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Well that's one of the hardest questions you can ask me! It would be my main Ric 4003 (which is in E Standard). But my second one (which is in D Standard) is a really close second.
Among the same species of questions like 'if you were on a desert island with nothing but a barbell and some weight plates, what exercises would could you do!'
There is a question about using DGCF tuning on a Mikro here D Standard Club (DGCF). One responder suggests trying labellas DTF's 49-109. I can report that D1 stil feels too sloppy to me with those strings. As I posted in the Mikro club, it looks like it's back to buying a fiver set to get one string. The tensions for the 089 069 and 049 feel ok. Be needing something around 120 for the D to be a good balanced set. Dunlop do a 120 in short scale as part of a fiver set. But the other 4 in the set are not want you want for DGCF. I could live with using a Dunlop 120 and the labella 49-109 I have bought minus the 109. It's frustrating in trying to do a custom set for a Mikro in DGCF. Ideally a set made up of 120 90 70 50 would be not too bad on a Mikro. I don't think there are any sets out there with those gauges included in in flatwound short scale.
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I adopted DGCF many years ago when my hands gave up on 5 strings. Still hurt but 4’s are doable for a gig. I tried BEAD for awhile but D standard made more sense since I didn’t go “B” low very often.
JB
JB
If I didn't have a bass on that island, I'd definitely put a rope around my neck, tie the weights with it and plunge into the sea. Without a bass I can't live, period.
You could make a crude one out of fishing line, a stick and a coconut he he.
Regarding strings. I currently have a Labella DTF .109 for D. Dunlop .085 and .065 flat for G and C and another Labella, a .049 DTF for F.
The Labella .109 has got to go. I actually more friction free feel of the the Dunlops. It partic noticeable when you have labella DTF right beside a Dunlop. I can get a a .125 Dunlop which is a shortscale 5iver set DBFS45125S, or, because the other gauges I want (90 70 and 50) are only in Dunlops 50-110 long scale set DBFS50110 and I would have to do something bout the lengths anyway, than I can get Dunlops 45-125 5iver string set DBFS45125 in long scale as well. So I get a set 125 90 70 50 ( what I want for dgcf) and a spare set 110 85 65 45 to throw on another bass, out of two sets. Another thing I might do is just take off the Labella 109, leave the Dunlops G and C and the Labella F, and get a single in 125 regardless of manufacturer and even if not a stainless flat. I'm thinking along the lines of a Rotosound monel 125 flat RJBL125
Incidentally, Dunlop do sell singles, but only as a bulk purchase of the same gauge and a minimum of 6. Cheaper to buy the set that has your desired string it
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One thing that irks me as far as singles go, is why D'addario XL Chromes leap straight from 110 to 132. Be good if it went 110 115 120 125.
I have no interest in joining clubs however I recently stumbled upon what has to be one the best string sets currently available for D standard. For all the vehement hate these strings have gotten around here in the past of all things medium gauge Daddario Halfrounds sound and feel incredible, nothing like the dead worst of both worlds nonsense that gets regurgitated regularly. I will say im not sure how honest Daddario is being with thier tension and gauge specs as when carving the nut for these they feel a lot thicker than you'd expect for their listed gauge and when tuning them up your truss rod better be up to the task, I would consider these unplayable at standard tuning the tension is just too much. In D standard the tone is superb however, despite the nickel outer wrap these don't the overpowering mid presence of a nickel round string. In fact I find them close in tone to strings constructed with stainless steel wrap, unlike straight rounds tho these dont have that obnoxius treble bite that tends to sound akin to a string being played underwater when fully closing the tone knob, the halfrounds turn that into fat creamy dub and reggae thunder available on command by closing up the tone completely. Also of note is the feel of the strings yes these are polished rounds so the initial leftover micro burrs are felt on the outer wrap but with use these will eventually diminish and see for yourself unlike previous claims found using the search function, these seem less gappy than current cobalt flats and in a weeks worth of playing ive experienced less fretwear than I did with the prosteels they replaced. These are definitely a lot more fret wear friendly than any plain roundwound by far.
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I've had a light gauge set of these on my fretless for several years now, and I think they sound and play just great. I hope you continue to enjoy them.
I have a short scale fretless (30”) and have recently discovered using a 125 for the D works great. The other strings are 85/65/45, but even though dropping them to lower than “designed for” tension, on fretless they work fine for me.
I've gone on to use .132 XL Chrome on my Mikro for D ( shortened to fit.). Feels pretty good. Bout the same tension as an .065 tuned to D2 in E standard on the Mikro. I swapped out the LaBella 089 069 and 049 that I had on for G C and F. That way I have a complete labella set if I went back to E standard, which is doubtful. In place of those I have the original Dunlop 085 and 065 for G and C and now have an 050 Chrome jazz guitar string for F. I'm going to swap the Dunlop's out soon for an 095 ( shortened) and 070 XL Chrome and have Chromes all round. I like Dunlop flats the most, but 125 in the short scale 5iver set is too mushy. With the 132 095 70 50 Chromes on I will get a progressive tension decreasing from low to high, which I always have on a guitar.
DGCF really suits a Mikro. With BEAD, the B is way too soft with a 132. D on a Mikro with a gauge 125 or above is an improvement on the just passable typical 105 tuned to E, which always felt a bit loose to me, like you needed to tune it to F# to get a good feel
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@srayb
I forgot to ask what string set you are using to get the 125. I'm assuming a 5iver set, although there are 6ixer sets out there with the gauges you mentioned too. I know Dunlop do those
I forgot to ask what string set you are using to get the 125. I'm assuming a 5iver set, although there are 6ixer sets out there with the gauges you mentioned too. I know Dunlop do those
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I’m using short scale DR Black Beauties 5-string set from Fretnation (I think they are the only place to get these). I might try Labella flats in the future as I’ve used them before on my 34” scale 6string basses and liked them.
If you haven't tried Dunlop flats than I encourage you to do so. They are very smooth and no grippiness, if I could put it that way, you just feel your fingers could slide forever on a fretless. Be interested to know if their 125 is as smooth as the gauges down from that. Smaller gauged Chromes are quite smooth, but the 132 is a little rougher. I can live with it though, due to the ease of buying Chrome singles. I was going to start my downtuning journey on my Mikro by trying to get a heavier gauge Dunlop single string for D and just keep the 85 65 and 45. But when I found out they didn't do singles except as a bulk purchase, I started the hunt for a single flatwound string for D that other manufacturers. With scale length no longer an impediment due to shortening a string, I settled on the Chrome 132. Bout the only other flat in a single was a 125 Rotosound 77. So it is slim pickings indeed for single heavy duty flats. You basically have to buy a 5iver. And if you wanted to swap out the 85 65 45's that are part of those sets, you'd have to buy another set with different gauges. And that sux. Credit to D'addario that they make customisation quite easy with their chrome singles, except, as I've bemoaned before, the leap from 110 to 132.
Are you saying that you can buy D'Addario Chrome singles in short scale length? Because I can't see that option. Or are you somehow wrapping that 132 long scale gauge around the tuning post? Thanks!
No, you can't buy XL Chromes in short or medium scale. Only long scale, and a few gauges in super long. I definitely wouldn't wrap the speaking length meat of strings of that gauge around a tuning post, partic a smallish diameter one like on the Mikro, let alone try to shove it down the hole and fit in peg slot. Instead I shorten the strings so that a/ the string end is thin enough to go in slot and down peg hole and b/ no thick part of the string is wrapped around the post. I've tried a few methods now. The method requiring the least hassle is using wiring lugs with fixing screws or small collars with screws, but I haven't tried that yet. At the moment I am using the shortening from the peg end method, that involves cutting to length required and unwinding the outer wrapping of the string and an inner round wrapping ( or two if that required) to basically duplicate the original taper of the string, which is usually silked with flats especially, as you are no doubt aware. Some have posted on TB that they have used TI flats and wound non tapered string around a post, but I think the gauge was maybe 105 and because of the internal structure of a TI flat they might be more forgiving. I wouldn't wanna blow money on a TI set with a 136 in it just to to find out if it comes apart, when it is pretty easy to shorten any string once you get the method down. Check it out DIY: Making Short Scale Strings out of Long Scale Strings
I am so confident shortening from the peg end now, that I can buy Chromes with big gauges and put them on different scale length basses. Will be doing this with a Chrome 095 when I get it, and even though I wouldn't really neeed to do this with an 070 that I plan to use for C2 on my Mikro, I will do it anyhow, for uniformity and practice. So far I have noticed nothing different between an unshortened Chrome ( or any other brand I have shortened) and the shortened one. Seems very stable , sound and tuning wise. It it proves stable over time, I don't need to go hunting for heavy gauge singles in whatever scale length the bass is just to downtune or purchase a full set for 1 string
D and F are Chromes 132 and 050 ( guitar Chrome that fits a Mikro) The inner strings are 085 and 065 Dunlop flats. I fooled around with 085 just to take off the silk and put heat shrink in its place, just for something to do. I did the method of unwinding on the 050 just for practice. If you can do it on such a small gauge, you can easily do it on a humungus gauge. You wouldn't really need to shorten an 050 though. But both the 085 and 065 ( with silk untouched) I tried the method of shortening at the bridge end. It seems stable too but the shortening from the peg end is better ( unless of course, as mentioned, you try the collar and fixing screw method mentioned in that link.)
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I'm thinking about switching to these strings on my Ric 4003 in D Standard. I currently have light gauge La Bella Gold White tapes on it and they're too floppy. I recorded a bass line for a new song recently and I noticed that I went out of tune a few times from unintentionally bending my strings.
Update: I bought a set of Rotosound 55 Solo Bass strings for my 4003 tonight. I've used these strings before and I loved them, but never in D Standard. They had too much tension in E Standard, so I'm excited to see how they feel in terms of tension.
I use Stringjoy nickel roundwounds on my 4003, great thing is the have custom sets where you can choose the exact gauge you want, which in case of Rick is very useful since they use the weird 45-55-75-105. I went exactly +5 up on each string with DGCF tuning. They sound exactly as the original strings which is what I wanted, but in D. Nothing floppy and they stay perfectly in tune. Great stings for a very reasonable price.
I also used the LaBella Gold and Copper tapes at 115, way to floppy and they sounded dull to me.
For tapes I now use Magma BE500NB at 53-73-93-113 black nylon tapes, excellent strings, sound amazing.
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