Shorthand for gauges in a string set?

[HaphAsSard]

In the midst of this, I find myself wondering if, in the rest of the world, do people refer to bass string gauges in decimal inches? Or are there places that use metric sizes? Just curious.

The rest of the world is impressed you guys don't use 128ths or something for string gauges!

 

[micguy]

The rest of the world is impressed you guys don't use 128ths or something for string gauges!

One small step. Over the next millenium, we fully intend to set a date for conversion to the metric system.

 

[HaphAsSard]

One small step. Over the next millenium, we fully intend to set a date for conversion to the metric system.

Anyway, yes we do use decimal inches for electric instrument string gauges (and also steel-strung acoustic guitar), not metric. You guys invented them after all, so inches is it. For traditional instruments (classical guitar but also steel string instrument such as mandolin) it's just light, medium, hard (and finer variations thereof), even when (rarely) they do write the gauges on the package.

 

[dmt]

...go on and try! once you get used to lighter strings, it's hard to go back! for a couple of years I've used the 30-90 from Rotosound, and wow...

Woah, never heard of those. Good to know

 

[RickyT]

I've always thought of them as going by the thickest string. I use a 135 set on my 5 & a 174 set on my 6.
I'm not really fussed about the thinnest string people use. It's all about girth

 

[Pier_]

Woah, never heard of those. Good to know

back in the 80's they were quite a thing. think about Mark King, in Level 42 Rotosound came out with this "funkmaster" set of strings consisting in 30-50-70-90 strings.

even Geddy Lee used them for a while, and I think even Nick Beggs from Kajagoogoo used them. many other players use 35-95 strings, like Stuart Zender from Jamiroquai.

they are wonderful as soon as you get used to them: the left hand get used immediately, so free on the strings, but the right (plucking) hand takes a while, because they are so soft that bend "against" the fingers.

one of my favourite thing about light strings is that it's easier to alternate a "clean" sound to a "dirt" and clanky sound only with the dynamic of the fingering and they feel like they have a compressor always engaged, becasue if you play harder, ad a certain spot of "hardness" they won't play louder
so you can alternate fingering and slapping without anything in between, or, as mentioned, switch from a soft and clean sound to the dirty and clanky without the extreme raise in volume.

 

[dmt]

I save string gauge shorthand for conversations with other players, my favorite repair guy, or around here. Otherwise, IMO it's just asking for misunderstanding...

Actually, that's exactly what I meant -- conversations with other players.

I guess it was my example of buying strings at a store that kinda took the conversation in an unintended direction. Like you said, when money is involved, things change and it's best to be specific. I really meant just in casual conversation. To me, to this point, string buying has been a pretty dang casual experience ("Yo, those. Thanks"; I mean, right?), but I can see from this thread that buying potentially opens up a whole 'nother can of worms. And I'm here to learn, so I just learned that