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lighter gauge strings deliver more fundamental

On the other hand, an upright bass (longer scale, thicker and stiffer strings, higher tension) puts out a hell of a lot more low end than an electric (shorter scale, thinner and more flexible strings, lower tension) in the same tuning.
part of that is where you pluck - if you were to pluck at about 12 frets above your note, you will see a ton more low end there too.
part of it is also the huge resonant chamber...
 
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It's all well and good to use .008-.038 on your electric guitar so long as you don't like a straight neck and low action.
Depends a lot on the particular guitar, playing style, etc...I'm not quite at that point, but I run 9-42's with a dead straight neck and low action on my strat with no buzzing. I run TI Jazz Flats with a really low action and straight neck on my main bass, but I'll admit I play with a light touch and my right hand usually close to the bridge, you definitely can't have a heavy handed style with that setup. And to be fair, I have a second bass that won't run TI's with near as low an action as the first one without being a buzzy mess.
 
part of that is where you pluck - if you were to pluck at about 12 frets above your note, you will see a ton more low end there too.
part of it is also the huge resonant chamber...
Ooh yeah, good point about the plucking. I doubt that's the whole story though -- plucking an electric up on the neck doesn't make it suddenly put out deep bass like an upright.

As far as the resonant chamber goes, I had an electric upright years ago. No resonant chamber at all, but otherwise normal 3/4 scale, upright strings, etc. Still sounded much, much, much deeper than any electric I've ever come across.
 
Ooh yeah, good point about the plucking. I doubt that's the whole story though -- plucking an electric up on the neck doesn't make it suddenly put out deep bass like an upright.

Have you tried this yet - you will be very surprised. almost sounds like you're using a sub pedal.

Here's an example...
If it doesn't go to the right spot - try forwarding to about 3:50

 
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Hendrix used a set of .038s
The standard set of Fender Light Gauge "Rock 'n Roll" Electric strings in the late '60's was 10-38.

1969_Fender_Strings.jpg
 
Why don't you just try them for yourself and see what you like...

There are so many other things that also influence tone - pick vs finger style vs slap, style of attack, amp, pickups, the bass itself. What works for me may be horrible for your bass/style/rig. You may want more harmonic content for your taste or to bring that characteristic back on a bass with mudbuckers for instance or you may prefer to really accentuate the mud buckers and go for more fundamental tone...

You may play near the bridge and induce more harmonic content with your playing style - if you want to mitigate that, you'd go for a more fundamental tone from your strings/bass/rig, if you want to exaggerate that, you'd do the opposite.

Figure out if your tone is what you're looking for and if not - then start thinking about what direction you'd like to change towards.
I know the tone I like and how to get it. My questions are for the benefit of those still pursuing a specific tone.

Those telling us methods on how to get the most fundamental content in our tone could help much more if they could explain what the increased fundamental will provide. More punch? More definition? More high end? Less high end? Better slap tone? Will it sound more like Geddy Lee? Just stating that "light gauge strings deliver more fundamental" is good info, but how more fundamental affects tone Is more complete info.
 
I find the initial claim very confusing.
Fat tone comes from having a lot of harmonics, not from a strong fundamental.

Agree, and here's my experience; I have a five string set-neck bass that has a two way truss rod. The "head" of the truss rod is a 1/4" nut welded in place on a threaded main rod. The weld broke and the nut would turn on the threads. For a while I thought I no longer had any truss rod function. I eventually found some thread locker that would hold, and I have full truss rod function again.

During the time I thought I had no truss rod function, I bought a set o D'Addario Prosteel extra-super light strings, gauges, .035, .055, .075, .095, .0125. My usual strings for this bass were Prosteel custom light .045, .065, .085, .105, .135.

The extra super lights played great and sounded clean / clear, but they lacked punch, and had significantly less volume than the strings I usually played on the bass. The .035 "G" string was super thin and weak sounding to the point it was unacceptable to me. I bought a single .040" string just to try to get even output for the string volume.

The extra-super light strings should have had more fundamental content, but that sure didn't translate to a tone I liked as compared to the same string in a heavier gauge, so, for me, more fundamental content did not equal thicker / fatter tone. It was very much the opposite.
 
Agree, and here's my experience; I have a five string set-neck bass that has a two way truss rod. The "head" of the truss rod is a 1/4" nut welded in place on a threaded main rod. The weld broke and the nut would turn on the threads. For a while I thought I no longer had any truss rod function. I eventually found some thread locker that would hold, and I have full truss rod function again.

During the time I thought I had no truss rod function, I bought a set o D'Addario Prosteel extra-super light strings, gauges, .035, .055, .075, .095, .0125. My usual strings for this bass were Prosteel custom light .045, .065, .085, .105, .135.

The extra super lights played great and sounded clean / clear, but they lacked punch, and had significantly less volume than the strings I usually played on the bass. The .035 "G" string was super thin and weak sounding to the point it was unacceptable to me. I bought a single .040" string just to try to get even output for the string volume.

The extra-super light strings should have had more fundamental content, but that sure didn't translate to a tone I liked as compared to the same string in a heavier gauge, so, for me, more fundamental content did not equal thicker / fatter tone. It was very much the opposite.

same brand / type?
 
My experience with an EB3 was fundamentally bad.
You could string an EB-O with banjo strings and it'd sound like mud. The trick to those basses is to turn the volume control off, crank the treble, cut the bass and slowly (EVER SO SLOWLY) turn up the volume until it's audible. Usually less than 1/8 a turn on the pot. Any more than that and it gets thick in a hurry. Great with rice and a salad.
 
You could string an EB-O with banjo strings and it'd sound like mud. The trick to those basses is to turn the volume control off, crank the treble, cut the bass and slowly (EVER SO SLOWLY) turn up the volume until it's audible. Usually less than 1/8 a turn on the pot. Any more than that and it gets thick in a hurry. Great with rice and a salad.

LOL.....mine were an Early 70s EB3s. Two pick ups a 4 way tone/pickup selector knob giving you a choice of Mississippi Mud pie, or twangy tangy BBQ sauce.

There was some tonal control with the two tone knobs, but for the most part what you got out of it was controlled by the selector knob. Both were well made instruments that played really well. Sound?? Well, the reissues they came out a couple of years ago sound a whole lot better.... minus that stupid selector knob.
 
LOL.....mine were an Early 70s EB3s. Two pick ups a 4 way tone/pickup selector knob giving you a choice of Mississippi Mud pie, or twangy tangy BBQ sauce.

There was some tonal control with the two tone knobs, but for the most part what you got out of it was controlled by the selector knob. Both were well made instruments that played really well. Sound?? Well, the reissues they came out a couple of years ago sound a whole lot better.... minus that stupid selector knob.
The most unfortunate thing is that there doesn't seem to be any direct correlation between muddy tone and neck dive, yet with the EB-O you get boatloads of both! Oddly enough, some of the best music was recorded using them. Cream and Free come to mind.
 
Agree, and here's my experience; I have a five string set-neck bass that has a two way truss rod. The "head" of the truss rod is a 1/4" nut welded in place on a threaded main rod. The weld broke and the nut would turn on the threads. For a while I thought I no longer had any truss rod function. I eventually found some thread locker that would hold, and I have full truss rod function again.

During the time I thought I had no truss rod function, I bought a set o D'Addario Prosteel extra-super light strings, gauges, .035, .055, .075, .095, .0125. My usual strings for this bass were Prosteel custom light .045, .065, .085, .105, .135.

The extra super lights played great and sounded clean / clear, but they lacked punch, and had significantly less volume than the strings I usually played on the bass. The .035 "G" string was super thin and weak sounding to the point it was unacceptable to me. I bought a single .040" string just to try to get even output for the string volume.

The extra-super light strings should have had more fundamental content, but that sure didn't translate to a tone I liked as compared to the same string in a heavier gauge, so, for me, more fundamental content did not equal thicker / fatter tone. It was very much the opposite.
I tune everything down 1/2 step (I know, it's at singer request: and unless I love the couch she wins )
I like flexible, not floppy.
Rouncores do it for me. (DR pure blues 45-130 or Sunbeams)
Labella LTF's (42,56,70,200,118)
EB Cobalt flats (45-130)
DM Super Brites (40-120 or 45-125)