A tale of two T.I.sets or: "Stranger Strings"

[Bootrice]

Hey y'all!
A word of warning: This will be a long, rambling post, describing my journey with a particular set of T.I. flatwounds ... but why does the title say "two sets"? Here we go ...

About a year ago I bought a used Stingray Fretless in very fine condition (built in 2014, from what I could find out probably one of the last mass-produced fretless Stingrays). It was a nice and relaxed interaction with the seller, but the bass was strung with heavy Rotosounds, very rough and raw to the the touch, and the action was bit high. No worries, off came the Rotos, the T.I.s were installed after a quick cleaning, and it was obvious after the set up that the saddles were pretty much at their lower limit, in other words the saddles (nearly) touched the bridge and I was not able to lower the action anymore.

The combination of the fretless Stingray and the T.I.s was a dream. Soft and velvety to the touch, great tones and easy playability, not hard on the hands, I was very happy with my choice. Over the last months, though, the bass got less & less play time, I was following other musical paths (namely a Serge synth panel), so my Bass journey faded into the background. Still, the instrument gave me a lot every time I picked it up.

Important to note: During this time I never understood why people here on TB complained about T.I.s feeling like noodles, not having enough tension for harder playing styles. My strings' tension was perfect for me: Not too heavy, not too loose.

Jump to this Christmas season: Between Christmas and NYE I decided to pay a bit more attention to the Stringray. It deserved more love.

For some time I had been eyeing a East UK Electronics pre-amp, since the fretless sounded a bit dusted in comparison to my Stingray Special from 2020.

A well-known "Bass personality" from my country (Germany) has his workshop just an hour's drive from my hometown, he's a distributor for East Electronics, and also offers set ups and repairs for basses.

Mmh, I thought, take my Christmas money, buy the East Electronics, and have the expert adress my string action "problem", that would be a nice afternoon spent. Let's do this.

So, he installes the new pre-amp (loving it so far), and he also shimmied the neck, which immediatley adressed the action "situation".

I was able to lower the action, therefore making the bass much more easily playable. A difference between night and day, so much more comfortable. In combination with the pre-amp it was like playing a brand new bass. However ...

A few days after the operation I noticed a (for me) drastic change in the T.I.s tension. They felt much more rubbery and loose after the shim was installed.

More over, they also felt even more velvety and soft to the touch, especially the A string.

As strange as it sounds, we didn't install new strings at his workshop, but it feels like a new set now.

I never understood why some people here at TB complain about T.I.s loose and rubbery / low-tensioned feeling before. But I do now! I'm not complaining, I'm not frustrated by the new feel of this "old" set, but the difference in tension is noticeable to me, and I can see why some people might be put off by this low tension.

My question would now be: Has something like this ever happened to anyone of you before?

Is it normal for strings to experience a drastic change of feel after the installation of a shim, and a slight change of the truss rod? Is it possible that prior to the shim my strings were twisted during their first installation, and became un-twisted when the neck was removed from the body?

As you can see, I'm puzzled by this. Maybe you'd like to give some input!

Again, sorry for the long rambling post. Hope I didn't bore you too much.

Cheers
Bootrice

 

[Deleted member 271037]

The tension is obviously still the same (assuming you still tune to EADG) but installing a shim and tweaking the truss rod has probably lowered the action which will definitely change the feel of the instrument.

Personally I've never been a fan of super low action on basses (or guitars). I like the tighter feel of "medium" (or higher) action, especially with low tension strings like TI Jazz Flats. With the ever lower tension TI Jazz Rounds I always raise the action considerably to get the right amount of "resistance" for MY taste.

Personally I also think the tone suffers from very low action but this will of course depend on personal taste and technique. I like to dig in a bit with my right hand and if the action is too low the tone kinda chokes, especially when moving up the neck. Same with guitars. If the action is super low they feel floppy, lack sustain and sound kinda brittle for MY style of playing. This will of course depend on personal taste, technique, genre, etc. Tone/sustain doesn't matter as much with hi-gain distortion so shredding guitarist will often go ULTRA low to be able to play FAST. Someone who wants a full, warm, buzz free CLEAN tone may want the action a bit higher.

So yeah, a different setup can definitely change both the feel and the tone of your instrument. You just need to decide what works for YOU. If the TIs are now too floppy for your taste you might want to try raising the action just a tiny bit. There is absolutely no way that the strings themselves have suddenly become more floppy.

I should probably also mention that I have actually experienced TI flats go bad after removing and re-installing them due to the windings coming loose from the round core but that would completely ruin the tone, which doesn't seem to be the case here.

 

[Luckydog]

I agree, I would suspect that lower action has resulted in you “perceiving” less tension. TIs, IMO, need a decent amount of distance off the fingerboard in order to play (and sound) the best. Not high action…but definitely not extremely low action (which you could get from the shim changing the fingerboad/string relationship.

 

[tindrum]

Essentially what happened was always happens when you lower action. A bass with high action always has strings that feel “stiffer” to play.

 

[GTHintz]

Never ever underestimate the power of a set up to a bass. If you get the neck nice and straight, the frets polished and leveled, the strings sitting low and the pickups adjusted to the right height even a cheap bass can sound really good. When I had only 1 bass and I had to put the effort into making it play well I had a $60 rogue bass sounding like it should have costed way more. Guys I played with all were shocked at the tone. Fresh strings and a complete set up made the difference. It played better and it made me play better too.

 

[sean_on_bass]

The setup of the bass can have a significant effect on how strings might feel under the hands. Variables changed in the bass and the strings reacted. Very normal.