I'm not suggesting you do this, but just for the sake of discussion would the same strings on a longer scale instrument give you the sound you're after while giving you more tension, or would the longer scale throw everything out the window?
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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out
- Thread starter Korladis
- Start date
That's a fair point, dude. I've been looking for +35" or multiscale P-basses for a while but they are still pretty niche. One bass I was eyeing was the Jerico Alpha bass which is 35", but I couldn't try one before purchasing it aaaand I also had a gift card to my local guitar shop which sold only generic brands. Some people also argue that P doesn't sound like a P unless it's 34". I dunno.
Like many people here I'm put off by the Dingwalls and Ibanez multiscale-basses on the market, but mainly because the demos on Youtube are all very djenty. A Dingwall could actually sound pretty traditional. Steve Badach on Youtube makes it work really good.
But, yeah. .120 C-string on a 34" bass has never sounded like the way I want it to my ears. I've gone through a lot of basses and different strings during the last couple of years. Weird thing, is that I have not had the same problem with the other (G-C-F) strings. Only the lowest string has lacked that ring and clarity for me.
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its mostly a no for me when it comes to Zep. there are a few songs here and there but in general i'm not a fan and find the overrated other than bonham.
i prefer the later beatles stuff and the early sabbath stuff over anything zep. also pink floyd is way more up my alley than anything zep ever did
i prefer the later beatles stuff and the early sabbath stuff over anything zep. also pink floyd is way more up my alley than anything zep ever did
Lee Sklar uses a Dingwall and definitely isn't djenty. That said I know what you mean. Most of the demos sound more like effects demos than bass demos. A heaping helping of Darkglass with just a sprinkle of bass tone.
I've never owned a P bass so I'm certainly not qualified to say whether any of the multiscale basses can fill a P's shoes (I'd guess the Dingwall version of a P would come closest, but that's just an uneducated guess). I'm pretty much all-in on multiscale, but that's not helpful to anyone.
Your struggle is real. And not unique. Most of us in the world of the deep down-tune, battle this for years. Its all about tension relative to string gauge and scale. I have had (4) 35" scale P's and I can assure with the right string and setup they sound like a P, even in low tuning. (I still have 3 of them and one jazz in 35")
So, a 100 ga string tuned to E on 34" scale bass has about 36.5 lbs of tension. That's a pretty standard feel for a traditionally tuned bass. The string has a unit weight (UW) of about .0018
So if you want to tune down to C and have a similar feel and tension on the string, you'd need a string with a unit weight of about .00285. a 125 has a UW of 0.0027481, a 130's UW is 0.00301941. So you'd want to be in that neighborhood for a non-floppy string that works with how many of us learned to play.
These are all based on D'Addario XL values. They're pretty common strings, and I happen to have their chart in my office. Truthfully there isn't a wide range of variation in roundwounds so it should give you a pretty good idea.
For C-G-C-F I would try 130, 90, 65, 50. I play pretty hard too and I like a little more tension on the low string. That should give you a pretty good balanced tension across the fretboard (and feel about the same as a 100-80-65-45 set). For some reason the D string in a lot of string sets is really high tension compared to the other strings. Anyway, this combo yields about 38 lbs on the low string and about 42 lbs of tension across the other 3... should feel pretty close to "standard"
GHS makes a 125 that has a pretty high unit weight (i.e. more tension than the D'Addario 125). I haven't tried it yet, but it should give good tension if the 130 isn't your cup of tea.
one thing to keep in mind when you downtune is that the floppier strings are what give you that characteristic tone. if you want the same tones as when you are tuned to standard but lower pitch then yes you need to try and maintain the tension to something similar as your standard tuning.
personally i downtune for tone and not pitch (the benefits of not having a vocalist to consider), so I use 110-50 for C# standard and will also drop to B.
personally i downtune for tone and not pitch (the benefits of not having a vocalist to consider), so I use 110-50 for C# standard and will also drop to B.
I'll generally play closer to the bridge and mute accordingly with my fretting hand. That and lotsa dirt and chords ha
Just checked your profile. That's quite an arsenal of multiscale you've got there. I've always wanted to give Dingwall a try and maybe I could've avoided my headache years ago if I bit the bullet. Although I've always been a P-bass guy and many of my favourite players swear by them. Maybe I'm just biased. I do like my tone in our band but it's the low C-string that I've learned to dislike mainly playing on my own.
Woah! Thanks for the detailed response, Hardtop! What P-basses do you have in 35" scale? Luthier-stuff or brands? I only know the active Schecter P-bass and the Jerico Alpha.
I've actually tried the DR DDT .125 and that thing had tension and played well. It intonated properly and so on. What we discussed earlier was that some us have trouble with the ring and tone of the low C-string using a standard 34" scale. I actually tried a .100 set yesterday and actually like the low C-string better than my .120. Something about how it rings.
Yeah, I do like the snap of a floppy string. My bass sounds very Geddy Lee right now. Maybe I'm after a more flexible string.
Also, RIP EVH.
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That's how I felt before I really listened through albums as a whole. I couldn't stand stairway or immigrant song because of the radio.
Later beatles, Cream, Hendrix, Clapton, Kinks, Commander Cody, Blood sweat and tears, were staples of my youth from my parents. Then I found out about the yardbirds and king crimson, and more recently hawkwind. Those guys were great.
I did the same, kinda dig the looser feel. Do you adjust your action at all from how it was tuned to std?
I think the easier bending from naturally lower tension is part of the reason I like 32" scale a little more than 34".
@whatacnut here's one of the heavy sets I know of. Been meaning to give it a try myself, I think it's relatively new.
I play a big .132 on my C standard basses, including a p bass. Used rotos before too, though I'm a flats [chromes] guy. Only thing is that you'll have to file the nut. Try a fiver if you can and see if you like the feel of the low B.
I have 3 basses (Ric, P and a J) that are setup specifically for the lower tuning. I have another Ric, P and J that are setup for 1/2 step down using 100s or 105s depending on the strings.
Here's some quick noodling with the .40-.100 string set in drop C. It's a standard 34" Fender P-bass with a GZR pickup going through my pedalboard into Reaper. I kind of like the snap especially with full on distortion. Don't know how well it will work with the band. We'll see.
I thought it sounded just fine, but it lacked clarity and didn’t sound spunky enough to substitute for another term.
For some reason since Gibson patented the humbucker , they think they need to put them into every instrument they produce. But the Ric single coils really add clarity, mids, wake the instrument up, and bring out the semi hollow tone better. I’m a huge Rickenbacker fan so I really think their pickups sound great and that influenced my decision. But yes these basses should have shipped with single coils imo.
