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lighter gauge strings = better?

#21
madbassplaya said:
why is that james?
Click to expand...

well... flats I want thump and minimal sustain. The heavier gauge slows me down some and combined with a bit of foam under them at the bridge... make a glorious thud.

For my basses with rounds (all besides my fretted 5 with the flats) I want clarity and expressiveness. I discovered Rotosound's FM66 set in the mid 80s and generally stuck to .090 or .095 E sets of stainless rounds ever since.

Currently my fretted 7 wears .118 .088 .064 .046 .033 .022p .016p
and my fretless 6 wears .124 .092 .068 .049 .035 .025

I don't tap, fingerstyle is 80% of my playing with some slap and pick filling up the rest. I use a medium high action to reduce fret choke and allow for a dynamic range of finger attack.
 
#22
I used to go light, mainly because I was trying to keep the feel similar between my vintage Danelectros and Jerry Jones that have the 44-54-63-79/84 sets on them, so I was using Labella extra lights. However, recently I have found myself going back to the 45-65-85-105's (thanks to Phil Kubicki) and I am loving the sound all over again.

Lighter strings give you a little more clarity in the mix. But nothing thumps like slightly heavier strings.
 
#24
The only people i know iin my area that prefer light gauges are guitarist that want the bass to feel more like the guitar.

I started out with light guages so that i could build my left hand strength, and now that i have no fretting problems i go 45/50-105, or on my jazz bass i use the Classic Blue Steels, i think are like 45-96 or something like that (I think i made that call due to the tension of the BS and brightness for a pop/punk band)

On my Precision its standard classic fenders 45/50-105 they keep the thunder in the storm :P
 
#25
i would switch to 35-90 if i could find them in a twin pack of d'addario xl's. but since i can't, i use 40-95. they sounded a little thin at first, but then i raised my action ever so slightly and it's all good now.
 
#26
James Hart said:
well... flats I want thump and minimal sustain. The heavier gauge slows me down some and combined with a bit of foam under them at the bridge... make a glorious thud.

For my basses with rounds (all besides my fretted 5 with the flats) I want clarity and expressiveness. I discovered Rotosound's FM66 set in the mid 80s and generally stuck to .090 or .095 E sets of stainless rounds ever since.

Currently my fretted 7 wears .118 .088 .064 .046 .033 .022p .016p
and my fretless 6 wears .124 .092 .068 .049 .035 .025

I don't tap, fingerstyle is 80% of my playing with some slap and pick filling up the rest. I use a medium high action to reduce fret choke and allow for a dynamic range of finger attack.
Click to expand...

I could not imagine using those. They would be flopping all over my fretboard.
 
#28
Does any one use different gauges between 34" scale and 35" scale basses?

My Jazz always has 45-105 on it - perfect for me. Trying to achieve the same feel in the string dept on my 5 string (35" scale) that I've newly acquired is quite tricky. Currently it has 40 - 120 high beams on it. Slightly lighter as I want to avoid that 'thuddy', hard start to the note you can get with stiff strings on a longer scale in my experience.

I don't know whether to shim the neck and get more tension in the bridge set up (and therefore string tension) with the 40-120 or leave the set up and try 45-125 DR's with action low. My jazz is very low but I play hard with the 45-105 with no choke probs. Any experiences greatly valued..
 
#31
I've always tended to play lighter gauge strings. 40 60 80 100 was the gauge I played for the longest time. Overall for me they are just easier to play and allow me to set up the bass the way I like it with insanely low action.

I slap a lot (as well as finger style rarely use a pick) and just find that the lighter gauge gives me the response and feel that I want.

I now play (for the past year) with the Victor Wooten Fodera sig series 40 55 75 95 120 and just love 'em.

I was at a GC this weekend and couldn't even find a set of 40 - 100 and I thought to myself why would anyone ever want to play with 50's? Do people just want tendinitis?

Overall I've never heard a difference in tone as some say there is between the heavier vs light gauge. If you need to boost the bass, mids or treble do it from the amp and your problem is solved.
 
#32
.40 - .120 or .125 on bass.

I need the flexibility to make my distortied tone sound the way I want it to sound.

More comfortable, too - I really do not want to play any harder than I need to to get SOME grit into my tone.
 
#33
Prob for same reason 9's are so popular among guitarists. Easier fretting and excellent tone. I'm useing medium or std gauge bass strings 45's. But wouldnt mind going back to 45-100 or 40-100. I dont do downtuning, so no reason for me to concider heavier gauges.
 
#35
It's a matter of personal preference. Gauge affects tension which in turn affects tone and feel. I personally prefer medium-low tensioned sets as it's easier to apply variations in technique to achieve different tones rather than turning knobs.
 

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