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New revolutionary strings?
- Thread starter Avezzano
- Start date
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,044
- 45,901
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
Tks. Does anybody "road tested" those? I mean: are them really worth the effort...
Interesting but, I'll bet my next ex-wife's purse collection that not even one person in a thousand could tell the difference between different brands of round wound bass strings in a blind test. Especially when played in a live band setting.
Maybe some sharp eared studio engineers could but not many others.
B.
Maybe some sharp eared studio engineers could but not many others.
B.
Hmm. I have some golfer's lead tape. I might try wrapping a very small piece around the strings I already have at the place indicated to see if it does the same or similar to stabilize the articulation. I agree with the traces in the video from watching my headstock tuner briefly flicker sharp when I intonate a note, then settle down. Right now, I'm not in the mood for paying $50-$100 for a set of strings.
I must admit that the concept and availability of lumped bass strings attracted my attention pretty much because this is a very Scottish affair. As far as I know, the theory has been around for a few years, but it was applied to electric six string guitars. But, right now it's the availability of lumped bass strings, from Kemp Strings, that's new. Their URL is below.
Kemp Strings
I watched the videos, listened carefully, read the research and, yeah, I get it. Strings are important, sure; we all know that, but am I convinced? No.
Similarly, am I going to road test a set? No; at least, not on a bass. On a guitar, probably. Why?; having spent nearly 50 years using the same standard strings that Billy Sheehan, etc., use, I can't justify the expense. IMHO, the guitar strings have a reasonable price tag (circa. £10.00 GBP), but not so the bass strings i.e., £54.99 - £85.99 GBP.
Then again, maybe it's just me ...
Kemp Strings
I watched the videos, listened carefully, read the research and, yeah, I get it. Strings are important, sure; we all know that, but am I convinced? No.
Similarly, am I going to road test a set? No; at least, not on a bass. On a guitar, probably. Why?; having spent nearly 50 years using the same standard strings that Billy Sheehan, etc., use, I can't justify the expense. IMHO, the guitar strings have a reasonable price tag (circa. £10.00 GBP), but not so the bass strings i.e., £54.99 - £85.99 GBP.
Then again, maybe it's just me ...
The physics of unwound and wound strings on the electric guitar applied to the pitch intervals produced by tremolo/vibrato arm systems
Too much math for me. And for me, application is related mostly to significant string bending and totally unwarranted for my bass playing.
Too much math for me. And for me, application is related mostly to significant string bending and totally unwarranted for my bass playing.
Sounds like a regular bass to me. Not that I discourage development...anything that can improve our experience is cool by me. But I don't have much of a problem with inharmonicity as it stands.
Absolutely.
That's not the product of theirs being discussed here (i.e. lumpwound strings), though. To us, it just shows that the fella's been busy, trying to...fine-tune electric instrument strings.
Yeah, this. Any minor upgrade in tone, if any, will be totally washed out when playing in most band situations. Maybe a high profile bassist doing solo pieces would benefit, but Brick House aint gonna sound any better lol
If anyone is interested in visualizing the inharmonicity of your current strings, there is an Android app called TunerTime which shows you the tuning of not only root but also the second and fourth harmonic. It's quite interesting.
- John
- John
A good target demographic for this sort of thing is the at-home hobbyist or "audiophile" type player, especially those flush with cash from their day jobs.
One of the experiments we did when I was studying Acoustical Physics in college was a half unwound string - that showed how bad you could detune harmonics, should you want to do that. A tapered string is that same concept, but reduced to the point where it's not too bad - you get the benefit of a smaller string over the bridge (less damping of higher harmonics, so they sustain better) with minimal harmonic de-tuning. I happen to believe that's a good tradeoff, especially on a low B string. What this development does is undo some of the harmonic de-tuning, while still leaving a small string diameter over the bridge. I hadn't thought of doing that, but it does make sense from a Physics standpoint.
I see a lot of things where someone claims that "mad scientists" of one sort or another came up with some revolutionary improvement, only to look at is and say "well, that doesn't even make sense". While this won't cure cancer, it is nonetheless something that puts real Science to work - the theory is sound, it should work. I like it!
Note: Looked at the gauges. When they bring them out in light enough gauges for me, I'll buy a set, but not quite yet.
I see a lot of things where someone claims that "mad scientists" of one sort or another came up with some revolutionary improvement, only to look at is and say "well, that doesn't even make sense". While this won't cure cancer, it is nonetheless something that puts real Science to work - the theory is sound, it should work. I like it!
Note: Looked at the gauges. When they bring them out in light enough gauges for me, I'll buy a set, but not quite yet.
It is new so for now is an expensive experiment. A few years later it could be licensed out to manufacturers and used at very little extra cost, it is only a short section of thin winding on the core, simple and cheap.
It seems to me to have potential for large gauge tapered strings (B strings), where inharmonicity rapidly becomes a big problem up the fretboard. Also for very large gauge tapered strings (around F# and lower) where inharmonicity is even more of a problem.
For higher strings i am less convinced, as this is like a tapered string: It deviates from the obvious ideal of a string that is uniform along its entire length. Although the inharmonicity may be improved, that deviation will still make it sound a little 'odd'.
Besides, if you want to play high pitches it is best to do that on thinner strings like G, C (F, Bb ...), not on high frets on thiicker strings.
This cynical idea that 'a small improvement will not be noticed in a typical live situation, and therefore is pointless' is actually not logical.
How good bass strings sound is the sum of many small improvements over many years, so small improvements are not insignificant. If your dismiss one you dismiss them all.
The fact is that even those who make such arguments actually care about the sound quality of their strings, even if each of those small incremental improvements would be *consciously* unnoticeable in a 'poor sound live band situation'.
Therefore also, this is not just for 'home audiophiles'.
A small improvement may be *consciously* unnoticeable but is still actually unconsciously noticed as a small improvement even in a 'poor sound live band situation', instrument sound quality still makes a difference and helps, obviously.
Parts 1 and 2 of the paper are a very useful and informative summary of many aspects of string physics (you can skip over the more technical stuff).
It seems to me to have potential for large gauge tapered strings (B strings), where inharmonicity rapidly becomes a big problem up the fretboard. Also for very large gauge tapered strings (around F# and lower) where inharmonicity is even more of a problem.
For higher strings i am less convinced, as this is like a tapered string: It deviates from the obvious ideal of a string that is uniform along its entire length. Although the inharmonicity may be improved, that deviation will still make it sound a little 'odd'.
Besides, if you want to play high pitches it is best to do that on thinner strings like G, C (F, Bb ...), not on high frets on thiicker strings.
This cynical idea that 'a small improvement will not be noticed in a typical live situation, and therefore is pointless' is actually not logical.
How good bass strings sound is the sum of many small improvements over many years, so small improvements are not insignificant. If your dismiss one you dismiss them all.
The fact is that even those who make such arguments actually care about the sound quality of their strings, even if each of those small incremental improvements would be *consciously* unnoticeable in a 'poor sound live band situation'.
Therefore also, this is not just for 'home audiophiles'.
A small improvement may be *consciously* unnoticeable but is still actually unconsciously noticed as a small improvement even in a 'poor sound live band situation', instrument sound quality still makes a difference and helps, obviously.
Parts 1 and 2 of the paper are a very useful and informative summary of many aspects of string physics (you can skip over the more technical stuff).
