Anyone using (Low) A Standard Tuning

Well, yes, on my Knuckle Quake 5er, but not really, because the lowest string is the E below that A. But I gotcha covered with the other 4. You want to get really low, you have to get some very special strings. Kalium (used to be Circle K) is the only place I know to get the strings I need for the Quake.

 

Yup, EADGC starting at E0, 20.6hz. Shakes the very ground. Seriously, I am looking for a better amp / speaker system. I haven't been playing it all that often lately. It's fretless, and what I love about the sound isn't so much the ultra low notes (though those can be quite awesome), but playing in the middle of the neck - like any fretless, that's where all of that gorgeous "mwah" tone is, and it is most certainly there - but with everything, harmonic structure and all, one full octave down. So I'm playing the usual "low E" at the 7th fret on the A string, and getting that mwah tone in a whole different register. That's the part of the sound I love. "Organic" mwah tone an octave down, in a way no octave box could replicate. Like singing thunder.

 

I don't know offhand if they have flats, don't recall seeing them. Someone does really long thick flats, though, I think, for "electric uprights". The GHS Crossovers are like that, except somewhat pressure-wound, not flat, I have them on my Bassoguitar now, loudest set I've tried yet. (Going to try those mandobass strings too!)

 

Haven't heard of him before, I don't think - that must be huge! I don't think my fingers are long enough for an instrument like that, I have trouble even on a wide 6er.

 

As I mentioned in another thread my basses are tuned starting on C but one of them does have a Hipshot tuner that can go as low as an A if I want to. I use the Eb and D a lot, the C some, and I have only dropped down to a B on one occasion in the last three years although I may do that more frequently going forward. My main bass is a Reggie Hamilton sig and it is the one that comes standard with the Hipshot. The MIM versions like mine are only available as four strings but there is a Custom Shop version too that is available as a IV and a V. The V of course is intended to be tuned BEADG however it also has a Hipshot tuner on the low string. So that would imply a certain amount of market popularity for the notion of dropping below a B at least occasionally.

Oh, and Kalium makes a huge range of string gauges. They certainly could make you an F# string if it will fit your bridge and tuner. Unless they have added flats since earlier this summer they only make rounds however.