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Tapered B strings are the best!!

MultiScaleMale

MultiScaleMale

Gold Supporting Member
Jun 19, 2003
27,228
39,033
Maryland
#1
I first tried tapered (not exposed core) strings on my PRS Grainger 5 string. It's stock set of strings, [This invalid link has been removed], helped make it one of the best playing 5 strings I've touched. After that, I purchased a Valenti 5 string and it came with a tapered B string. Not sure the secret source of Valenti strings, but they're pretty damn good. Obviously, he's not winding them in house, so there is a supplier, but whatever the source, the recipe is great. Anyways, the B string on that bass is also incredible. My Alien Audio needed a change of strings and instead of the usual XL Nickels, I thought I'd try a set of Valenti strings. Wow! I liked the Alien before, but the tapered B string really brought it to life. A lot more sustain and punch on the B string.

In conclusion, try a set of strings with a tapered B and maybe even a tapered E. In my experience, the difference is so great that I don't even know why non-tapered B strings exist.
 
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#7
MultiScaleMale said:
I first tried tapered (not exposed core) strings on my PRS Grainger 5 string. It's stock set of strings, [This invalid link has been removed], helped make it one of the best playing 5 strings I've touched. After that, I purchased a Valenti 5 string and it came with a tapered B string. Not sure the secret source of Valenti strings, but they're pretty damn good. Obviously, he's not winding them in house, so there is a supplier, but whatever the source, the recipe is great. Anyways, the B string on that bass is also incredible. My Alien Audio needed a change of strings and instead of the usual XL Nickels, I thought I'd try a set of Valenti strings. Wow! I liked the Alien before, but the tapered B string really brought it to life. A lot more sustain and punch on the B string.

In conclusion, try a set of strings with a tapered B and maybe even a tapered E. In my experience, the difference is so great that I don't even know why non-tapered B strings exist.
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Just FYI you can get tapered nickel XL's. They are my only frame of reference for low B, so I have no idea if they sound better, but they do sound good.
 
#9
michael_t said:
This is what I keep reading. Apparently, the tapered part needs to be precisely the right length for it to work properly. In other words, your bass has to fit the string, not the other way around, if that makes any sense.
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It would be the bridge design in that case rather than the bass as a whole. I've used Hipshot A, Hipshot B and PRS' proprietary bridge. No issues intonating on any of those at all. Sure, you'll have issues if you want to do string through.
 
#10
I've always preferred the taperwound low-B string. In fact, my first introduction to taperwound strings was due to hard times setting up the intonation on an old bass of mine which only had string thru body stringing, using non-tapered strings. When I changed the strings to a string set which had taperwound low-B and low-E strings, I've nailed down the intonation problem. So, that pretty much answers arguments saying taperwound strings do not intonate well and their issues with thru body stringing.

Although I do agree that they might have issues when the tapered portion goes too far from the bridge saddle. So, generally I avoid taperwound strings which have more than 2" tapered portion (some string companies make taperwound strings with up to 3" tapered portion).

These days I own Ibanez basses only with various type of bridges. Their Mono Rail II bridge takes the string ball end deep inside it, almost like stringing thru body. So, using taperwound string which has 2" long tapered portion, like D'Addario's, is still acceptable, as it would left the tapered portion comes out from the saddle only about half an inch. But if I used the same string on their Mono Rail IV bridge, which string ball end would reside on the saddle and moves with it, the tapered portion would stick out too long from the saddle. I experienced bad sounding (inharmonics which were very apparent) from this kind of stringing and when I needed to make clear pronounced sounds from plucking close to the bridge, I might hit the small tapered part which made it awkward for the plucking fingers. On this kind of bridge, Elixir's 1¾" long taper is preferred.
 
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#13
mmbongo said:
Roscoe warns against using tapered B strings...too warbly sounding and they do not intonate well.
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Roscoe's opinion is mentioned sometimes but it's important to realise this is only someone's opinion, and being a bass luthier doesn't make them right. Maybe they are referring to a setup with too much tapered section in the vibrating length, in which case they are somewhat correct. The statement generalises and there is lots of player experience that suggests otherwise. It's also a personal taste thing so i think it is a mistake to advise against something that is so subjective.

The best B i have tried so far is the D'Addario Prosteel taperwound .145, only 3 wrap layers and very flexible for it's size. It intonated to within 3 cents (exact intonation on my tuner) on every fret up to the 23rd fret (On an old Ibanez BTB 6 string so just under 1 inch of taper in vibrating length). I noted that the tapered section was about .085 so over half full width, i think this helps and is better than contact-core.

Taperwound and non-taperwound both have issues.

Non-taperwound is like most strings in being full width along it's entire length, which is ideal in a way, but suffers from stiffness caused by the large gauge and a quite rigid contact with the saddle. These cause tone issues, inharmonicity and intonation issues.

Taperwound creates more flexibility at one end and is probably a better way to support the string at the saddle as the support is closer to the core. But then there are some inharmonicity and intonation issues caused by not being full width along it's entire length, made worse if there is too much tapered section in the vibrating length.
 
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#14
staccatogrowl said:
Roscoe's advice is for Roscoe's 35-inch scale basses. It is not a general advisory for any other bass.
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I've not had luck with tapered strings on my 34" scale basses either....Roscoe, Warwick, and Lakland.

But I mostly pointed out Keith Roscoe's findings as a respose to the OP, who said he didn't even understand why non-tapered B strings existed. Well that's because they don't work in every situation.
 
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#15
mmbongo said:
I've not had luck with tapered strings on my 34" scale basses either....Roscoe, Warwick, and Lakland.

But I mostly pointed out Keith Roscoe's findings as a respose to the OP, who said he didn't even understand why non-tapered B strings existed. Well that's because they don't work in every situation.
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I did preface the statement with “in my experience”. And it was a bit of hyperbole that I thought was obvious. Meaning, on my subset of basses, a tapered B string plays considerably better than any non-tapered B string I’ve tried. I know, I need a double blind test.
 
#19
I think all my 5-string basses currently sport non-tapered or exposed core strings and I do not seem to have any problems with them. I guess I would have to hear near identical sets with the exception of tapered / non-tapered to be able to form a real opinion.

If I seem to recall correctly, the big Bass Player String Shootout many years ago, the final consensus was that non-tapered or exposed core B-strings were preferred.
 
#20
I have a question regarding the tapered B-string...

If the tapered portion is not long enough to go over the saddle and you end up with the main body of the string on the saddle with all of the tapered part BEHIND the saddle, would it work the same way as having a non-tapered string?
 

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