Are you claiming to be the person who installed the strings the way they were wound on the bass depicted in the opening post?
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Oh Man, Someone Failed "Bass String Installation 101"
- Thread starter HubbardsFate
- Start date
That is a good picture. But try stringing it that way. Not easy. The nut is not meant for many different types of bass strings it seems. Even when wound a few times and not as much tension the strings will slip. This needs some sort of additional tensioner near the tuning machines.
That makes no sense at all. All the strings fit just fine in the nut, in the photo. One hundred percent of the problem was with how the strings were installed in the tuners. I have a 5-string Ibanez SoundGear with DR neon strings on it. It works just fine when you know what you're doing.
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I appreciate that picture of the DR Neons working on your bass. Thanks. I see it's a SNDGR and I assume it has a very narrow neck?
It's 1.75" wide at the nut. It's thinner than the 5-string Fenders I have, but I don't think I'd call it "very" narrow. Just relatively narrow.
Bryan R. Tyler
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All Soundgears have relatively narrow necks. There are other basses with even more narrow necks. You still string them all on the inside. I’ve had a 6-string Soundgear myself. If it’s not easy for you to string it that way, you’re likely doing something wrong in the process. There’s lots of people here that can aid you in learning to string your bass, as well as lots of YouTube tutorials.
I'd echo Bryan in saying that you're likely doing something wrong in the process. No bass nuts should be like that on a properly strung bass. It didn't come from the factory that way, thus it's not the correct way.
My SR2605. Restrung it many times. No issues.
My SR2605. Restrung it many times. No issues.
I had an Ibanez SR1305PM that I sold just last year. I tried about 20 different types and gauges of string in the time I had it [edit: admittedly not Neons or any kind tape wounds]. Here's a picture I took for the ad when I sold it - maybe not my tidiest job ever, but pretty consistent with how it usually looked. I never experienced any string slipping in 25 years.
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Honestly, no hate for Fieldy here. I loved Korn when I was first starting out in 6th grade and I think his gritty scooped-mids bass sound was a unique part of their sound. Anytime I see a 5-string Ibanez I think of the K-5 which was at the top of my list back in the day. This stringing blunder was no doubt something I did back then on my 5-string Ibanez GSR205, though I don't remember encountering the shifted nut.
Sure it's a funny GIF, but Korn are no strangers to poking fun at themselves either... this was the other one I debated posting, but I figured, without the 5-string Ibanez it might be too much of an inside joke for those who don't know him by name:
time for me to play with a pick more coz im coming into year 3 of singing, playing bass finger style and some the songs well....... you better hit the gong and grab me with the big hook... sorry off topic so back to the thread.
I feel like it kind of takes the guesswork out of the equation, man. Instead of reserving a part of my brain for deciding which finger is going where, I can focus on singing.
I've got two six-strings with this headstock, and they're strung the correct way, and they work. I've also got a four-string that's strung the correct way, and it works. I have tried stringing it this way, and it is easy - there literally are no issues with stringing the bass in the correct manner. My strings do not slip and I haven't had any issues with my nut. No additional tensioner is needed anywhere.
Nut slot adjustments may be necessary if you deviate heavily from the stock string gauges. This is not unique to your SR or the Ibanez line - this is common to all stringed instruments.
You just messed it up. That's okay. Now you know the correct way to do it, and you know that it isn't difficult to achieve. An instrument like the one you sold - provided that it is set up well and strung correctly - can easily be on par with more expensive instruments in terms of utility to the musician. You can't blame this one on the instrument.
Scipio, I'm not trying to be rude, only to help.
When you installed the strings on that bass, either you did not trim the lengths at all, or at least not nearly enough. When you wind up with those wraps of string piled on top of other wraps of string, I can utterly guarantee you that, indeed, they will slip and your tuning will not be stable at all. That's what happens.
Depending on the particular tuning keys (some have larger posts to wrap around than others) and the layout of the peghead (an inline 4 or 5 keys would be a longer distance past the nut), generally you'd string this way:
Insert the string through the bridge or through the body, depending on the instrument, and pull it towards the peghead until it stops.
Once you're sure it's stopped, and can't come any further towards the peghead, look at where whichever string you're replacing crosses the nut.
Then you use the spacing of the keys as your measuring tool.
On that Ibanez, let's say we're installing the B-string.
You've got the string pulled all the way towards the bridge until it stops in the bridge, and the string is in its nut slot, and of course as it's not trimmed yet, the other end is sticking out past the end of the peghead.
Look at the space between the B and the E tuning posts. We're going to take that distance and multiply it three times. Just take two fingers, put one on the B tuner and one on the E tuner. Then hold that gap between your fingers and move it to the E and A, then on the A and the other finger will be around the end of the peghead.
That's where you want to cut the string.
Then insert it in the B post, and wind those wraps the two or three times it will go around the post from top to bottom. If we got this just right, the string will wind off the bottom of the post near the peghead face and head for the nut (from the inside this time, OK?).
Occasionally, the diameter of the post is small enough you only need two of those lengths, or sometimes only two on the B and E strings as they're so much bigger than the other three.
The idea is to have the wraps laying neatly alongside each other (NO overlaps) and coming of the bottom of the post.
You want this . . . . this stays in tune.
. . . and not this: It will slip constantly.
Best of Luck,
JW
its funny the one song we cover in our band is, Dont you forget about me (simple minds) when it breaks down to the part with just bass and drums and a couple of lyrics i struggle at that part only and if i hold my thumb and index together and my fingernails are the picks i can get through it pretty unscathed , but if i try to use my fingers ill get pooched.
the wiring from brain to the fingers can be a mystery to me.
Music is subjective. IMO Fieldy is a skilled percussionist, but not such a great bassist. His stuff all sounds the same to me… super floppy detuned strings rattling clanky imperceptible notes. However as a percussionist it works and is a big part of Korn’s sound. But again, music is subjective… there are some bass players most of the TB community idolizes whose playing I think sounds like boring, nasally, difficult-to-even-hear noodling. For example, a particular bassist who apparently only needed four strings and is why no one should ever play a bass with more.
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People who refuse to even try learning other styles of playing, and especially those who dismiss other peoples style of playing outright are crappy musicians.time for me to play with a pick more coz im coming into year 3 of singing, playing bass finger style and some the songs well....... you better hit the gong and grab me with the big hook... sorry off topic so back to the thread.
The TB crowd seems to think ~ $2000 is what a bass should cost. Just take a look at the classifieds. American made fenders seem to be the baseline here lol.
People who dismiss others as crappy musicians for dismissing others as crappy musicians are crappy musicians.
i always did fingerstyle. A year ago i started pick because by definition i was a crappy musician when it came to pick. I am now a slightly less crappy musician… but i have fun.
