String Gauge: Heavy vs Normal

[Jeremy M Smith]

Hi everyone! This is my first post on TalkBass, which is pretty exciting. But that is all the excitement I will display, and will now get straight to my concern:

In short, I am considering going up one gauge in heaviness on my strings. As of right now, I have only played on on thickness, and it has come to my mind recently that maybe those strings are a slight bit too thin. And, in addition to feeling thin, I have recently come into a band which down tunes a half step. I know already that thicker strings are often desirable for tuning down, but I am still writing and attempting to perform with other groups playing in standard.

And so it is that I am looking for opinions from people who have played on multiple gauges of strings to inform myself as to what may happen before I invest in heavier strings. For background info, I should probably say that the strings I have been playing on and prefer now are round wound. Being round wound, I am worried about an increase in clunkiness or whatever else might result.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Thomas Kievit]

Hi there and welcome to Talkbass! I hope you will have a great time around here. Before I can give you some advice, how many strings does your bass guitar has and what are the gauges you tried so far?

 

[Linnin]

Welcome, and Groovy Baby! So what are you playing now and what are you thinking of going to?

 

[boynamedsuse]

Welcome to TB. Depending on how new you are to the bass, my recommendation would be to focus on technique. If you have "clunkiness" in your playing style, you may need to soften your touch and turn up the amp to compensate. (A lot of experienced players like lighter, more flexible strings since it allows them to increase their expressiveness.)

 

[Jeremy M Smith]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the swift replies!

Thomas: I am currently playing on a six string, but I am looking to make the same gauge move on a five string as soon as I can get one. And so far I have been using D'addario's standard light round wounds, 30-130 (or I think it will be 45-130 for five). Besides those I have dabbled in some of D'addario's half wound strings too, which I liked, but switched back to rounds because I felt I was able to get more sounds from them with different techniques, however epic the half wound tone is.

Linnin: Currently playing those D'addario standard light round wounds (five string 45-130 like I was saying for Thomas), and thinking about moving to their medium (which would be 50-135 for five strings).

boynamedsuse: Epic username And I have actually been playing bass for two years now, so I would not call myself experienced by any means, but I would also not call myself too new at bass. Starting out, I definitely noticed the clunkiness in my style like you were talking about, and after these two years I have it just about eliminated. My fear with going up in string gauge, therefore, is that the strings will clunk anyway, despite my efforts. I have recently been practicing the double thumb technique, which is going well, but I have noticed (especially on my B string) that the strings have a little more give than I would maybe want--a fraction of my string consideration is is me thinking that heavier strings may reduce that give (and the give the strings have when down tuned no matter what technique I use). Conversely though, like I was saying about the strings being the potential source of clunk, I have heard bassists like Steve Harris from Iron Maiden who I know uses super heavy strings in standard tuning, but who (despite being among my favorite bassists performance-wise) often has a an intensely gurgly and clunky tone which I do not wish to replicate.

 

[Thomas Kievit]

You play six string bass and use D'addario strings? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THAT TIME?! lol

It's a personal thing and not everybody likes it, but for a low B I prefer atleast a .140 for standard tuning and a .145 when tuning down. You can order a .145 from D'addario. I think you have to give it a try, you will love it.

 

[Jeremy M Smith]

You play six string bass and use D'addario strings? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THAT TIME?! lol

It's a personal thing and not everybody likes it, but for a low B I prefer atleast a .140 for standard tuning and a .145 when tuning down. You can order a .145 from D'addario. I think you have to give it a try, you will love it.

That sounds pretty epic actually, I think I will definitely have to try it. Boom. What does the extra thickness on the B end up doing for you, technique-wise and sound-wise, before I try it out just so I can know what to be looking for?

 

[Solarmist]

It's a personal thing and not everybody likes it, but for a low B I prefer atleast a .140 for standard tuning and a .145 when tuning down. You can order a .145 from D'addario. I think you have to give it a try, you will love it.

Thomas likes rebar for his B string ...


OP - Welcome to TB, and you'll be going broke shortly hanging around here. You'll learn the meaning of GAS!

I guess my question would be why do you feel the strings are too thin as in do you want more tension? This is highly subjective because everyone is different - some like high tension, some like medium tension, and some (like me) like low tension. It all depends on what feels right to YOU.

I've been using a 40100 on my 4 string basses, and a 130TW on my 5ers for E standard, and it's much easier to play than with a 45105 set and not at all thin sounding. One of my basses is setup in D standard using a 50110 set, but I wouldn't like it at all for E standard - too tight. D'Add makes some great strings that are really inexpensive (through BSO - Bassstringsonline.com); just try several different gauge sets, and see what you prefer.

Also remember if you do go with a heavier gauge strings - you'll have to reset the relief. Same with going lighter.


BTW - Steve's playing sounds clanky because he has his action set so insanely low.

 

[wolfkeller]

I always felt standard strings were too thin on the high strings. I've tried em all and these days I use my favorite strings in a couple gauges. Rotosound 66 50,70,85,110 for down 1 step. For years I used 50,70,85,105 for E,Eb and D tunings but those were blue steel my second choice. Thicker strings will give out more bass and a fatter sound but can be hard to play unless you have low action. I pay aggressively so it doesn't matter to me. Some basses like Spector and fender don't sound so good with lowered tension so heavier strings are a must. I still feel that a 45 is to thin for a bass string. My warlock has power slinkys 55,75,90,110 in D

 

[AciDBatH666]

You should adjust string gauges to keep a standard tension so the bass feels the same no matter if you're playing in B standard, Drop A, C# Standard.. etc.

Look at Circle K's string gauge chart and aim for 35-45 pounds of tension (it'll be green colored)
Here's a set of .136s
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And if you wanna browse all of them, here's all their 6 string balance tension sets.
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I tune to C#, so I use a .124 where my B string would be. The tension plays like it was tuned to B standard.

 

[Thomas Kievit]

Thicker strings mean more tension. The reason why I prefer thick strings, and especially for a low B string, is that it sounds a lot better and for my playing style (technique) it's a plus too. For the sound, I would say it sounds more ''fuller'' than thinner strings. Others say something different, but I would like to a say .145 low B sound is more deeper / darker than a .130 or .135.

When I play the bass, I really want to feel what I'm playing. I started a few years ago experimenting with different string gauges and it didn't take long for me to find out I prefer heavy gauges. For a 4 string bass, I like a .110 E string. So.. I hope I give you a small idea why I prefer thick strings

If you have questions, keep asking them

That sounds pretty epic actually, I think I will definitely have to try it. Boom. What does the extra thickness on the B end up doing for you, technique-wise and sound-wise, before I try it out just so I can know what to be looking for?

 

[Thomas Kievit]

Aaaaahw yeah! Now we're talking

I always felt standard strings were too thin on the high strings. I've tried em all and these days I use my favorite strings in a couple gauges. Rotosound 66 50,70,85,110 for down 1 step. For years I used 50,70,85,105 for E,Eb and D tunings but those were blue steel my second choice. Thicker strings will give out more bass and a fatter sound but can be hard to play unless you have low action. I pay aggressively so it doesn't matter to me. Some basses like Spector and fender don't sound so good with lowered tension so heavier strings are a must. I still feel that a 45 is to thin for a bass string. My warlock has power slinkys 55,75,90,110 in D

 

[winegamd]

D'Addarios tend to run a bit lighter in gauge, so the step up could be warranted, especially in drop tuning. D'Addarios .135 B has 2lbs lighter tension than a .130 from Kalium/circleK. The D'Addario B-string will sound quite a bit better in .135. You may not need the added "girth" in the upper strings, though. The XL165-5 string set would be worth a try and then you could buy a .035 single string for the six.

 

[winegamd]

Here are some charts for comparison.

http://www.daddario.com/upload/tension_chart_13934.pdf

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[Thomas Kievit]

This is what I like!

 

[Jeremy M Smith]

Thanks for the numbers and everything so far everybody! A super productive first post, and so I'm pretty pumped about TB

Thomas, just to keep asking questions lol, what do you notice in clarity on your B string with the thickness? On mine right now, it seems like, when I do thumb techniques, it gets a little grumbly, maybe (though I might be imagining it) a little harder to distinguish the notes. Maybe.

 

[mikeldtl]

Check out the string tension chart on the Circle K site. I use that as a reference point. Different basses and sounds like different strings, but it's a good idea to know what you like the feel of and you can cross reference string gauge tension straight from the chart.

 

[Thomas Kievit]

I think you low B is kinda grumply since it's not really that thick for a low B. Its not the best way to compare, but see it like this : if I would tune a low B (.130) down to a low A or low Ab, than it will sound very ''thin'' and the string would be flying all over the place cause there is not so much tension on it. Going thicker reduces this. This is the same principal with standard tuning. I know a lot of people say something else, but in MY opion, you have to get a .140 (atleast) for a low B to get a clear sound.

Also, thin strings produce the sound from the touches of your fingers more easily, while thick string prevent this from happening. If you slap on the low B, try to slap towards the fretboard or even on top of the fretboard, somewhere around the last 2 frets, this will get you a better sound since the strings will bounce against the fretboard and have less space to vibrate, giving it a fuller sound.