Hey yall, I've been looking for a manufacturer that produces low tension super long scale strings. I've developed a unique design and it's a 38" scale. Super long strings are typically over priced and hard to come by, was wondering if there was a company besides Kalium that produced them for a reasonable price. Looking to buy in bulk, thanks
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Custom Super Long Strings
- Thread starter DrRock321
- Start date
I have no direct experience myself, but when this has come up in the past, the following three brands/vendors have been mentioned for "weird" strings:
Premium, Extended Range, Bass Guitar Strings | Kalium Music
Customized Guitar & Bass String Sets
Bass Guitar Strings by Stringjoy | Buy Custom Bass Strings Online
Premium, Extended Range, Bass Guitar Strings | Kalium Music
Customized Guitar & Bass String Sets
Bass Guitar Strings by Stringjoy | Buy Custom Bass Strings Online
Rôckhewer
Commercial User
- Feb 28, 2015
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- Owner/Builder- RockHewer Custom Guitars LLC
By "overpriced" I'm guessing you mean "costlier than I expected"? Because I personally would expect specialty items to be priced at a considerable premium beyond mass-produced off the shelf items. 
If you are looking for bulk orders, go directly to D'Addario. They can custom make almost any formula that you want, any length. They are one of the few companies than have lathes long enough to do extended-length bass strings. They make many of the strings for other companies. Their price per set will be the lowest of any US brand.
Some years back, I had them make up a batch of Super Duper Long Chromes flatwounds, 150 sets in bulk packaging. Those strings were 45" overall, 40 1/4" ball to silk. That's probably about the length you are looking for. Back then, 150 sets was their minimum order for custom length flatwounds. I believe I've heard that it's now 250 sets. But that may just be flatwounds, you'll have to ask.
D'Addario is a very nice friendly professional company to deal with.
Some years back, I had them make up a batch of Super Duper Long Chromes flatwounds, 150 sets in bulk packaging. Those strings were 45" overall, 40 1/4" ball to silk. That's probably about the length you are looking for. Back then, 150 sets was their minimum order for custom length flatwounds. I believe I've heard that it's now 250 sets. But that may just be flatwounds, you'll have to ask.
D'Addario is a very nice friendly professional company to deal with.
Thank you very much! 250 sets is a lil extreme for my operation right now but I'm glad to know that's an option. I know Daddario makes custom string sets for the chapman stick so I'm sure they can make me just about anything.
I don't really want to deal with Kalium because their website is confusing, they don't offer the guage strings I need, and I've heard horrible things about their customer service. However, for the time being I may be forced to go with them for a small batch order. Who knows, my opinion could be swayed.
And I'm not going to get into paying premium prices for strings that are only 4"s longer than the standard... Unless I want La Bella flats or something, $30 is my cutoff per set to keep costs minimal.By "overpriced" I'm guessing you mean "costlier than I expected"? Because I personally would expect specialty items to be priced at a considerable premium beyond mass-produced off the shelf items.
If you are just looking for roundwounds in custom length, D'Addario may be willing to do a small batch for you. Flatwounds were more of a problem, because it's a more difficult setup and more operations on the lathe.
As far as cost, the custom length bulk packaged Chromes were about $9 per set (in 1998) vs about $25 per set of standard packaged Chromes in the store. It was about 1/3 retail price. A lot of the cost of retail-packaged strings is the packaging. In 2020 prices, Chromes are probably $12 per set; XL roundwounds $6 per set. Quantity, bulk packaging.
Call D'Addario and ask. They are very nice, honest people.
Also, GHS is another company that makes extra-length bass strings. I think they still carry a standard line of Super Duper Long roundwounds which are something like 48" long.
As far as cost, the custom length bulk packaged Chromes were about $9 per set (in 1998) vs about $25 per set of standard packaged Chromes in the store. It was about 1/3 retail price. A lot of the cost of retail-packaged strings is the packaging. In 2020 prices, Chromes are probably $12 per set; XL roundwounds $6 per set. Quantity, bulk packaging.
Call D'Addario and ask. They are very nice, honest people.
Also, GHS is another company that makes extra-length bass strings. I think they still carry a standard line of Super Duper Long roundwounds which are something like 48" long.
48" roundwounds?! I guess to give an upright some extra "zing"?
Thanks for all the info man, I'm gonna give D'Addario, Stringjoy, and Kalium a call to get some quotes.
I'll have to post my second build after it's finished. I'm pretty confident in the design, it's very "different"
Rôckhewer
Commercial User
- Feb 28, 2015
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- Owner/Builder- RockHewer Custom Guitars LLC
Their old website was pretty horrible... but they redesigned it recently.
I got (2) 7string sets there a couple months ago and it seemed way better than the last time... (over a year ago).
I personally found Skip @ Kalium to be an absolute sweetheart. He also does discount pricing for Luthier's ...( like 30% off retail. )
Not sure why the bad rap. All my dealings have been pleasant.
He had some issues a while back with orders getting delayed for a long time. I got a discount out of it but it took a good while for my strings to ship. I don't think there's anything wrong with Kalium inherently, order backups are one of the obvious-but-not-always-predictable pitfalls of a small business growing.
Give Skip a chance. His “Quake” super longscale octave down bass was really cool. If anybody knows the ins and outs of extra long scale strings, it’s Skip.
Delivery has been a bit spotty, but I’ve always received anything I ordered. (Eventually)
Jason at FretNation.com is my go to for custom strings. Hit him up up with your questions.
Delivery has been a bit spotty, but I’ve always received anything I ordered. (Eventually)
Jason at FretNation.com is my go to for custom strings. Hit him up up with your questions.
Rôckhewer
Commercial User
- Feb 28, 2015
- 2,922
- 9,028
- Disclosures
- Owner/Builder- RockHewer Custom Guitars LLC
+1
+2
I like Jason.
Similar, (but different) to Skip....it could be said, he's had service/delivery problems too.
....before he renamed his biz FretNation (bassstringsonline).
BUT...it was when his kid was sick.
I got frustrated with a few special orders, but I wasn't about to bitch about it. He's a stand-up cat... and kept in communication, even during his kid's health crisis.
I used Kalium strings. Really nice and able to go to some unusually long lengths. Seems like it's a one-man-band though, so you may not get immediate responses to your order.
Newtonestrings comes to mind. Great strings , Great service , fair prices.
<Newtone Strings – British Handmade Guitar Strings>
I talked to Skip the other day, seems like a nice knowledgeable guy. I ended up ordering 2 custom sets but the orders still set as "processing"; been about 3 days
Hope they don't take too long, I just got done finishing this exotic experimental bass and I wanna play the damned thing lolI also suggest Newtone Strings, i know they have made some extreme length/gauge strings for ERBs.
The conventional .005 gauge step is ok at .100 but impractucally huge at .040 or .025.
Likewise, a .005 gauge step is unnecessarily small for very large gauges like .150+.
Kalium gauge steps are smoothly varied to always be equal to the tension change of a 1 semitone retuning, this is the logical way to step gauges and only Kalium do this.
If you mean something like: you want a .145 and they only do .142 and .150, the difference is not large enough at that gauge to be a problem, just use the .142.
For most typical bass guitar gauges Kalium steps are smaller than other brands, so you actually have a finer choice of gauge, so it is actually other brands that do not have the gauges you need.
Very interested in seeing your instrument.
'Low tension' is not a string brand characteristic, tension depends on what gauge and what pitch. Maybe you mean 'low stiffness'? in which case Kalium strings are indeed very flexible.
I cannot imagine how you consider they do not have the gauges you need, they have more gauge choice than anyone, .008 to .266 with gauge step size smoothly decreasing for thinner strings so that the tension steps between adjacent gauges are never extreme.
The conventional .005 gauge step is ok at .100 but impractucally huge at .040 or .025.
Likewise, a .005 gauge step is unnecessarily small for very large gauges like .150+.
Kalium gauge steps are smoothly varied to always be equal to the tension change of a 1 semitone retuning, this is the logical way to step gauges and only Kalium do this.
If you mean something like: you want a .145 and they only do .142 and .150, the difference is not large enough at that gauge to be a problem, just use the .142.
For most typical bass guitar gauges Kalium steps are smaller than other brands, so you actually have a finer choice of gauge, so it is actually other brands that do not have the gauges you need.
Very interested in seeing your instrument.
Yeah anyways I assumed they didn't have the gauges I was looking for in the lengths I needed because their website is a confusing mess. Still waiting to hear back on if they've even shipped.
