D Standard Club (DGCF)

[MrAB4003]

Tried the D'addario Piccolo set on the RB820. Gotta say it wasn't the greatest experience. Felt weird to me with such puny gauges at 34" scale and I really didn't get going with it. I don't know quite what I was expecting. Anyways, back to focusing on the low end again after this excursion

Interesting! I understand your perspective if you're playing bass lines with a piccolo bass. The strings are too small for that. I play rhythms, leads, and solos on my piccolo bass with ease thanks to the thinner strings (that are in dgcf, of course).

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Interesting! I understand your perspective if you're playing bass lines with a piccolo bass. The strings are too small for that. I play rhythms, leads, and solos on my piccolo bass with ease thanks to the thinner strings (that are in dgcf, of course).

I was thinking chords and lead. But it just felt too strange to me at that scale length. Will try again down the road at a shorter scale.
For now I have tuned Roto88's 075 100 115 135 up from BEAD to DGCF. The C and F are way up there in the tension stakes.

Roto 88's Tapewounds in D standard

Gauges 065 075 100 135

D1/.135/42.92lbf
G1/.115/48.83lbf
C2/.100/66.52lbf
F2/.075/61.99lbf

TT = 219.36lbf

Saves me having to switch the EAD strings to 100 75 65 from that set. The real tense C and F don't feel so tough when you get used to them. And I can downtune back again to B if I wanna, without 'changing the sheets'. I reckon the 135 is better tuned up to D from B. The underlying gauge being in the 120 ballpark works. Feels and sounds better to me than the 115 of the set tuned down to D

 

[srayb]

Agree that would be ideal, but I am working with an existing bass I modded and wanting to try out A standard on. If the experiment is successful, I would definitely go with something longer scale.

I remember years ago I detuned my Ibanez SR506 down to low A - with the "standard" low B string (I think it was a .130). The low A lost a lot of definition - it just became a low rumble. Knowing what I have learned since then, I would have tried it again with a larger gauge (something like .140 or .145) - that will probably be a good suggestion for your experiment. Just be aware you may need to file your nut a bit to make room for the larger diameter. You might want to also get a tapered string so it fits on the bridge better too. Good luck!

 

[AlteredCourse]

I remember years ago I detuned my Ibanez SR506 down to low A - with the "standard" low B string (I think it was a .130). The low A lost a lot of definition - it just became a low rumble. Knowing what I have learned since then, I would have tried it again with a larger gauge (something like .140 or .145) - that will probably be a good suggestion for your experiment. Just be aware you may need to file your nut a bit to make room for the larger diameter. You might want to also get a tapered string so it fits on the bridge better too. Good luck!

Yea that has been my main take away thus far so I'll be going for a beefier lower string for sure.

 

[MrAB4003]

Tapes in general are tough for alternate tunings. Last year, I had La Bella light gauge (50-105) regular and Gold White tapes on my basses. They lost all their tension below standard tuning.

I picked the light gauge tapes because I didn’t want to alter the nuts of my high end basses. While that worked out, the tension was too loose!

Now, I have Chromes (flats) on one of my basses and they get about me the same tone as I got with the tapes.

 

[cucumis]

Yesterday I tried downtuning for the first time (been playing for 10 years on 5 strings, I recently switched to 4 strings), and I am really surprised with how much better my bass sounds.
It's a yamaha bb430 with chromes: I always felt like the chromes were too rigid in standard tuning (got used to it after a few days tho), but they feel perfect in standard D tuning (on par with same size roundwounds).
The drawback is that it's not standard tuning, tho that could be solved with a capo.

Should I make truss rod adjustments if I leave it in D tuning?

 

[michael_t]

Should I make truss rod adjustments if I leave it in D tuning?

Truss rod tweaks should be done "as needed". It will depend on how the neck will react to the reduced tension. When a set of strings are down-tuned from EADG to DGCF, the overall tension is reduced by 26%, so it's possible the neck might straighten up too much and cause some buzzing. Loosen the truss rod a little at a time to put the neck relief back to where it should be. It might take a day or two for the neck to adjust to the tension.

 

[MrAB4003]

Yesterday I tried downtuning for the first time (been playing for 10 years on 5 strings, I recently switched to 4 strings), and I am really surprised with how much better my bass sounds.
It's a yamaha bb430 with chromes: I always felt like the chromes were too rigid in standard tuning (got used to it after a few days tho), but they feel perfect in standard D tuning (on par with same size roundwounds).
The drawback is that it's not standard tuning, tho that could be solved with a capo.

Welcome to the club! You’ll love D Standard once you get used to it. I played in standard tuning for my whole life as a bassist (almost 15 years) before downtuning. Now I can’t go back.

I also have light gauge (45-100) Chromes on one of my basses. I agree that they feel too rigid in standard tuning. But in D Standard, they’re just tense enough.

 

[cucumis]

Truss rod tweaks should be done "as needed". It will depend on how the neck will react to the reduced tension. When a set of strings are down-tuned from EADG to DGCF, the overall tension is reduced by 26%, so it's possible the neck might straighten up too much and cause some buzzing. Loosen the truss rod a little at a time to put the neck relief back to where it should be. It might take a day or two for the neck to adjust to the tension.

Should I loosen the truss rod before the neck adjusts or after? I have tuned to D# standard one hour ago and I plan to leave it be for maybe a day or so to see how much the neck adjusts, to then (if needed) adjust the truss rod and repeat the process for D standard. Is this the way to go?

 

[michael_t]

Should I loosen the truss rod before the neck adjusts or after? I have tuned to D# standard one hour ago and I plan to leave it be for maybe a day or so to see how much the neck adjusts, to then (if needed) adjust the truss rod and repeat the process for D standard. Is this the way to go?

It doesn't have to be a 2-step process. Go ahead and tune it down to DGCF and let it settle for a bit, and see how the neck will react. Then make the necessary truss rod tweak accordingly.

 

[poochiecheeks]

I'm looking for something like GHS pure nickel strings but in 110-50 gauges suitable for D standard. What would you reccomend?

 

[michael_t]

I'm looking for something like GHS pure nickel strings but in 110-50 gauges suitable for D standard. What would you reccomend?

Try the SIT Power Wound Nickels 50-110. They're nickel-plated steel on hex core, not pure nickel on round core, but I do like their tonal character.

By the way, here are the tension figures for the GHS Balanced Nickels 44-106 in DGCF...

F 044 - 37.7 lbs.
C 060 - 36.5
G 080 - 36.3
D 106 - 35.6 (Total 146.1)

 

[HaphAsSard]

I'm looking for something like GHS pure nickel strings but in 110-50 gauges suitable for D standard. What would you reccomend?

Pyramid (per page 10 of their online catalogue)
makes two sets, with identical gauges (50-70-90-110),
the 818 100 (X-heavy), available here,
and the 798 100 (Drop C), which I cannot find in online stores.
Does the latter feature heavier cores, to facilitate downtuning? Maybe - just an idle guess of mine.
(For orders and requests for info, they can and will respond to emails in English.)

At page 11 of the same catalogue, you can see they also offer single pure nickel strings for custom-gauge sets, in case you want to tweak the middle two strings to taste.

 

[MirandM]

I'm looking for something like GHS pure nickel strings but in 110-50 gauges suitable for D standard. What would you reccomend?

StringJoy custom nickel wounds without any doubt, amazing strings. Check this out Stringjoy Custom 4 String Long Scale Nickel Wound Bass Guitar Strings

 

[michael_t]

StringJoy custom nickel wounds without any doubt, amazing strings. Check this out Stringjoy Custom 4 String Long Scale Nickel Wound Bass Guitar Strings

Stringjoy are nice strings...for $29; SIT PWN are very nice strings...for $18.

 

[michael_t]

StringJoy custom nickel wounds without any doubt, amazing strings. Check this out Stringjoy Custom 4 String Long Scale Nickel Wound Bass Guitar Strings

One nice thing about Stringjoy is customization. I would put together a balanced set, 50-65-85-110, for DGCF instead of the typical 50-70-90-110.

 

[cucumis]

Yesterday I have done a full setup to play 45 65 80 100 DAddario Chromes at standard D, and I am at the same time impressed by how much they hold up and kind of peeved by the fact that (after adjusting the relief) I needed to raise my action a bit to accommodate for the lower tension otherwise I would get excessive fret noise.
All things considered, I consider this a success.

 

[MrAB4003]

Yesterday I have done a full setup to play 45 65 80 100 DAddario Chromes at standard D, and I am at the same time impressed by how much they hold up and kind of peeved by the fact that (after adjusting the relief) I needed to raise my action a bit to accommodate for the lower tension otherwise I would get excessive fret noise.
All things considered, I consider this a success.

Awesome! That’s the exact gauge of Chromes that I have on my Ric with flats! They’re loose enough to bend, they stay in tune, there’s no fret buzzing, and there’s no extra noises.

I thought about going up to the medium gauge (50-105) Chromes, but they’re too tense for me. I tried tuning my bass to standard tuning to approximate the tension and I didn’t like it.

 

[cucumis]

Awesome! That’s the exact gauge of Chromes that I have on my Ric with flats! They’re loose enough to bend, they stay in tune, there’s no fret buzzing, and there’s no extra noises.

I thought about going up to the medium gauge (50-105) Chromes, but they’re too tense for me. I tried tuning my bass to standard tuning to approximate the tension and I didn’t like it.

I'd like them more if they felt as they feel at D# tuning (166.6 lb), but as of now I feel like they are the better option for what I am looking for, since I do not want to mess with the nut to fit roundwound strings for D standard.

 

[cucumis]

On a semi-related note, what are the alternatives for 5 strings tuning in standard D (ADGCF)?
I tried to look at Kalium but the shipping costs are higher than a set of strings in Italy, any alternatives?
For reference this is kind of what I had in mind from Kalium, before checking shipping costs: