I'm in a band that plays a lot of drop D tuning songs along with 1/2 down and standard tunings as well. I was looking at a Fender Duff McKagen P/J bass that has a hipshot Drop D bas extender as part of the standard equipment. I know you can just buy the tuner as well and install it on your existing bass. Personally I'm a little skeptical. I'm fearful that it isn't going to be accurate enough from a tuning standpoint. Either it won't be exactly Drop D or engaging it will throw off the other strings. My guitarist has one and it seems like he's always having to screw around with it, or we'll play a song and it sounds like one of us is out of tune. After the song, we'll check our tuning and it's usually his E string that's out of tune. I know when I drop my E string to D, I usually have to tweak the A and or a couple of the other strings as well (could this be a set up/intonation issue?). Obviously you can tune to adjust after engaging, but then you lose the whole point of having one of these things, which is to change tunings on the fly fast. Has anyone had some experience with one of these?
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Hipshot Drop D Bass extender? Any good? Reliable?
- Thread starter Pete Berger
- Start date
I’ve been using a Drop tuner on the B string of all my 5-string basses for years. They work fine, no tuning issues with the other strings. At first, I was actually concerned about that a bit, so I just kick it down to A when I need it. There’s very few times I would leave it tuned down to A for the whole song. If you are using it on the string, I could see the need food leaving the drop tuner on D for the whole song. I don’t see the difference in that and manually tuning the E string down to D and leaving it.
There is a process for tuning the stop lever in the D (or A, in my case) position. Hipshot has a note that explains it nicely. It’s not a big deal and it’s stable once it’s tuned.
There is a process for tuning the stop lever in the D (or A, in my case) position. Hipshot has a note that explains it nicely. It’s not a big deal and it’s stable once it’s tuned.
They've been selling them for so long now, because they work great. String it well, fine tune per instructions and work on your smooth, timely flips.
I have a very early model that I got from the original designer Dave Borisoff back around '84 or '85. Before hipshot. It still works great. I have a brand new USA Ultralight on my newest build. It works great too. I also have them on several other basses. I lube them very lightly with petroleum jelly and coat the E-string nut slot with graphite from a #2 pencil. Zero tuning problems.
B.
B.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
I have one on two basses. They work well. Use an E string that is a gauge heavier than you normally would use so when you follow the instructions on how to set the tuner to drop from E to Eb or D, you still have good tension and tone as dropped. Follow the instructions. Make sure your E nut slot is perfectly smooth, with a proper witness point and gently sloping back to the tuner so you don't have any binding or issues returning to pitch.
Surely not. Please tell me you have two detuners, one on each of two basses. and not one detuner on two basses.
Surely not. Please tell me you have two detuners, one on each of two basses. and not one detuner on two basses.
Surely not. Please tell me you have two detuners, one on each of two basses. and not one detuner on two basses.
They work, fear not.
I have them on a couple of basses. One of the bands I've been in for a few years now is a RATM tribute and there is a lot of drop-D in there. I can retune fast enough using the tuning peg, but I thought the Hipshot would make things simpler... great units, easy to use and set, easy maintenance. You just need to grease slightly the mechanism so it glides smoothly (check out the videos on youtube from Hipshot), and it'll reliably switch between the two tunings.
I have them on many of my 4-strings and my 6-string and it's been mostly smooth sailing.
I did once have the lever pivot screw back all the way out and fall off and when that happens, you basically lose the use of your first string (and possibly the next if the tuners collide in the wrong way). I was lucky - found all the pieces on the floor, got them back in and I was back in business. Something to keep an eye out for. (Real quick check as part of the tuning ritual and you should be good.)
That experience didn't put me off using them. When you need that low D (or A) it really is super handy.
I did once have the lever pivot screw back all the way out and fall off and when that happens, you basically lose the use of your first string (and possibly the next if the tuners collide in the wrong way). I was lucky - found all the pieces on the floor, got them back in and I was back in business. Something to keep an eye out for. (Real quick check as part of the tuning ritual and you should be good.)
That experience didn't put me off using them. When you need that low D (or A) it really is super handy.
There’s one thing I would kinda advise everyone to think about when using the D Tuner...
I use mine quite often and I’ve noticed that I can be kinda abrupt when flipping the lever back and forth. Sometime last year, another bassist noticed me flipping it back and forth and asked if I had ever broken a D tuner. No, I haven’t, but it got me thinking, so now I keep the original regular tuner in the bass case with batteries and strings. I’ll say, I’ve never seen the D Tuner do anything that concerned me or caused me to think it’s at all fragile. But....
Ya know, just in case....
I use mine quite often and I’ve noticed that I can be kinda abrupt when flipping the lever back and forth. Sometime last year, another bassist noticed me flipping it back and forth and asked if I had ever broken a D tuner. No, I haven’t, but it got me thinking, so now I keep the original regular tuner in the bass case with batteries and strings. I’ll say, I’ve never seen the D Tuner do anything that concerned me or caused me to think it’s at all fragile. But....
Ya know, just in case....
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I have 3! On the precision works great, spot on, on my tune fabulous on my jazz .... Grrrrr.
On the jazz drops to d ish then resets to e + or e - somewhere then try again an it's somewhere completely different.
Removal, investigate and re-install is the way forward otherwise they're great!
On the jazz drops to d ish then resets to e + or e - somewhere then try again an it's somewhere completely different.
Removal, investigate and re-install is the way forward otherwise they're great!
