Does anyone know where I can find long scale rubber bass strings?

[lordofthebass]

I was in my local music store and I found a Ubass. I played it for about fifteen minutes and fell in love. I'm getting a kit from MGB guitars for Christmas, but I want to find similar rubber strings for my Oscar Schmidt acoustic long scale (34'') bass. I absolutely love the tone the silicone strings make. A quick google search has yielded no answer in the field of long scale silicone strings. Any recommendations?

 

[HaphAsSard]

I was in my local music store and I found a Ubass. I played it for about fifteen minutes and fell in love. I'm getting a kit from MGB guitars for Christmas, but I want to find similar rubber strings for my Oscar Schmidt acoustic long scale (34'') bass. I absolutely love the tone the silicone strings make. A quick google search has yielded no answer in the field of long scale silicone strings. Any recommendations?

To the best of my knowledge there aren't any.

What you could try - at your own risk - is
- check for tensions of a typical ubass set,
[one readily available source being the black "Learn More" sidetab on this page
EJ88UB | Ukulele Strings | D'Addario | ]
- buy a set to (possibly) sacrifice in the name of science,
- hang the strings tying one end to somewhere high enough (a fireplace frame, next to festive stockings?) and the other to weights that are no heavier than the normal operating tensions as shown at the above link,
and
- see how much they stretch over a longish period of time.
Because, according to ubassists (I'm not one myself), they do stretch with use - a lot - and have to be re-fitted and the excess portions cut from time to time.
Now, can they stretch up to 38 inches, or whatever your ABG needs? I've no idea.

If Operation Procrustes is successful, you'd still have to:
- probably replace tuners on your bass with ubass tuners - at least two of them anyway (you need to fit a .165" and a .197" into the post slots, after all)
- importantly, resign to permanently tune your bass down to BEAD*, and no higher, after the stringjob.
In other words, keep the strings within the tension range they were designed for, or they won't last long.


* [BEAD would be probably fine, because Aquila Thunderguts are used on 25" scale instruments - the Gold Tone M-Bass25 to wit - and 25 inches is close to the vibrating length you'd get when playing an E at the 5th fret of your new low B.
You could avoid dealing with BEAD tuning if you toss the E string, use the A as your long-scale E, the D as an A and the G as your D, but you'd be left with three strings. I'm not sure Road Toad or Aquila make a high C ubass string that you can use as your long-scale G.]


Oh, and I'd also expect you'll need to loosen the trussrod, and if necessary get a higher nut, for maximum string action: the strings will be crazy floppy at midpoint.

 

[HaphAsSard]

higher nut

...and/or bridge saddle, I forgot to add.