Is this an effective taper?

[doran.dragic]

Hello everyone,

I tried out a et of Fender Super 8250 which have tapered B & E string. According to the inharmonicity study made by Jonathan A. Kemp a taper should improve inharmonicity but the of inharmonicity didn't seem to improve from the last set of non-tapered strings that I used (D'Addario nickel wound).

That being said, I've read that the position of the taper is important in order to achieve the benefit so my question is if this taper starts to far away from the bridge saddle. The distance is 34 mm from where the string seems to rest on the saddle on approximately 55 mm from the ball end.

 

[michael_t]

Looks like those tapers are a little too long for the type of bridge it is. The Fender 8250 are actually designed for the Fender-style thru-body bridge.

Here's how the Ken Smith Compressor tapered B fits on my thru-body Yamaha...

 

[michael_t]

I once had a tapered B string on an Ibanez SR1205, which didn't work very well because the taper extended too far beyond the saddle due to the bridge design.

 

[doran.dragic]

Can you maybe recommend a tapered set that would fit a 34" Soundgear?

 

[micguy]

Yes, that's a taper more appropriate for a through body setup. The set on the bass in my lap, the taper starts about a quarter inch from the bridge saddle. In this case, the strings are Kaliums

 

[SAlcott]

Is the inharmonicity something you actually hear?

 

[Zooberwerx]

I once had a tapered B string on an Ibanez SR1205, which didn't work very well because the taper extended too far beyond the saddle due to the bridge design.

View attachment 5082431

Yep, the fixed afterlength is ~1" on those monorail sleds. For a split-second, I thought we were looking at the DR LongNecks.

Riis

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I’ve seen the video Dr Kemp made and it seems like a solution looking for a problem. He was able to make a bass sound the least like any bass I’ve ever heard and not set intonation between string changes. As asked above, do you really have a problem?

 

[michael_t]

For a split-second, I thought we were looking at the DR LongNecks...

The ones in my pic in post #3 are Sadowsky Blue Label Stainless Steel Rounds (45-65-85-105-130T). The taper on the B is 2", which is fairly standard.

 

[doran.dragic]

Is the inharmonicity something you actually hear?

I do. It's particularly noticeable when I put on a fresh set of strings which on some basses is often. Sometimes it is so bad (depending on the strings an the bass) that the tuner will give an inaccurate measure of the B and the E string at the 12th when I'm trying to set up the the intonation after changing strings. This being said I feel like it gets better the longer the strings are on the bass but some gigs that I do require me to bring basses that sound relatively fresh. I also do duo gigs with brass or string players where I play a lot of chords which by itself is a problem on a fretted strings instrument and inharmonicity only makes the problem worse in my opinion.