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Circle K strings...
- Thread starter James Hart
- Start date
rockstarbassist
Inactive
How's the tension? I'm looking for about as low tension without being too... "Floppy." I'm not sure if that's the right word. I play metal that gets pretty crazy fast, fingerstyle. When I used a pick, a higher gauge was preferable, but that clackiness is preferable now.
- Aug 5, 2005
- 7,243
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: J.C. Basses
- Aug 5, 2005
- 7,243
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: J.C. Basses
That's about 40.3 lbs of tension. You'll want to go about two gauges up from that for drop D, which would be the .118 (42.2 lbs).
- Aug 5, 2005
- 7,243
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: J.C. Basses
In my experience, with strings of that size (around .145), that tension is roughly 30 pounds, the point where the tone starts to suffer and the string becomes excessively floppy. (Higher strings have less mass and therefore can be used at lower tensions). I believe knuckle_head recommends exceeding 30 pounds for the best tone from his strings
Looking at the tension chart: Link Removed that means a .136 for A. So it will be the 'drop tune' .136 set .136 .090 .067 .049 (.035).
Umm zero, it will break long before getting there. I don't yet know of a wound string that will go to that G, Conklin Guitars sell a .020 and .022 for F and that's really pushing it. Octave 4 Plus might get you there with a special core custom string: Round Wound Strings.
I wanted to do a "piccolo" bass B-E-A-D-G up one octave. But I don't want a plain string.
Maybe I'll just do a 4-string and do B-E-A-D.
Maybe I'll just do a 4-string and do B-E-A-D.
I remember years ago Garry mentioned he was developing special wound strings for tuning higher than F, possibly even a fourth higher Bb, so O4P may well have what you want. It may be expensive though since their .017-.020 high F is 20 US dollars.
While we're on this subject, i'd like to make a request to Circle K Strings for thinner wound strings with strong cores that can tune up to high F or beyond. When i dismantled a Conklin snakeskin .022 it appeared to have a core of roughly .013.
While we're on this subject, i'd like to make a request to Circle K Strings for thinner wound strings with strong cores that can tune up to high F or beyond. When i dismantled a Conklin snakeskin .022 it appeared to have a core of roughly .013.
- Aug 5, 2005
- 7,243
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: J.C. Basses
I think plain strings get too much of a bad rap. I was hesitant to have one on my 8-string (unpaired), but it felt totally natural and tonally consistent with my other strings. They're cheap enough that it's worth a shot. Plus, with low enough tension, they lose that "twang" that guitar plain strings have.
I play finger style and I think the difference in feel would be too awkward, especially if only one string was plain.
- Aug 5, 2005
- 7,243
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: J.C. Basses
I play fingerstyle too, and it's really not as big of a difference as you would expect.
I just wanted to say, Thank you to Skip. My order was lost in lala land for two weeks. Skip shipped out a new package and took care of me right a way. Thanks for great strings and thanks for great customer service.
Cheers
Rob
Arizona Bass Company
Cheers
Rob
Arizona Bass Company
