dumb string question...

[PattiMichelle]

I just got a set of strings direct from Conklin for my GT-7, and the winding doesn't reach all the way to the bridge. So it's just the core wire for about 1 - 1.5 inches above the bridge. Did I get the wrong kind of strings or is this a normal way to string an ER bass...?

 

[Cannabass]

you musta got short scale strings . . what type of strings are they

 

[CBgaragebassist]

Is it just because they're tapered? Can you post a pic?

 

[JustDavid]

Taper core strings have a short length after the ball end that has a smaller diameter, tapering up to the full diameter. typically just on the thicker strings. This is designed to improve intonation & 'witness point' on the string.

 

[knuckle_head]

This is normal for SIT bare core strings - Conklin sells those. If you have full thickness through your nut slot you got the right strings.

It's the way ERBs have been strung up predominantly because SIT was the only company for quite a while to address the ER market. You have a few more options these days.

 

[PattiMichelle]

This is normal for SIT bare core strings - Conklin sells those. If you have full thickness through your nut slot you got the right strings.

It's the way ERBs have been strung up predominantly because SIT was the only company for quite a while to address the ER market. You have a few more options these days.

Thanks - I just got an email back from Conklin that they're supposed to be bare-core through the bridge. They're correct as far as the nut goes. Conklin claims that it's supposed to improve tone and sustain if the thick part of the string doesn't get confined by the bridge.

 

[knuckle_head]

Thanks - I just got an email back from Conklin that they're supposed to be bare-core through the bridge. They're correct as far as the nut goes. Conklin claims that it's supposed to improve tone and sustain if the thick part of the string doesn't get confined by the bridge.

Conklin is correct - the bare core acts as a fulcrum of a sort and lets the string vibrate well from a near-center-of-string point. This is a good thing, but...

SIT strings are also very rigid and invite inharmonics if the tension gets too high. Inharmonics are caused by a string 'ringing' like a xylophone key rather than flexing like a piano string.

 

[PattiMichelle]

Conklin is correct - the bare core acts as a fulcrum of a sort and lets the string vibrate well from a near-center-of-string point. This is a good thing, but...

SIT strings are also very rigid and invite inharmonics if the tension gets too high. Inharmonics are caused by a string 'ringing' like a xylophone key rather than flexing like a piano string.

That's a good description of the way the strings might vibrate. Only the fatter strings are that way. And Conklin is the only one who sells the fat-bottom/skinny-top sets, which I thought I hated but I'm beginning to like.

I bought some Hipshot individual thru-body bridges and am considering installing those instead of the default monolithic bridge. I thought some of the Conklins (older GTBD's?) had through-body string installs. Problem is, I gotta rout-out some slots for the Hipshots (I didn't know that was needed when I bought them).

Patti

 

[Tusec]

Conklin is correct - the bare core acts as a fulcrum of a sort and lets the string vibrate well from a near-center-of-string point. This is a good thing, but...

SIT strings are also very rigid and invite inharmonics if the tension gets too high. Inharmonics are caused by a string 'ringing' like a xylophone key rather than flexing like a piano string.

What do inharmonics sound like? Are they like unmusical metallic overtones? I ask because I recently bought a set of GHS Flea Signature strings recently and they seem to have some of that going on, especially when I play down in the open position.

 

[PattiMichelle]

I *think* they're referring to the xylophone vibration-mode thing. A violin (bass, guiter, etc.) have fixed string endpoints, so the overtone structure is 2x, 3x, 4x, etc., of the string open note (the "fundamental").
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed])
But a xylophone has both ends moveable. A clarinet, for instance, has one end open (moveable) and the other end fixed. These give different overtone structures - I think what he's saying is that harmonics won't appear where you expect??
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/flutes.v.clarinets.html#wave
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inharmonicity

 

[knuckle_head]

A marimba or xylophone key has a pitch based on mass, and the key itself is the resonator. A string has pitch based on mass and tension, but nodal vibration along its length is what we know as music from them.

If a string becomes stiff to the point that it resonates in addition to vibrating, this is where inharmonics come from - you end up with two pitch sources. It generally gets worse the higher up you play and they are nearly never complementary.