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String gauges
- Thread starter woody357
- Start date
Action? Yes. Sound? Not so much.
As a general rule, I choose the TYPE of string for how I want them to sound and the GAUGES for how I want them to feel.
Sure, in terms of action. More or less string tension means I’ve got to re-assess relief. If a change is required, then I’m going through a total setup to account for that.
Sound- It’s more complicated, but maybe/ maybe not.
Sound- It’s more complicated, but maybe/ maybe not.
I hear differences in attack, punch, thickness of sound and harmonics. These differences are perfectly audible in this video (at 5:40).
The best way I can describe it is that as you go from thinner to thicker the feel gets stiffer and you get more thickness in your tone. The trade off is that stiffer strings take more finger power to play and thinner ones are more flexible and will bend easier and be more responsive with less effort. Something to consider is that different gauges will set up differently and you have lots of room to tweak that set up to get it where you want to be. Also some strings respond better to a heavier hand than others and there's a million different options. So basically it all makes a difference in your sound and how the bass feels to play.
Don't forget to factor in that string construction plays into stiffness as well as gauge. Hex-cores and round-cores in the same gauge may feel totally different, stiffness-wise. There's not hard and fast law saying stiff strings sound thicker than light strings. Personally, light gauge strings sound better than thicker strings based for me on the way I play. YMMV.
I have found string gauges to make a big difference in my right hand technique for slapping and tapping. I use Daddario EXL220BT 40-95 which is the thinnest gauge/lowest tension I can find, and even notice a slight tension increase on my 35" scale bass vs my 34" basses.
Thinner strings have more "twang" - when you hit a note, the initial note is a bit higher in pitch than later - the excursion of the string increases the average tension so the sting tunes "up" a bit at the beginning of a note. This effect is more pronounced on thinner strings - it's easier to increase the tension on a percentage basis when you strike a string, because there is less tension to start with. It's also easier to get a good "grind" sound out of thinner strings (bouncing the strings off the frets at the beginning of a note). As a result, I find thinner strings more expressive - but you have to have a well controlled technique to access those different sounds.
If you always want to play cleanly (avoid the grind), thicker strings will help you do that.
If you always want to play cleanly (avoid the grind), thicker strings will help you do that.
String gage alone doesn't make a big difference: I used to hate my D and G were never as loud as my E and A, so for a while I tried much bigger D's and G's, and the difference was marginal.
They obviously can make a difference in action as bigger/more tension may introduce more relief, and smaller strings may do the reverse. This can vary as some necks are just mighty stiff . . . . and some aren't.
Over time, the best route for me was to settle on a set of strings I liked, then have the bass set up perfectly for that set. This was far easier once I learned to do it properly myself. Often, in that process, properly adjusted pickups made more difference towards an even response than jockeying string gages to chase that, by far.
I consider that regardless of what bass with what strings, a proper setup is vital, as this gives you a repeatable bottom line to make evaluations from if changes are needed.
They obviously can make a difference in action as bigger/more tension may introduce more relief, and smaller strings may do the reverse. This can vary as some necks are just mighty stiff . . . . and some aren't.
Over time, the best route for me was to settle on a set of strings I liked, then have the bass set up perfectly for that set. This was far easier once I learned to do it properly myself. Often, in that process, properly adjusted pickups made more difference towards an even response than jockeying string gages to chase that, by far.
I consider that regardless of what bass with what strings, a proper setup is vital, as this gives you a repeatable bottom line to make evaluations from if changes are needed.
String gauges make a huge difference and how you sound and how you play someone here made the comment about thicker strings stiffer strings this is actually true depending on the style of music you're playing if you need more Bend out of those strings you may not want a heavier gauge.. I use Dean Markley sr2000 light gauge the strings are constructed great feel really good on your fingers overall tone all strings are tapered except for the g-string so if you set your bass up correctly the strings lay directly on the fretboard with virtually no buzz and they sound like piano strings I've been endorsing them since 97 haven't used anything else since
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^This^, pretty much. In some cases, string gauge does make a difference in overall tone, but unless the gauge difference is... pronounced... the tone difference is pretty subtle. The short scale 39-96 La Bella 760FX's on my Dano Longhorn do feel noticeably different from the 43-104 760FL's on my Starfire Violin Bass (which does take "real" short wound strings). As for the sound? The low end is about the same; the lighter gauge 760FX's low-mids and mids are... more noticeable; and they do have better highs. But, IME, going up one step up - or down - in gauge, usually isn't going to make much difference in how the strings sound. It can make a noticeable difference in how they feel, though...
