Piccolo bass strings/ let’s talk

[Bob_Ross]

With me it’s a serious difference in the feel, the punch, and the sound. The unwound G just sticks out like a sore sonic thumb to my ears.

^^^This. And in addition to sounding different, the unwound string feels different. [edit: Wait, you just said that...]
This goes hand in hand with the reason I prefer longer scale lengths for piccolo bass: I still want it to feel like a bass. Start using unwound strings, shorter scale lengths, next thing you know you'll add a whammy bar, and then BOOM you realize you're playing a guitar that's missing two strings.

 

[ixlramp]

btw, my advice for anyone looking to get into piccolo bass is, regardless of what strings you decide on, try to avoid an unwound G string.

^This. If you ignore everything else in this thread, give the above comment serious consideration.

It's actually questionable advice. On 34" a wound G is either impossible or impractically fragile due to how thin the core has to be, F is already difficult enough. This is why all piccolo sets (octave-up EADG) have plain steel Gs. There may be some special wound strings out there that can tune to G, for example from Octave 4 Plus.

Will need a new nut in any case if you go piccolo.

You almost certainly won't, this is a bass myth. All my basses are strung with strings much thinner than the nut was cut for, never had a problem. As long as the nut slot has a rounded floor the downforce at the nut (which is as strong as finger pressure on a fret, and frets are flat) keeps the string centred.

Remember that a standard set in a standard nut doesn't contact both nut slot walls either, the slot is usually cut to be slightly larger than a heavy gauge set, so probably .055-.115.

 

[40Hz]

On 34" a wound G is either impossible or impractically fragile

I see your point. But I wouldn’t be stringing a 34” scale as a piccolo bass anyway. I’ve only done it with a short scale. And after ditzing with piccolo bass for awhile I also decided a baritone guitar was a better fit for playing in that general frequency range.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

Ok, thanks, I really appreciate all the suggestions and I agree getting at least a couple of sets to experiment with is a good idea. I’m not interested in using guitar strings. I want them to be wrapped bass strings just smaller so the feel is relatively the same. I’m going get some strings to see if this is even something I want to delve into any deeper. Then if I really dig it, think about any mods like the nut.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

I do believe The Mods just moved this to the Strings Forum. Haha I’ve been here for almost 15 years and I don’t think I’ve ever visited this forum. I guess I’m not super picky about strings. I didn’t buy strings for about 20 years!! because I was gifted many dozens of sets of various types of Dean Markley strings. Like a “lot” of strings. Some experimental stuff too I believe, as I was good friends with some former employees.

When I picked up a baritone guitar I thought, to me it’s useless as a guitar and the string spacing is too tight to feel like a bass. The Mikro doesn’t feel like a “real” bass to me either,
hence the attempt to do something fresh with it.
I remember seeing Stanley Clarke in the eighties and I thought I remembered him playing a small scale Alembic but I’m fuzzy on a lot of details .... like the last 40 years. Lol

 

[lz4005]

I’m not interested in using guitar strings. I want them to be wrapped bass strings just smaller so the feel is relatively the same.

What exactly do you think the difference is between guitar strings and thin bass strings? Other than the wound/unwound G issue.

 

[MonetBass]

I have a Samick Corsair Micro (25.5" scale) and I use the D'Addario Piccolo bass strings on it without issues. They sound and feel great.

 

[Brian Bromberg]

For many years now I have tuned my piccolo basses to ADGC, an octave and a fourth above standard bass tuning. My top two strings which are the G and C string are not wound and I have never had a problem with the sound difference or volume difference between wound and unwound strings, but that's just my experience. On my solid body electric piccolo basses which are standard Kiesel/Carvin B2 Basses the scale length is 34". On my acoustic and hollow body jazz guitar type piccolo bass guitars i use nickel as well as nylon strings. Those basses are 32" scale length. That is just because that is the standard scale length on those instruments which are Dean Guitars basses. I use La Bella piccolo bass strings on all of them. Since they are thin you can either cut them or just have more winds on the tuners. They fit just fine on most any scale length basses, no problem. Since 99% of the time the string rests on the bottom of the nut, as long as you have a tilted back headstock or string trees you do not need a new nut for piccolo bass strings. The tension keeps them in place just fine. I never even thought about playing a piccolo bass when I was younger, it just kind of happened by accident and it is just "stupid" fun!

 

[Joshua Pickenpaugh]

For many years now I have tuned my piccolo basses to ADGC, an octave and a fourth above standard bass tuning. My top two strings which are the G and C string are not wound and I have never had a problem with the sound difference or volume difference between wound and unwound strings, but that's just my experience. On my solid body electric piccolo basses which are standard Kiesel/Carvin B2 Basses the scale length is 34". On my acoustic and hollow body jazz guitar type piccolo bass guitars i use nickel as well as nylon strings. Those basses are 32" scale length. That is just because that is the standard scale length on those instruments which are Dean Guitars basses. I use La Bella piccolo bass strings on all of them. Since they are thin you can either cut them or just have more winds on the tuners. They fit just fine on most any scale length basses, no problem. Since 99% of the time the string rests on the bottom of the nut, as long as you have a tilted back headstock or string trees you do not need a new nut for piccolo bass strings. The tension keeps them in place just fine. I never even thought about playing a piccolo bass when I was younger, it just kind of happened by accident and it is just "stupid" fun!

@Brian Bromberg : Since you tune your piccolo basses up to ADGC, is there a special Labella set that you use? For a while now, I've been using guitar strings on my piccolo bass in this "Bromberg Tuning" of ADGC (11-16-32-42, respectively) since regular piccolo bass strings do not tune up to these pitches (they always snap and break, of course).