Ball Ends Too Large for Thru Body Bass

[micguy]

Yeah, just need to find guitar strings that are long enough...

Stringjoys are more than long enough.

Curt Mangans are plenty long.

Kalium also makes long guitar strings. There may be others.

 

[themickster]

Does a guitar string fit? as in, do guitar ball ends get caught by the octave string ferrules?
If so, there would be two useful implications:
- you can use a file to patiently file down one side of the problematic ball end, until you can remove it out of the string end loop. Then, replace it with an old guitar ball end. It doesn't matter if the loop is now too large for the ball: tension will keep everything in place (I had to do the above, in the past, and can attest to it working);
- you don't have to use prepackaged 8-string sets. Just get a 4-string short-scale bass set of your liking, and complete it with guitar strings (rounds or flats) of appropriate gauge (the bottom four from a guitar set will be long enough and work just fine).

Would it take less filing to make the ball small enough to fit the hole?

 

[HaphAsSard]

Would it take less filing to make the ball small enough to fit the hole?

With a Dremel or some other kind of power tool, it would take seconds more, and be probably the way to go.
With a hand file, my unscientific guess is it would take about thrice the time. In order for the ball end to slip through the loop and eventually be replaced, all it takes is a good grind-down of one side of the spool (removing a lunette-shaped area, plus some extra filing) instead of working at four corners of it.

 

[WRM]

With a Dremel or some other kind of power tool, it would take seconds more, and be probably the way to go.
With a hand file, my unscientific guess is it would take about thrice the time. In order for the ball end to slip through the loop and eventually be replaced, all it takes is a good grind-down of one side of the spool (removing a lunette-shaped area, plus some extra filing) instead of working at four corners of it.

Pretty sure that if I had a good vice to hold the ball, I could knock the four corners off of that brass ball with a file in no time - you want it centered in the ferrule (all four corners, only enough that it fits).

 

[RedJag]

Never seen someone complain their balls were too big before

 

[GIBrat51]

Recently got a Hagstrom H8-II 8-string and decided to put a new set of SIT strings on and immediately ran into a problem...

The ball end on the octave strings won't fit in the thru body holes. The hole for the bass strings is big enough but not the octaves. Has anyone else run into this problem? My first string thru body bass and didn't even realize this could be a problem. I have reached out to SIT to see if they may offer a set that will work but I am guessing not.

I also have a set of Pyramid flats for this and the ball ends on all of those strings are smaller and will fit this bass, and of course the strings that came with the bass fit, but now I am a bit concerned. Is this a common issue for thru body basses? Is there a way to know what ball size various manufacturers use?

Since this is a bit of a niche instrument it may take a few sets/gauges before I settle in on what works best for me. With this added uncertainty really don't want to throw a lot of money at string sets that may or may not even fit.

Wow... interesting problem. I do hope you find strings that will work for you...
But, to answer your questions as best as I can;
- In my limited experience? No, this has not been a problem - for me. I have one bass ('06 Carvin LB-20 w/Hipshot A bridge) that I can string thru-body if I want; and a '93 Fury Anthem Bass that is thru-body only. Both are 4 string basses, and I've had no problem with bass string ball ends being too big. TBH, I doubt that many 4- and -5 string basses have this problem, either. You have a "niche" bass - and you appear to be having "niche" bass problems...
- As for ball end sizes? I've been playing bass since 1968; I've changed more bass strings than I want to think about over the years. IME? Bass strings - pretty much all of them - use the same, larger-than-guitar-string-ball ends. There are some bass strings that use smaller, guitar-string-sized ball ends; but, they are "niche" strings, intended for specific basses. Hofner basses - the German ones, anyway - use these strings because "normal" bass string ball ends are too large to work as intended in the tailpiece slots. And, strings intended for use on a Danelectro - especially a vintage, American-made one - also have small ball ends. Like the La Bella 760FD Danelectro Flats, for example. Actually, on my 3 Danos? The normal large ball ends are always a crap shoot, when it comes to fitting in the slots provided for them. I've had more than one lose it's tenuous hold on it's slot, as I try to put tension on the string...
So... sorry, but I don't have a solution for you. But, hopefully you'll find strings that work on that bass...

 

[themickster]

With a Dremel or some other kind of power tool, it would take seconds more, and be probably the way to go.
With a hand file, my unscientific guess is it would take about thrice the time. In order for the ball end to slip through the loop and eventually be replaced, all it takes is a good grind-down of one side of the spool (removing a lunette-shaped area, plus some extra filing) instead of working at four corners of it.

Two corners might be enough.

 

[benevan]

Wow... interesting problem. I do hope you find strings that will work for you...
But, to answer your questions as best as I can;
- In my limited experience? No, this has not been a problem - for me. I have one bass ('06 Carvin LB-20 w/Hipshot A bridge) that I can string thru-body if I want; and a '93 Fury Anthem Bass that is thru-body only. Both are 4 string basses, and I've had no problem with bass string ball ends being too big. TBH, I doubt that many 4- and -5 string basses have this problem, either. You have a "niche" bass - and you appear to be having "niche" bass problems...
- As for ball end sizes? I've been playing bass since 1968; I've changed more bass strings than I want to think about over the years. IME? Bass strings - pretty much all of them - use the same, larger-than-guitar-string-ball ends. There are some bass strings that use smaller, guitar-string-sized ball ends; but, they are "niche" strings, intended for specific basses. Hofner basses - the German ones, anyway - use these strings because "normal" bass string ball ends are too large to work as intended in the tailpiece slots. And, strings intended for use on a Danelectro - especially a vintage, American-made one - also have small ball ends. Like the La Bella 760FD Danelectro Flats, for example. Actually, on my 3 Danos? The normal large ball ends are always a crap shoot, when it comes to fitting in the slots provided for them. I've had more than one lose it's tenuous hold on it's slot, as I try to put tension on the string...
So... sorry, but I don't have a solution for you. But, hopefully you'll find strings that work on that bass...

Thanks for your insight here. For sure this is a niche instrument, even amongst other 8-strings. For the SIT set I have, I will try to modify the octave strings to fit, but moving forward, will experiment with other guitar strings with smaller ball ends. I checked my other basses which have a variety of strings including Rotosounds, Ernie Ball, and Dunlops, and they all have the larger ball ends, so this smaller ball end on a bass strings certainly seems rare.

 

[ChristoMephisto]

I've used DA guitar strings on my H8 with no ill effect. Try a 44 34 26 18, if you want pair them with a set of 40-95
That Hags set is totally unbalanced, you don't want the octaves to have more tension than the fundamentals

 

[benevan]

I've used DA guitar strings on my H8 with no ill effect. Try a 44 34 26 18, if you want pair them with a set of 40-95
That Hags set is totally unbalanced, you don't want the octaves to have more tension than the fundamentals

Thanks for the advice. I do have a couple of guitar sets on order to try out in gauges very similar to your suggestion. Fortunately guitar string packs are a lot more affordable than bass so a bit easier to experiment with gauges and brands.