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Looking for Heavy Gauge and Low Tension

C

chilliwilli

Aug 17, 2005
922
303
#1
Before anyone suggests it, no I do not want tape wound strings. Any other style of string is fine though.

I'm looking for a 4 string set with around 175 lbs or so of total tension and in something close to the following gauges:

E .110 - 35 lbs
A .90 - 45 lbs
D .75 - 45 lbs
G .55 - 50 lbs

It doesn't have to be exactly this, but close enough. My nut can accommodate strings even heavier than this if necessary and different tensions between 40-50 lbs is ok too. I also don't want to go through the hassle of buying singles and would prefer a stock set, but I might make an exception for flat wounds.

Thank you for your assistance.
 
Last edited:
#3
chilliwilli said:
E .110 - 35 lbs
A .090 - 45 lbs
D .075 - 45 lbs
G .055 - 50 lbs
Click to expand...
It's one thing to be talking about a heavier gauge that's "low tension" as in flexible; it's quite another to be talking about "low tension" as in the actual pulling weight.

I don't think you'll find a .110 that's only 35 lbs. in pulling weight tuned to E, except for a tapewound. The same with a .055 that's only 50 lbs. tuned to G.
 
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#5
chilliwilli said:
Before anyone suggests it, no I do not want tape wound strings. Any other style of string is fine though.

I'm looking for a 4 string set with around 175 lbs or so of total tension and in something close to the following gauges:

E .110 - 35 lbs
A .90 - 45 lbs
D .75 - 45 lbs
G .55 - 50 lbs

It doesn't have to be exactly this, but close enough. My nut can accommodate strings even heavier than this if necessary and different tensions between 40-50 lbs is ok too. I also don't want to go through the hassle of buying singles and would prefer a stock set, but I might make an exception for flat wounds.

Thank you for your assistance.
Click to expand...
- Is your bass a 30"-scale or shorter? Apart from the .075" D at 45lbs (which is funny: try 54lbs instead), what you ask is more or less doable.

- Is the bass a 34" scale, but when you wrote "EADG" you really meant "DGCF"? Ditto.

- Standard scale and standard tuning? What you want is not attainable with conventional bass-guitar strings. There would have to be some low specific weight component to their construction, which, barring aluminium or titanium, basically means synthetic.
Now, since you've vetoed having it on the outside (nylon tapewounds), the only alternative is on the inside.

Nylon core, steel inner windings and outer ribbon is how the Galli BSN700 (Synthesis Flats) are made, but gauges are different and so are tensions:
BSN700 Chrome Flat W. - 4 STR. MEDIUM

Optima RB Flatwounds and Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats have a synthetic silk inlay wrapped on the core, which adds girth but negligible mass. Unfortunately, gauges and (as pertains TI, who bother publishing them) tensions are off the targets you've set:
E-Bass RB FLATWOUND STRINGS Satz, Long Scale
Jazz Flat Wound Bass Guitar | Guitar Strings | Products | Thomastik-Infeld Vienna
[I've never been able to find hard proof that La Bella Low Tension Flats have a similar silk inlay as well: some TB members have said so in posts, but the company does not, anywhere that I'm aware of (they just mention round cores and narrower flat ribbons) :
https://www.labella.com/product/ltf-5a/]

Unique among roundwound strings (AFAIK), Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Rounds also have the inner silk, and may be worth a closer look:
Jazz Round Wound Bass Guitar | Guitar Strings | Products | Thomastik-Infeld Vienna
JR36055 uptuned to G -> 64lbs (no lighter than normal rounds, entirely within the realm of possibility for the tuning-scale-gauge)
JR36075 uptuned to D -> 65.6lbs (also apparently preposterous, but totally normal)
JR34089 tuned to A -> 50lbs (this one is within the variation you've claimed to be fine with)
No 110 available, so it would be either
JR36101 -> 36.6lbs (tension is right, gauge is not)
JR34118 tuned to E -> 49lbs (gauge is larger, which you're fine with, but tension is way off).


Double-bass steel-core strings have an even more generous inner layer of silk. Look into those.
[Gauges are seldom readily available from manufacturers, but many are included in TB user @DoubleMIDI's Dropbox link', included in his signature.]
Be warned that they would either be a lot longer than you need, or, if you go for 1/8 or 1/10 size strings, a lot more limited in terms of options, as well as larger-cored = heavier-tension.
On the plus side, many have a multi-filament steel core, aka stranded or ropecore, which should make their actual tension more bearable (to the player, not the neck) because of added flexibility.]

You could also try and contact Garry Goodman at Octave4Plus, and ask if he's ever experimented with non-magnetic, lightweight winding materials:


Perhaps not what you wanted to hear, but it is what it is.
 
Last edited:
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#7
michael_t said:
It's one thing to be talking about a heavier gauge that's "low tension" as in flexible; it's quite another to be talking about "low tension" as in the actual pulling weight.

I don't think you'll find a .110 that's only 35 lbs. in pulling weight tuned to E, except for a tapewound. The same with a .055 that's only 50 lbs. tuned to G.
Click to expand...
Well that was a ball park, not an exact requirement. For example, a .110 D'Addario Pro Steel string is only 38 lbs. I'm flexible with gauges too. A 70 or 50 wouldn't be the end of the world. That would still qualify as "heavy" in my book.
 
Last edited:
#8
HaphAsSard said:
- Is your bass a 30"-scale or shorter? Apart from the .075" D at 45lbs (which is funny: try 54lbs instead), what you ask is more or less doable.

- Is the bass a 34" scale, but when you wrote "EADG" you really meant "DGCF"? Ditto.

- Standard scale and standard tuning? What you want is not attainable with conventional bass-guitar strings. There would have to be some low specific weight component to their construction, which, barring aluminium or titanium, basically means synthetic.
Now, since you've vetoed having it on the outside (nylon tapewounds), the only alternative is on the inside.

Nylon core, steel inner windings and outer ribbon is how the Galli BSN700 (Synthesis Flats) are made, but gauges are different and so are tensions:
BSN700 Chrome Flat W. - 4 STR. MEDIUM

Optima RB Flatwounds and Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats have a synthetic silk inlay wrapped on the core, which adds girth but negligible mass. Unfortunately, gauges and (as pertains TI, who bother publishing them) tensions are off the targets you've set:
E-Bass RB FLATWOUND STRINGS Satz, Long Scale
Jazz Flat Wound Bass Guitar | Guitar Strings | Products | Thomastik-Infeld Vienna
[I've never been able to find hard proof that La Bella Low Tension Flats have a similar silk inlay as well: some TB members have said so in posts, but the company does not, anywhere that I'm aware of (they just mention round cores and narrower flat ribbons) :
https://www.labella.com/product/ltf-5a/]

Unique among roundwound strings (AFAIK), Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Rounds also have the inner silk, and may be worth a closer look:
Jazz Round Wound Bass Guitar | Guitar Strings | Products | Thomastik-Infeld Vienna
JR36055 uptuned to G -> 64lbs (no lighter than normal rounds, entirely within the realm of possibility for the tuning-scale-gauge)
JR36075 uptuned to D -> 65.6lbs (also apparently preposterous, but totally normal)
JR34089 tuned to A -> 50lbs (this one is within the variation you've claimed to be fine with)
No 110 available, so it would be either
JR36101 -> 36.6lbs (tension is right, gauge is not)
JR34118 tuned to E -> 49lbs (gauge is larger, which you're fine with, but tension is way off).


Double-bass steel-core strings have an even more generous inner layer of silk. Look into those.
[Gauges are seldom readily available from manufacturers, but many are included in TB user @DoubleMIDI's Dropbox link', included in his signature.]
Be warned that they would either be a lot longer than you need, or, if you go for 1/8 or 1/10 size strings, a lot more limited in terms of options, as well as larger-cored = heavier-tension.
On the plus side, many have a multi-filament steel core, aka stranded or ropecore, which should make their actual tension more bearable (to the player, not the neck) because of added flexibility.]

You could also try and contact Garry Goodman at Octave4Plus, and ask if he's ever experimented with non-magnetic, lightweight winding materials:


Perhaps not what you wanted to hear, but it is what it is.
Click to expand...
Thanks for info I'll take it into consideration. A more reasonable requirement might be heavy gauge, but somewhat balanced and with a total tension of 200 lbs or less maybe.....

I'm waiting on some tension data from Ernie Ball and SIT, so hoping they have a stock set that might do the trick.
 
Last edited:
#9
chilliwilli said:
Before anyone suggests it, no I do not want tape wound strings. Any other style of string is fine though.

I'm looking for a 4 string set with around 175 lbs or so of total tension and in something close to the following gauges:

E .110 - 35 lbs
A .90 - 45 lbs
D .75 - 45 lbs
G .55 - 50 lbs

It doesn't have to be exactly this, but close enough. My nut can accommodate strings even heavier than this if necessary and different tensions between 40-50 lbs is ok too. I also don't want to go through the hassle of buying singles and would prefer a stock set, but I might make an exception for flat wounds.
Click to expand...
As far as I know, there are no non tapewounds that would get you close to what you want. Tapewounds or bust unfortunately. Tuning down or shorter scale the only option if excluding tapes
 
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#17
This is the gauge strings I use. Chromes, Cobalt Flats are my go To's. I was buying Chromes in singles but that does not seem to be an option at the moment. Ernie Ball makes Cobalts and Slinky's in that size in sets. GHS also makes a heavy set too. I tune down a whole step on my 34" scaled Basses. Most have Flats on them. One has rounds. Currently I'm searching for a short scale set for a Horner type Bass. Probably be ordering the LaBella set of DTB's. The GHS Brite Flats are just too weird feeling for me.
 
#18
Just out of curiosity... is there something specific you are going for? Just like how that tension feels? Have an idea of a sound? Specific instrument/rig that would be best suited to it?

I don't mean that in an invalidating way, I am just genuinely curious about the use case proposed here so I can learn too.
 
#19
DaveParker39 said:
Just out of curiosity... is there something specific you are going for? Just like how that tension feels? Have an idea of a sound? Specific instrument/rig that would be best suited to it?

I don't mean that in an invalidating way, I am just genuinely curious about the use case proposed here so I can learn too.
Click to expand...
I prefer heavier gauge strings on fretless basses because I get less mwah that is easier to control and I think the clacking against the bare finger board you get from digging in with heavier gauge strings is very musical. These will be going on a Fender P Bass with a fretless Pau Ferro Fender Jazz Neck. The guy I got the bass from already had the nut cut for thicker strings (he was using tape wounds), so that part is taken care of for me. I could settle and get more typical gauge strings since they would still work with the larger nut slots, but I would like to give this a go with thicker strings.
 
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