Magma Flatwounds would sound great on this thing. They have a lower tension than most flatwound strings because of their special design.
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Guitar Scale Acoustic Basses
- Thread starter SBassman
- Start date
Have to mod them though, at least for the E string vis a vis fitting in the slot of the E tuning post. A 090 just fits in it. I tried an untapered section of a 100 gauge Chrome and it won't, so the flatwound must be tapered with built in tapee or outer wrap(s) removed to make a taper.
On the subject of string fitment. The ball end to tuning peg side of nut distance of the strings on it is approx 26.25". Add 2 inches for E and G posts and 4.40" for A and D posts.
So a winding length for this Cort and the Ibanez PNB14E of no less than 26.25" but no greater than 28.25" is about right. At least as far as flats or tapes go. Are there flats or tapes out there with no greater than 90 gauge and a winding length around 28"? C'mon HaphAsSard. If anyone knows, you would.
The strings on my Cort have brass coloured ball ends, so are not the D'adarrio 37-90 Taylor mini GS set, which have various colour ball ends. I guess just some generic junk
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As I said, it's either
1) one of those three I listed earlier, or
2) you must be willing to mod the bridge.
- The La Bella MBLS (aka MBSLS on the eBay) are about 28" ball to silk, or ball to taper (in your case the difference may not be trivial); I expect them to be quite stiff, and require a non trivial amount of saddle relocation.
[They make another set of identical (49-69-89-109) for Kala, the KA-BASS-4FW-SC (last suffix important to distinguish them from the Galli-made nyloncore set), but the instrument they make them for (Kala Solid Body U•Bass) looks to have not more than 25.5" from ball to E-string tuner.
Ditto for the Dogal flats made for the Tiny Boy Bass: they look like they'd be, er, too short for Cort.]
- Pyramid is usually available for custom work;
- so is, possibly, a manufacturer from Argentina, Lemma Sound, I've recently become aware of;
- unless you file the slot wider, you said a 090 can go in there. I guess you could try to jury-rig long-scale flats in there.
Same caveat applies: in all likelihood, all of the above would intonate sharp, with the bridge left stock.
Cheers and thanks for erudite info. Quite a challenge these guitar scale basses when it comes to non round wound strings. Part of the journey.
@HaphAsSard You mention Aquila 143C here https://www.talkbass.com/threads/guitar-scale-acoustic-basses.1359676/page-97#post-28295296. Any experience with them? Haven't seen gauges mentioned. Do you know
Special tunings for Classical Guitar | Aquila Corde Armoniche
The Orchestra series represent our best answer to musicians who wish to expand the possibilities of the classical guitar and set it free from the mere role of soloist or duets / quartets etc where all the guitars have the same tuning (for educational purposes, compositions etc). All this is...
aquilacorde.com
None. In fact, I'm only aware of them thanks to as I suspected by @Oscar Stern.
I do now, this time thanks to the Warwick European online shop, of all operations:Haven't seen gauges mentioned. Do you know
Special tunings for Classical Guitar | Aquila Corde Armoniche
The Orchestra series represent our best answer to musicians who wish to expand the possibilities of the classical guitar and set it free from the mere role of soloist or duets / quartets etc where all the guitars have the same tuning (for educational purposes, compositions etc). All this is...aquilacorde.com
Gauges are .039p* - .031w - .039w - .046 - .057 - .076
*
[plain bionylon]
In other words, they're (AFAIK)** the thinnest of the tune-your-classical-down-an-octave bunch listed in that post of mine
(their proprietary core material being probably denser than regular nylon, which may account for the difference).
**
[Gauges for the Frank 'n' Strings/Villela Lower Octave Strings are undisclosed and unknown to me;
those for the Savarez LOW640R are 028-032-038-050-067-086, per the company;
those for the Magma Transpositor GCT-E, to wit: 027-033-040-052-066-095, were kindly provided by a reviewer on Amazon);
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/guitar-scale-acoustic-basses.1359676/page-97#post-28295296, the lowest four appear to be the same - only seeming discrepancy being the A string gauge, 063 v 066 - as those in the elusive, 5-string BEADG-tuning Magma BT-5 set, made for their Transpositor Bass.]
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Thanks a bunch. The Aquila gauges are pretty thin indeed.
After reading a fair bit of thread and noting mention of La Bella CB-40's, I might give them a go. Means ordering from the U.S via SBM. They do great getting them to Ozzieland real quick, but then either customs or one courier in particular stuffs about and delay delay. Not the flats or tapes I would like to try, but sooner I get into bass territory the better on this puppy. Til then I have fitted a set of the D'addario Piccolo EXL280's on it that I tried on a 34" scale electric but didn't bond with. Given the construction, no prob cutting them to size. I've tuned them to B1 E2 A2 D3 which is just slightly less than the total tension of the PB's that were on it. 51.28lbf vs 55.55lbf and gives me some non guitar pitches to muck about with. Much too bright still for my tastesbut at least I can play it and not look at. Intonation is a little sharp for the 3 lowest strings.
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FWIW, the Magmas (which, as we've seen, have similar gauges to the CB40) are available through Amazon.com.au
Amazon
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Noted. Ball end option like the CB-40's? Not that I am averse to putting a ball on a ballless piece of string, nylon filament or metal for a tidy look
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I'd missed this edit. AFAIK, D'Addario doesn't use colour-coded ball ends on OEM strings (ditto for Fender, which everyone says are made by D'Addario), so these could still be theirs.
Are they nyloncore after all? It's not terribly clear from the picture.
Didn't know that. The specs on the Cort website say D'Addario® PBB190,Cort AB590MF | Bass Series Acoustic Guitar which I assume are these 37-90 Custom Light, Taylor GS Mini, XT Phosphor Bronze Coated Acoustic Bass Strings | XTB3790GS | D'Addario which have the coloured balls. And that thru me. Yeh nylon thready stuff
Edit: I just realised that is the XT set linked, whatever that means as far as coating difference goes vis a vis the PBB190
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Acoustic Mini Bass Strings - XTB3790GS v.s. EXPPBB190GS
One has replaced the other. My guess is the basic, pre-coated string has stayed the same, but the coating type's changed (EXP -> XT):XT Is EXP Evolved | Upgrade Alternatives for EXP16, EXP15, EXP11 & More | D'Addario
I did. If I ever sell, it would probably be to replace it with a Koa version.
That’s nice to hear. I really like what I hear when someone plays with an appropriate touch, like this guy:
I don’t remember for sure now but I think he’s a member here. Don’t want to go back through this thread to try to find out!
I don’t remember for sure now but I think he’s a member here. Don’t want to go back through this thread to try to find out!
A-HA! This guy is a member, @Bass Viking !
I really enjoy his GS mini bass videos.
I really enjoy his GS mini bass videos.
Unfortunately, there's more involved than just intonation.
The relationship of flexibility to tension is super-important, not just for intonation, but also for pitch stability and for tone.
Detune a regular steel-core flat-wound bass string to get the same tension as a guitar-scale bass, and then pluck it hard- it makes a bowww sound, with the pitch changing as the note decays. Steel-core flats are too stiff to sound good at this scale length.
That's why the only sub-short scale, steel-string basses you'll find that are shorter than the Ibanez miKros are toy-grade travel or beginner instruments. You need the super-floppy flexibility of nylon or plastic-core strings (once again, it's not just about tension) to get a good, round, full tone and stable pitch when you dig in.
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