From 40 to 45s

[oldprussians]

If I change from 40 to 45s will I notice much?

 

[mmbongo]

5 extra, mainly.

 

[knuckle_head]

8 pounds more tension

FWIW - from .100 to .105 is 3 pounds difference.

 

[oldprussians]

you two are being silly now.......

I meant will it be much more strenuous to play.. oh never mind!

 

[ixlramp]

Yeah a lot tighter, as knuckle_head said there really should be a gauge between 40 and 45.

 

[knuckle_head]

I meant will it be much more strenuous to play.

Yes

 

[mmbongo]

Knuckle actually gave a real answer

 

[oldprussians]

Well my electric is 040 and my AGB 045* I'm sure I can't tell a difference. I was going to go onto 045s on my electric.

* I say 045 cause it is supposed to be delivered with D'addarios and they only make 045 5 string bronze....

 

[darkstorm]

Slightly tighter depending on what brand etc compared to your current brand etc of 40's. Its a small deiff in real world playing change in most cases. You will prob need to do a minor truss rod tweak with the 45's, but no biggee. Between diff brands of 45 gauge theyre is diff in tension, For example Dean markley blue steels are lower tension then rotosound swing 66, Dr neons, and DR sunbeams. Those being medium tension to me with the deans being light to med light in comparrision.

 

[JeffBTZ]

Maybe I'm the freak here, but I went from a 35-90 roundwound set that was on my bass when I got it to a 45-105 Rotosound Flats set and the difference in tension seems negligible.

 

[oldprussians]

I guess the answer is suck it and see. I prefer 040s but for my fretless 5 that is coming I want ground wounds, and nobody does 040s ground wound in 5 string set, just in a 4 string set.

 

[cnltb]

I meant will it be much more strenuous to play

No it won't.

 

[ixlramp]

Okay in numbers then, from the D'Addario tension chart for nickel roundwound, 40 G to 45 G is 33.7 to 42.8 pounds tension, a 27% increase, that's a big jump, and confirmed by my experience.

 

[Zabbo1978]

D'Addario makes a .042. I haven't tried it yet but I think the tension is 37.1 lb.

EDIT: I've tried the .042 on my 35" scale bass. I like it better than the .045. This might be because
the tension is a bit closer to what I'm used to on my 34" scale bass.

When the .045 was on I found myself plucking directly over the neck pickup most of the time. I like
to dig in and this was throwing me off a bit. Now with the .042 it feels right to pluck just behind
the neck pickup (toward the bridge).

 

[BassLife77]

I find slapping sounds better with .045's, not so good with .040's. If you don't slap you won't hear much of a difference