Tapewounds on a headless bass?

[NinjaPyrate]

I had unraveling problems with Low Tension flats on my Ibanez EHB headless and went through a few E strings. I think there is a sweet spot of tightening the hex screw enough but not too much. I’m about to put LTFs on a Kiesel Thanos. I was hoping there was a trick to keeping them from unraveling. My mistake on the EHB was cutting the strings before clamping and tuning (my first headless), but I now know to cut afterwards.

 

[Just Wrong]

What do you mean by the string unravels?

 

[Barticus]

I had unraveling problems with Low Tension flats on my Ibanez EHB headless and went through a few E strings. I think there is a sweet spot of tightening the hex screw enough but not too much. I’m about to put LTFs on a Kiesel Thanos. I was hoping there was a trick to keeping them from unraveling. My mistake on the EHB was cutting the strings before clamping and tuning (my first headless), but I now know to cut afterwards.

I’ve not tried this yet, but I had considered using a wiring shrink wrap on the end of the flats before crimping down the grub screws. The Chromes, however, have worked well for me. I tried Labella Golds but they were too fragile and unwrapped.

 

[NinjaPyrate]

I’ve not tried this yet, but I had considered using a wiring shrink wrap on the end of the flats before crimping down the grub screws. The Chromes, however, have worked well for me. I tried Labella Golds but they were too fragile and unwrapped.

I've considered heat shrinks as well, but I thought it would increase the diameter too much for the nut slot.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Before I start a new thread I wanted to check in here.

I have a Bunker headless six string. As the selection of double ball end six string sets is limited and I wanted to try some other strings I made an adapter that fits in the headpiece.



However, I didn’t think to check string winding lengths. The “standard” long scale length of 36.5”-37.25” puts the silk wound section well past the headpiece. GHS shows their medium scale strings at 35.5” winding length but I don’t see gauges suitable for a 6 string set on their website.



Note: those pics are taken measuring from the ball end clamp on the saddle with the B tuned up. It would be maybe 3/4” closer to the nut if it was all the way forward.

So, does anyone know of a six string double ball end set that’s not Ken Smith stainless rounds? I’d like flats or goundwounds. Or, does anyone know of a six string set with about a 35.5” winding length? Or (last or), @Barticus and @Slowgypsy you mention using chromes or groundwounds successfully. Were the grub screws clamping on the silk wrapped part of the string or on the windings?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Arkansas Audie]

I gave up and had Tom Clement (clementbass.com) build me another bass with a traditional headstock, my This Land is Your Land bass. Hardware from Hipshot in California, Dimarzio pickups from the New York Island, a redwood body from the redwood forest, and it was built in FL near the Gulf Stream waters. Now I can use any flatwound strings I want, easily clip a tuner on the headstock and use an Ultimate stand without fear of my instrument crashing if the stand gets bumped. 0.75 lbs was a small price to pay.

 

[Barticus]

Before I start a new thread I wanted to check in here.

I have a Bunker headless six string. As the selection of double ball end six string sets is limited and I wanted to try some other strings I made an adapter that fits in the headpiece.

View attachment 5369329

However, I didn’t think to check string winding lengths. The “standard” long scale length of 36.5”-37.25” puts the silk wound section well past the headpiece. GHS shows their medium scale strings at 35.5” winding length but I don’t see gauges suitable for a 6 string set on their website.

View attachment 5369344 View attachment 5369345

Note: those pics are taken measuring from the ball end clamp on the saddle with the B tuned up. It would be maybe 3/4” closer to the nut if it was all the way forward.

So, does anyone know of a six string double ball end set that’s not Ken Smith stainless rounds? I’d like flats or goundwounds. Or, does anyone know of a six string set with about a 35.5” winding length? Or (last or), @Barticus and @Slowgypsy you mention using chromes or groundwounds successfully. Were the grub screws clamping on the silk wrapped part of the string or on the windings?

Thanks for any help.

No, the grub screws always clamp down on the larger full winding of the string.

 

[NinjaPyrate]

Are builders still making basses that only take double ball strings? I know a lot of amazing vintage basses were built that way, but the string limitations are rough.

 

[Barticus]

Before I start a new thread I wanted to check in here.

I have a Bunker headless six string. As the selection of double ball end six string sets is limited and I wanted to try some other strings I made an adapter that fits in the headpiece.

View attachment 5369329

However, I didn’t think to check string winding lengths. The “standard” long scale length of 36.5”-37.25” puts the silk wound section well past the headpiece. GHS shows their medium scale strings at 35.5” winding length but I don’t see gauges suitable for a 6 string set on their website.

View attachment 5369344 View attachment 5369345

Note: those pics are taken measuring from the ball end clamp on the saddle with the B tuned up. It would be maybe 3/4” closer to the nut if it was all the way forward.

So, does anyone know of a six string double ball end set that’s not Ken Smith stainless rounds? I’d like flats or goundwounds. Or, does anyone know of a six string set with about a 35.5” winding length? Or (last or), @Barticus and @Slowgypsy you mention using chromes or groundwounds successfully. Were the grub screws clamping on the silk wrapped part of the string or on the windings?

Thanks for any help.

I know you wanted to try other strings, so your adapter is the way to go for that. For double balls (I use on only 2 of my basses) I put a set of these Labella flat wounds (La Bella S500L-B Double Ball System Light Flat Wound Stainless Steel Bass String) on my Synapse 5 and have been pretty happy with them, they feel good, have a good tension and sound good. I bought these off of Amazon and just had a quick look but did not see a 6 string version so you may want to reach out to Labella if that's something you would consider for this instrument. I also have Chromes on my fretless headless and they worked great with the grub screws, no issues.

 

[Barticus]

Are builders still making basses that only take double ball strings? I know a lot of amazing vintage basses were built that way, but the string limitations are rough.

It seems like I should start a thread with headless tuner/headpiece options/pictures as most mfg's include the grub screw option so you can use any string. The only challenge is that flat wounds are more delicate and not all take well to being clamped down.

 

[Barticus]

I gave up and had Tom Clement (clementbass.com) build me another bass with a traditional headstock, my This Land is Your Land bass. Hardware from Hipshot in California, Dimarzio pickups from the New York Island, a redwood body from the redwood forest, and it was built in FL near the Gulf Stream waters. Now I can use any flatwound strings I want, easily clip a tuner on the headstock and use an Ultimate stand without fear of my instrument crashing if the stand gets bumped. 0.75 lbs was a small price to pay.

I think the old saying is "don't throw out the baby with the bath water"

 

[NinjaPyrate]

It seems like I should start a thread with headless tuner/headpiece options/pictures as most mfg's include the grub screw option so you can use any string. The only challenge is that flat wounds are more delicate and not all take well to being clamped down.

For the record, LaBella Low Tension Flats don't take kindly to headless grub screws. I do have them on both of my headless basses, but lost a number of (expensive) strings in the process. Finding the tension that the screws are tight enough but not too tight is the key - but it may take a few strings to figure out that tension.

 

[Barticus]

For the record, LaBella Low Tension Flats don't take kindly to headless grub screws. I do have them on both of my headless basses, but lost a number of (expensive) strings in the process. Finding the tension that the screws are tight enough but not too tight is the key - but it may take a few strings to figure out that tension.

Yep, that's a bummer... unfortunately I learned that with the LaBella Gold's too... but never found the right tension for the grub screws and abandoned them as an option.

 

[NinjaPyrate]

Yep, that's a bummer... unfortunately I learned that with the LaBella Gold's too... but never found the right tension for the grub screws and abandoned them as an option.

I ended up getting them all to hold on my Ibanez headless, but I was tired of going through strings so on my Kiesel I cut them off at the taper and left a few inches of strings dangling the screws.

 

[HaphAsSard]

I gave up and had Tom Clement (clementbass.com) build me another bass with a traditional headstock, my This Land is Your Land bass. Hardware from Hipshot in California, Dimarzio pickups from the New York Island, a redwood body from the redwood forest, and it was built in FL near the Gulf Stream waters.

That. Is. Awesome! Gotta be one fascist-killing machine... I salute you, sir!

 

[Matt Liebenau]

No, the grub screws always clamp down on the larger full winding of the string.

Perfect. So Chromes should be good with the set screws clamping on the full string diameter? Thank you sir. I’ll check on those and maybe some groundwounds. I’ll check on the LaBellas too.

 

[Slowgypsy]

Before I start a new thread I wanted to check in here.

I have a Bunker headless six string. As the selection of double ball end six string sets is limited and I wanted to try some other strings I made an adapter that fits in the headpiece.

View attachment 5369329

However, I didn’t think to check string winding lengths. The “standard” long scale length of 36.5”-37.25” puts the silk wound section well past the headpiece. GHS shows their medium scale strings at 35.5” winding length but I don’t see gauges suitable for a 6 string set on their website.

View attachment 5369344 View attachment 5369345

Note: those pics are taken measuring from the ball end clamp on the saddle with the B tuned up. It would be maybe 3/4” closer to the nut if it was all the way forward.

So, does anyone know of a six string double ball end set that’s not Ken Smith stainless rounds? I’d like flats or goundwounds. Or, does anyone know of a six string set with about a 35.5” winding length? Or (last or), @Barticus and @Slowgypsy you mention using chromes or groundwounds successfully. Were the grub screws clamping on the silk wrapped part of the string or on the windings?

Thanks for any help.

String Adapter set screws should clamp down on the string windings, not the silk wrapped leader part of the string.