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Help with finding the right string set

sirvill

sirvill

Guest
Jan 15, 2016
70
66
41
New Zealand
#1
Hi all,

I'm using a 4 string tuned B-F#-B-E. The gauges I'm using at the moment are:

.130/.090/.075/.055

Anyone know of an off the shelf set that is close to that? I can keep making them up with individual strings, but the music shop's gonna run out one day :D

I could probably go up or down .005 or so, so if something is in the ballpark I'd consider it.

Thanks!
 
#5
The only sets i know of for drop B are mail order from Kalium Strings in the USA, but even those are not pre-packaged sets they are singles selected upon order.
I doubt you will find pre-packaged sets that are designed to be tension balanced in drop B, it will have to be singles.
Don't buy singles at a local music shop, they might have been under the counter for years getting rusty, and the choice is probably very limited, buy singles by mail order. D'Addario singles are now individually sealed in plasic envelopes so do not degrade, maybe find a NZ distributor?
 
#6
sirvill said:
Hi all,

I'm using a 4 string tuned B-F#-B-E. The gauges I'm using at the moment are:

.130/.090/.075/.055

Anyone know of an off the shelf set that is close to that? I can keep making them up with individual strings, but the music shop's gonna run out one day :D

I could probably go up or down .005 or so, so if something is in the ballpark I'd consider it.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
DR Drop-Down Tuning 5 string 55-135 stainless steel set (DDT5-55)
Invalid Link Removed
.135 .115 .095 .075 .055
Put away the .115 (and, I dunno, flip them in packets of 3 to drop D tuning folks locally?) and there you are. The .005" up on the low B and the F# shouldn't hurt either. (Well, it might turn out you don't like them.)
 
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#8
ixlramp said:
^ Good idea, and those gauges are actually more balanced than what you are using now which is top-heavy.
Click to expand...
:D My interest for Drop-Down Tuning 5-string sets as platforms for 4-string balanced drop tuning (proper) stemmed from that other recent thread
What's the heaviest string capable of standard tuning?

For some reasons (total tension maybe?) 5-string sets usually don't have bigger G's than .045, or if they have (heavy D'Addario and Ernie Ball sets) they quickly return to normal A and E gauges (.085 and .105). Now the E is moot since it's going into the unused strings drawer in this scenario, but the .085 is too thin (may be not in absolute terms, but let's say for most players) to be tuned to F# and, above all, still unbalanced next to the .07 string.
 

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