Guitar Scale Acoustic Basses

[tymbrewolf]

By the way, I have a set of slinky bass vi strings on one of my squier mini strat basses. There isn't much difference in finger feel tension wise on those and the 23" gold tone with silver backs which is a quarter inch longer scale.

 

[tymbrewolf]

It also feels about the same as both the stock ortega's or daddario 190s at the 24.6 inch scale. They are just a tad floppy for my taste. But since I also have uke size basses both pico tuned with flats and kala poly strings so rolly soft big to floppy small gauge steel core or mono filament or nylon core are all manageable. The only bass I have had problems starting in the fourth grade with cat gut strings on upright in orchestra 45 years ago to present is the ashbury with silicone strings. Even then, pahahoe strings were fun. My short fat fingers and big hands just found an 18 inch scale a tad tight .

 

[MakoMan]

Here's a tentative list for the Ibanez, as well. Sstock tension is about 55 lb even.

Same cautions and disclaimers as for the Taylor...

View attachment 3238467

This is all great stuff! So after reading all this I think I'm going to stick with the stock strings until something comes out that is factory approved for my little Ibby
BTW Steve, your description of how your PNB14E plays with the stock strings is almost exactly the same as mine. I'm normally a flats player on my other basses, but I'm fine too with the stock strings on these. I also compensate by rolling off some treble. Along with some amp tweaks I've been able to eliminate most of the string noise and get a great tone.

 

[tymbrewolf]

 

[KohanMike]

Wow, that's the aNueNue 24" scale bass, just saw it online from $600 to about $750.

 

[SBassman]

By the way, I have a set of slinky bass vi strings on one of my squier mini strat basses. There isn't much difference in finger feel tension wise on those and the 23" gold tone with silver backs which is a quarter inch longer scale.

How is tuning stability for you?

 

[SBassman]

Wow, that's the aNueNue 24" scale bass, just saw it online from $600 to about $750.

Would really like to try that bass.

 

[tymbrewolf]

Yep very pretty too

 

[tymbrewolf]

Bass vi would definitely be worth the money for someone to try at guitar length. 22.75 seems a tad loose for low action.

 

[SBassman]

Yeah - I have said something like this before - but I really think the sweet spot is closer to 25/26, not 22/23. When you get down to these numbers, you really don't feel a big difference from 22/23 to 25/26, but you Do get a nice extra bump in string tension. We are really on the outer border of what is acceptable with tension, and the extra couple of inches definitely make the situation better and more stable. No 22s or 23s for me. 25 and 26.

 

[tymbrewolf]

And for me 23 is the biggest jump from bass uke. I was never a guitar player. Only longer and shorter. I expect to see more guitar scale solid bodies and acoustics as more strings become available which I believe the will. The problem therein lies with the people that have access to the string companies. I am relatively sure that there are other light gauge bass strings that would work fine with these modern instruments that will vibrate stably at guitar scales.

 

[SBassman]

It is very hard to get the string companies to pay attention.

I have significant history with this - during the time I designed and sold the Picco Bass. I had dialog at the time with LaBella, Goldtone, DAddario, and Mangan. DAddario is just too big to get them to do anything - unless you can actually commit/order a big run. The others were easy to have dialog with, but results varied. I'd like to actually tell the whole story someday because it is rather interesting, but, there are parts of the story that are probably best left unsaid in a public forum. Would be glad to tell the story at a Northeast TalkBass meet and greet over an adult beverage some day.

Curt Mangan turned out to be a great pleasure to work with. He built superior strings for the Picco Bass, and he set it up as an orderable set for anyone - without having to charge me any setup fees. Will always remember that.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

What makes these basses work so much better than expected, is the tonality of the custom string set. There's a reason that Goldtone worked with La Bella on a special double-wrapped rope core set for the Silverbacks.

Bass VI strings are relatively cheap, and it would be interesting to try them out. However, the 30" Bass VI isn't a tone monster when tuned to concert pitch. A popular option is to mod the tuner and bridge for a bigger low E string.

Taking those same strings and running them with even less tension on a 25" scale, isn't going to punch like a regular Fender bass.

 

[tymbrewolf]

That would be agreed. I use them mainly for experimenting on sub short scale solid body conversion as a test plate because they are so cheap. I just haven't tried something acoustic and not magnetic pickup. Too much tension,which shouldn't be an issue, would be my only concern. It is a cheap fun try that might be okay in some instance . And, if silverbacks were highly polished / ground more smooth or pressure wound, they would be perfect for me. I like the 115 e. speaking only on gold tones

 

[SBassman]

What makes these basses work so much better than expected, is the tonality of the custom string set. There's a reason that Goldtone worked with La Bella on a special double-wrapped rope core set for the Silverbacks.

Yes - me.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

That would be agreed. I use them mainly for experimenting on sub short scale solid body conversion as a test plate because they are so cheap. I just haven't tried something acoustic and not magnetic pickup. Too much tension,which shouldn't be an issue, would be my only concern. It is a cheap fun try that might be okay in some instance . And, if silverbacks were highly polished / ground more smooth or pressure wound, they would be perfect for me. I like the 115 e. speaking only on gold tones

Have you considered de-tuning?

Let's say that the Goldtone flats turn out to be 15% tighter than the D'Addarios. Mounted on any of the 23.5-25" acoustics and tuned down a whole tone, you'd be back around stock tension.

You'd still have a thicker, beefier feeling string, with the flatwound thump and feel you like, and the same tension the bass had out of the box.

You don't need to measure the string tension directly (although you could do that with a simple jig and a fishing scale).

You could infer the tension by tuning to pitch, and then measuring the string deflection when you pulled up on it with the scale. An inch or two above the fingerboard at the twelfth fret ought to be enough to get a good estimate of how much the tension had increased over the D'Addarios. The value in pounds or kg wouldn't be the same as the actual string pull, but any increase between the first measurement and the second should be proportional.

Alternately, you could just check the neck relief before and after. If you had the same amount of relief after re-stringing and re-tuning, you'd know that you were in the ballpark.

All you'd have to do after that, is keep an eye out for any signs of the bridge moving...

 

[SBassman]

Hey hey - I May have a Real string alternative brewing. Stay tuned ...

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Yes - me.

How did I miss out on what you were doing back in 2014?

Just spent a little time looking back through the Picco Bass thread and FB page. I probably wouldn't have bought one back then- I was (and still am to an extent) a scale length snob.

Still, that was a really neat little instrument, and way nicer than most of the travel basses and guitars that are out there. The audio clips were impressive.

 

[SBassman]

How did I miss out on what you were doing back in 2014?

Just spent a little time looking back through the Picco Bass thread and FB page. I probably wouldn't have bought one back then- I was (and still am to an extent) a scale length snob.

Still, that was a really neat little instrument, and way nicer than most of the travel basses and guitars that are out there. The audio clips were impressive.

Thank you very much. I didn't really have equipment to do justice to recordings, but, yeah, I was very pleased with how that design came out. I couldn't stay in the game for more than a year because I needed a whole lot more funding to turn that from a labor of love to something that could actually generate revenue. I wound up just breaking even, but I did sprinkle the world with about a dozen of those basses. The people who bought them gave me great feedback, and I will always love that bass. It was worth the effort and I'm glad I have memories of scratching that itch.

During that period of time, I was doing tons of dialog with other companies.

Today, for anyone looking for a solid body guitar scale bass, I would point them at the silly Raptor bass on eBay that I now own a pair of. With some mods, they are great basses, and to me, worth 4x the reedonculous $135 price. I'm having lots of fun with that bass these days.

 

[tymbrewolf]

There are lots of instruments in the orchestral and classical realm that use filament core strings.