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Guitar Scale Acoustic Basses
- Thread starter SBassman
- Start date
I am done for a while on strings. Have done more polishing the last two days. Most squeak is gone. Will of course bhave to keep up on oxidation / tarnish of exposed copper, but that is ok. I just polished on fret board. The pick / pluck portion is original.
Interesting. How is the intonation and tone, after polishing?
PS: Thanks for the mention re: Savarez 600’s. It’s nice to have another option, with different gauges (and also considerably cheaper than the D’Addarios).
Intonation hasn't changed that I can tell. I have not touched the strings over the body and sound hole so my thought was that most of the tone would stay. I am only polishing the tops of the strings.
It occurred to me this morning that I don't remember reading about other strings that would work with most of these guitar scale but might require nut adjustments...
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Using the Long-sale Pahoehoes is an interesting idea, but it would take a lot of commitment.
You’ve got to think about tuners, as well. They need big spools and even bigger slots...
My Ibanez has regular sealed bass tuners, but they’re the offshore-style 3/8” post, not the 1/2” you see on Fenders. If you ground enough meat out of the slot to tie off a silicone E string, there wouldn’t be much post left. Probably the same with at least the A.
This is just me eyeballing photos. You’d need to take some measurements to be sure.
But if you’re going to go with those strings, why not simply pick up a Uke bass?
The attraction of the Taylor, et al for me, is specifically that they’re not Ukulele basses. I’m not hot on the sound or feel...
There are videos online showing how to do a twist wrap of the Pahoehoe strings that do not fit in the post slot, it's a pain to do, but I’ve done it with most all my poly string basses. You have to really stretch the string to get it in the slot.
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Actually a couple other things about pahahoe strings. I have had the same set for almost 5 years on a uke bass. Quiet for practice. Takes very little pressure on fretting hand. I think they wouldn't be for the most, but could be used by some wanting something other than the rounds.
The La Bella CB40’s arrived from Strings By Mail.
First impressions:
Once you bring them up to pitch, the feel is a little closer to regular bass guitar strings. Stiffer, and they don’t roll under my fingers as much.
The tone is darker, with more fundamental and less finger noise. I can run the treble control at noon, instead of 9 to 10 o’clock. I also had to turn up the bass just a smidge. The end result sounds tighter in the low end, but with more boom in the low mids.
I think the CB40’s would definitely be an upgrade on the Taylor GS mini, giving you a fatter tone, less fretting out when you dig in, and more output. The tension change shouldn’t be enough to damage anything.
I’ve got mixed feelings about them on the Ibanez, As the D’Addarios played in, they retained a really nice midrange growl. In a back-to-back comparison, the La Bella’s already sound a bit dull, like a well-loved set of flats.
Not a bad sound, but not necessarily my cup of tea.
Other observations:
First impressions:
Once you bring them up to pitch, the feel is a little closer to regular bass guitar strings. Stiffer, and they don’t roll under my fingers as much.
The tone is darker, with more fundamental and less finger noise. I can run the treble control at noon, instead of 9 to 10 o’clock. I also had to turn up the bass just a smidge. The end result sounds tighter in the low end, but with more boom in the low mids.
I think the CB40’s would definitely be an upgrade on the Taylor GS mini, giving you a fatter tone, less fretting out when you dig in, and more output. The tension change shouldn’t be enough to damage anything.
I’ve got mixed feelings about them on the Ibanez, As the D’Addarios played in, they retained a really nice midrange growl. In a back-to-back comparison, the La Bella’s already sound a bit dull, like a well-loved set of flats.
Not a bad sound, but not necessarily my cup of tea.
Other observations:
- Intonation is just as good as the D’Addarios.
- The silver plating turns your fingers black.
- It took about an hour of playing to stretch them in. If you put them on right before a gig, you’d be constantly hitting the tuner button.
- The D’Addarios cost roughly twice as much.
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Excellent review. Thank you. Yes there is a break in period for the cb40s. Several days. Then they are stable.
Turned your fingers black? Never heard that before. Interesting.
Turned your fingers black? Never heard that before. Interesting.
The La Bella’s would certainly move it in that direction.
They’ve also killed any interest I had in trying regular steel-core strings. A regular set of nickel rounds in .033 to .079 is unlikely to sound as warm, or to feel as good, as the La Bellas or the D’Addarios when tuned E to G on a guitar-length scale.
Given the intonation problems that steels would probably cause, it doesn’t seem like they would be worth the effort on an acoustic. A solid body instrument might be a different matter, but that’s beside the point for me.
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The CB40s have much less tension than the Sojourn's stock strings. You may have trouble getting the truss rod loose enough to prevent them from buzzing, and they will probably give you less volume, though the lower tension would probably sound much "bassier".
The Sojourn 4K uses hex core D'Addario EXPPBB170S Coated Phosphor Bronze 045 .065, .080, .100 strings, which have significantly more tension than the CB40s. D'Addario short scale Chromes ECB81S are the same gauges (probably no nut filing needed to install), with about 10% more tension, so you'd probably have to tighten the truss rod just a bit. The only other factor that might keep you from using them on the Sojourn, though, is their length, which is 30 1/2 inches from ball to silk. I have successfully wound the wrapped portion of Chromes on larger tuning machines, but that could be trickier on the Sojourn's small tuning posts. Measure your stock strings from ball to tuning post to see how much extra wrap the Chromes would have. You have to leave at least a wrap or two of the silk portion of the string when cutting them.
D'Addario also has EXL170S Nickel Wound Bass, Light, 45-100, Short Scale roundwound strings, and ENR71S Half Rounds Bass, Regular Light, 45-100, Short Scale. Both are the same gauges as your stock strings. The rounds have a little less tension than the phosphor, the half rounds have a little more. Both would be easier to wind on your tuning pegs than the Chromes. Any of these would be less bright than the stock bronze.
One nice thing about the Sojourn is its strung-through bridge, which is much easier for string changes than dealing with bridge pins.
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Whoops!
My bad. I thought the MK was another member of the rope-core crowd. That does explain why the demo video I viewed sounded so metallic.
I can't see CB40's working in that application.
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