I travel up the neck.

I have to put on the brakes on my plucking hand, and change up technique on the B.

So, if I like light or light/medium, probably nickel strings - what do I need?

Who sells single B strings and where can I get them?

Rock on, micguy!

I go to a few places to get strings. Just Strings is decent - GHS stuff (Boomers, round core boomers, even their Bassics) that you can get in gauges. They also have D'addario XL's, which come in big gauges and are tapered at the bridge - helps the B match the set a bit better. You can also get strings direct from GHS - a bit more cash, but they're usually much faster going direct. Kalium makes things in all kinds of gauges - their "hybrids" are a bit brighter than most nickel plated strings, but one or two of my basses sound great with those. Those are tapered on the big strings. Their delivery time is a bit unpredictable - order well before you need them, they always arrive, when it the question. Also, Curt Mangan and String Joy do things in whatever gauge you want (multiples of .005) - you don't end up paying more for whatever gauges you want than a "standard" set".

I have a few times bought a 4 string set that I like and bought a single B to make it a 5 string set. Tis works, as long as the 4 set is what you want - I like relatively low tension strings, and a lot of companies simply don't make a .055 string - what I use for a D. That means a lot of potential sources are off my list. DR and Fodera used to do sets like that - Victor Wooten and I apparently like the same D string gauge, but when his deals with them lapsed or whatever, they dropped that string gauge, and hence lost my business.

2 gauge recommendations to start with: light gauge (what I work with) is 40-55-70-95-130. If you're more of a medium gauge person, a 45-60-80-105-140 set is nicely balanced - I used the first 4 of that for a D standard tuned bass before I switched to 5 string basses. D'addario makes a 45-60-80-107 set, which works well for the lower 4, if you like their strings.

 

[Hot rod pickup]

It occurs to me that it could be the type of string you're using for your low B. Some manufacturers use a 3 wrap string to get it to gage and some use a 4 wrap string. That will change the tension, the flexibility, the mass, and the tone. You might try using a different brand of strings.

Since I buy online it's hard to look at a string and know. If you will seguest a string brand I will buy and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[RedMoses]

Ive got a 34.5" scale Marco Bass 5, tightest B ive played. I also owned an 87' THumb 5 for years, the tightest 34" scale B ive come across. I personally dont like 35" scale, ive owned a couple, While the B is tight the scale length throws me off as ive been playing 34" for most of my basses over the years.

 

[jnottoli]

micguy -

Thanks a lot for your advice. I see things (strings) in a different way! I thought I was cursed with the wrong scale length for a 5er, or some sort of inferior neck build. I couldn't figure it out.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

https://www.daddario.com/upload/tension_chart_13934.pdf

Pg. 10

https://wahiduddin.net/calc/calc_guitar_string.htm

Shelquist string calculator

I feel that my best experience with the 5 string Bass has been Warwick. Tilt back headstock & two piece bridge that provide break angle on both ends of the string. All have had neck through construction, using extremally ridged wood laminates and quarter sawn fingerboards. I have had uneven results with bolt-on neck instruments in my experience. I use a DR Pure Blues Nickel Round - .045, .065, .085, .105, .130 that is a standard set and works well for me. I don't like the tember of the D/G in 35" scale and fanned fret is not something I will gravitate towards, as I have no issues in 34" scale for 5 string Bass.

 

[Max7]

I have absolutely no use for a B string, However, I find myself greatly DESIRING one. I am casually researching five strings. From what I can determine by reading a few threads on Talkbass string gauge and construction can mitigate scale length. That said, when I do finally get a fiver it will probably ether be a Yamaha BB or an Ibanez SR.

Take a look at the Schecter Elite 5, I just purchased one several months back and love the feel and the tone.

 

[DECEMBER]

I was going to let this thread go, 'cause there are a lot of opinions & mine is just another.

That is, until I saw micguy. I said "woah, it's science!".

No, seriously - I'm interested now.

I have 34s, mostly 4-strings.

My go-to bass, when I have to be able to do any style or any crazy key at the drop of a hat, is a Read Custom 34" scale 5-string.
- Alder body covered with an exotic wood sandwich
- Maple neck, and purpleheart lam., ebony board. Single truss rod - two-way (?).
- Good electronics: Agular OBP-3, Lane Poor soapbars.

When I had it built, I said "34". 35 was the rage for 5-strings at the time. Maybe I thought I'd have trouble going back & forth all the time. I bet I could though....

Strings are usually gauges 40-60-80-100-125, or 45-65-85-105-125. Sadowsky or DR. Most often nickel.

I fight the "B" like crazy. It's too "floppy", sounds different or lacks definition as I travel up the neck.

I have to put on the brakes on my plucking hand, and change up technique on the B.

So, if I like light or light/medium, probably nickel strings - what do I need?

Who sells single B strings and where can I get them?

Rock on, micguy!

https://kaliummusic.com/shop/strings/electric-bass/stainless-steel/singles-stainless-steel/

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

145 Stainless Wound Bass Single String

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Possum Willy]

I love this bass ... it is a 5 string bass at 32" ... I love the low B and I use light scale strings 125 95 75 60 40. It has 3 pickups wired V-V-V-T. The only problem with the low B is I use long scale strings and the wrong part of the string enters the tuner and breaks, so I made an extender at the bridge to stop that.

View attachment 4492957

View attachment 4492962

Very interesting solution!

 

[Possum Willy]

There is another reason: inharmonicity of strings. Physicists develop bass string theory and String inharmonicity vs material

Italian harpsichord makers needing to shorten the instruments to fit, learned in the 1600's that too thick a string will not vibrate freely and even though may have similar tension, will not have the overtones or sustain necessary to match, and the overtones can go sharp. This is one reason B strings in commercially available sets are lesser diameter than equal tension figures might indicate otherwise as to how large a diameter a B string should be. Piano tuners also work with this, actually progressively flattening the fundamentals of the lowest octaves so the overtones will be in tune with the middle of the piano, and sharpening the treble pitches for other bioacoustic reasons as well as the inharmonicity of the solid strings as they get shorter.

Yes, I have been using custom singles to get a more balanced tension, usually with 45-60-80-105 GHS Progressives on my Rickenbacker 4002 (yes, "2," not "1" or "3") since the early 90's, and more recently the D'A XL170BT plus a 130 B string on my Ibby gig bass for these very reasons.

Bottom line: depending on the construction, set up, and choice of strings, any 5-string bass of any scale can sound good, even superlative, so long as the player is aware of the inherent compromises and limitation inherent in having a 5th B string on a bass.

As in all things engineering, compromise is in order...........

 

[bassbully]

We completely disagree. String tension is a string problem. Have a nice day.

Tension yes string type no. A good built 5 has good string tension no matter the string that’s all I’m saying.

 

[micguy]

Tension yes string type no. A good built 5 has good string tension no matter the string that’s all I’m saying.

The Equation that you use (I’m an Acoustical Physicist) to calculate string tension includes the length of the string, it’s linear density, and the frequency you want to tune it to. There are literally no parameters of the thing it’s attached to that change the tension of the string.

 

[bassbully]

The Equation that you use (I’m an Acoustical Physicist) to calculate string tension includes the length of the string, it’s linear density, and the frequency you want to tune it to. There are literally no parameters of the thing it’s attached to that change the tension of the string.

Yea we all know you like to throw your title around...have a nice day.

 

[micguy]

25928761[/URL], member: 79074"]Yea we all know you like to throw your title around...have a nice day.

There are undoubtedly things that you know better than me. I welcome advice on things I don’t know, and offer advice when I do.

 

[jnottoli]

https://kaliummusic.com/shop/strings/electric-bass/stainless-steel/singles-stainless-steel/

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

145 Stainless Wound Bass Single String

Invalid Link Removed

Thank you, DECEMBER! (I must say this: I hope that you are enjoying your month!)

 

[Real Soon]

I'll say, the thing about the unpredictable quality of B strings from a bunch of pages back has rung true, no pun intended, in my experience with extended-range basses.

That said, the brands of strings I've slung on 5 and 6-string basses have been limited to D'Addario and Ernie Ball, who are known for pumping out strings at industrial scale. If B strings are in fact the toughest to really get right, I could see how some might have more weirdness partway up the neck than others, and how some might just come across as less alive than others, to a greater degree of frequency than other strings.

Makes me curious if anyone out there has opted to go with a particular, possibly boutique, or just "high-quality", brand just for their B strings, while using a more commonplace one for the others.