I have one on my Prescott bass and it gets me down to a 'D' with a stark Spirocore string. It's helpful to me with the church/choral work I get around town. I'm just not ready to spend the bread on an extension quite yet so I'm happy with this.
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Double Bass Hipshot FreeRange Xtender
- Thread starter powerbass
- Start date
I have one on my Prescott bass and it gets me down to a 'D' with a stark Spirocore string. It's helpful to me with the church/choral work I get around town. I'm just not ready to spend the bread on an extension quite yet so I'm happy with this.
I bought one of these and was hoping to use it on some musical theatre shows that I'm playing, which occasionally drop below E on a DB. I installed it on the plywood rental bass that I have, but because I'm using an EAP pickup and amplifying my bass, there was too much noise/rattle at certain frequencies for my liking. No matter how I worked at it and how much I tightened things up, there were just a few notes that caused the unit to rattle against the tailpiece. I uninstalled the extender and won't be using it again at this stage.
- Jul 19, 2000
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Did you follow the instructions for adjusting the "hanger" piece, or did you just install it as it was set up out of the package? That may make a substantial difference in the vibration issues you describe.
Thanks for your input on this Mark. Yes, I did follow the instructions regarding the hanger piece, and as per the instructions it happened to be in the best position already (out of the box). The clearance on the bridge side of the tailpiece was minimal (maybe 2-3mm), but for some reason the depth of the hook seemed to be too deep, meaning the adjuster sat up off the tailpiece at a bit of an angle. I think it was this gap that allowed the extender to vibrate against the tailpiece, or something internal to the extender was vibrating at certain frequencies. This combined with the EAP pickup led to unwanted rattles being amplified.
- Jul 19, 2000
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Ah, good information. Hmmm... I'll send that to my contact at Hipshot, see if he has any thoughts. I'll be seeing him at NAMM in a couple weeks, too...
I tried a bunch of things and tightened every nut/screw that I could find and no matter what I did I couldn't eliminate the rattle/buzz until I removed the extender. As I remember it made the noise in both the engaged and dis-engaged position.
It was quite an effort to install and because I'm only using a rental bass at the moment (read: cheap and nasty plywood), I figured I'd give it another shot on a better instrument when I buy one. So while normally I'd be all for helping get to the bottom of this, I didn't have the time to install/uninstall a bunch of times and didn't know what damage I might be doing to the strings. Sorry.
I picked one up but couldn't get to sit in the tail piece well. Device worked fine but given the pressure of the E string wasn't comfortable with the set up.
I've got a new bass now with a Witner (sp?) Carbon Fiber tailpiece that, at a glance, is much thinner than the old one on the rental that I previously had. I haven't had a need to install the extender on it, but am intrigued whether it would rattle as it did previously.
Just picked one of these up from another TBer. I'm trying to install it on my solo A string to toggle between A and G. I tuned the A string up to pitch and when I turn the screw I can't get it the detuned position any lower than a slightly flat G#. I feel I must be missing something here. Is it because it's a synthetic core string (Evah)?
Dave, the Evahs stretch a lot with increasing tension, so the same distance (like the part of the string running over the nut) makes a smaller pitch difference on a tretchy string.
If you want to keep a synthetic core string similar to the Evah (Weich) but not as stretchy, try the Innovation Braided (maybe also the Honeys). They stretch much less than the Evahs (specially on the higher strings), but still a bit more than steel core strings.
If you want to keep a synthetic core string similar to the Evah (Weich) but not as stretchy, try the Innovation Braided (maybe also the Honeys). They stretch much less than the Evahs (specially on the higher strings), but still a bit more than steel core strings.
Thanks DoubleMidi. I know on the gollihur site it says that synthetic core strings won't work as well, but I guess I expected more than a semitone. Also on the Gollihur site it says that there is a new version of the xtender that accommodates synthetic core strings better. Maybe I have an older one? What's the difference exactly and is there a way to tell by looking at it which one it is?
I'll look into the Innovations, but it sounds like a spirocore solo might be the way to go.
I'll look into the Innovations, but it sounds like a spirocore solo might be the way to go.
The Spirocore Solo would definately work better than the Innovations, but I was astonished how less the Innovation Braided stretch for a synthetic core string. They don't bow as well as the Evahs, but much better than Spiros. For pizz the sustain of the Braided was short on the Braided E and A, but after running the strings (E and A only) over their whole length over my thumb for about a hour each (to avoid changing bending forces in the string), the sustain was really nice (and the strings sounded a bit darker after that).
Spiros will work for sure, but you might want to have a look at the Braided later if you like the Evahs.
Spiros will work for sure, but you might want to have a look at the Braided later if you like the Evahs.
Thanks for that. One of the threads about the innovations talked about a strange winding or something like that. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Also thought of trying a bel canto solo for the (high) A string. All steel, but still on the darker side.
Also thought of trying a bel canto solo for the (high) A string. All steel, but still on the darker side.
Oops, I thoght you talked about the low A, but now have seen it was a high solo A to be tuned down to G.
The Innovation Braided have an aluminium wound solo A (as well as an aluminium wound high C) in their normal program. They work on changing to a chromesteel wound solo A, but I'm not sure if it is available right now.
Tuning down by a whole tone you get a lot less tension on the string, which might become uncomfortable. I woundn't recommend this on any string, except if you need to do this very seldom. I think it might work better on the lowest string than on the highest one. But you probably tried that by detuning your string which is basically the same as using the Hipshot Extender.
I never had a strange winding on an Innovation string and only one bad string that buzzed a lot that I got replaced. But there are many different DB string types made by Innovation, I don't know which type you may refer to.
If you want the solo A to be tuned down the best compromise I see is getting a higher tension string for the solo A (i.e. Spirocore) and mix it with a bit less tension strings below (depends what tuning you want there) if you want to keep them fixed at their tuning. That way the difference to the E or D next to the A/G is not too large, one time a bit higher, one time a bit lower than the other strings.
I never played the Belcanto, so I cannot help with relative tension to the Spirocores, but I think they might have a bit less tension (but not much). If you want to to stay with E/A/D on the lower strings, Spiro Weich with a Spiro Solo A might be a solution.
The Innovation Braided have an aluminium wound solo A (as well as an aluminium wound high C) in their normal program. They work on changing to a chromesteel wound solo A, but I'm not sure if it is available right now.
Tuning down by a whole tone you get a lot less tension on the string, which might become uncomfortable. I woundn't recommend this on any string, except if you need to do this very seldom. I think it might work better on the lowest string than on the highest one. But you probably tried that by detuning your string which is basically the same as using the Hipshot Extender.
I never had a strange winding on an Innovation string and only one bad string that buzzed a lot that I got replaced. But there are many different DB string types made by Innovation, I don't know which type you may refer to.
If you want the solo A to be tuned down the best compromise I see is getting a higher tension string for the solo A (i.e. Spirocore) and mix it with a bit less tension strings below (depends what tuning you want there) if you want to keep them fixed at their tuning. That way the difference to the E or D next to the A/G is not too large, one time a bit higher, one time a bit lower than the other strings.
I never played the Belcanto, so I cannot help with relative tension to the Spirocores, but I think they might have a bit less tension (but not much). If you want to to stay with E/A/D on the lower strings, Spiro Weich with a Spiro Solo A might be a solution.
- Jul 3, 2007
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- Author of "Soul Fingers." I'm the Duck Dunn expert.
I might need one of these ASAP. Could some of you guys check out my latest thread and see if this is a sensible solution?
I think I might be in trouble...suggeestions ASAP!
I think I might be in trouble...suggeestions ASAP!
- Aug 1, 2005
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- Jul 19, 2000
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That's an old thread, I've got a question.
Since it reduces the string length, can be worth to use a string made for a 1/2 double bass in order to maintain the tension ? Does it work ?
Since it reduces the string length, can be worth to use a string made for a 1/2 double bass in order to maintain the tension ? Does it work ?
Vibrating string length is what determines tension. Since vibrating string length is not changed, tension is still the same.
