I believe Ned Steinberger has fifths available in their Omni Bass line, to accomodate cellists. They are spendy, but I can attest to their tone and playability on my 4ths Omni-5.
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The Fifths Tuning Club
- Thread starter ~M.o.M~
- Start date
coyoteboy,
I haven't tried the NS strings for the Omni yet, but that's an option. Seems there it's sort of barren out there for BG flatwound strings tuned in 5ths.
I am still in 5th on all basses - BG & upright/EUB with a mix of flats and rounds on different BGs - and of those Kalium dominates for rounds. Most recently, I ordered a LaBella single set (based on the FX strings) through BSO and they work great with pretty even tension but are a bit lighter in tension overall. String gauges are .039, .056, .077, .128 - which is the same as their FX set, but I ordered singles to not get the E.
I also added a set of GHS Pressurewounds to my Fender P - .040, .062, .080 & .128 which also sound really good. I do think that the GHS might benefit from a .058 D sting though and will likely order one to see if the slap tone more closely matches the .040 A string. When/If I do, I'll report back but it might be a while as I really want to see how the GHS' age and play in for a while.
John
I haven't tried the NS strings for the Omni yet, but that's an option. Seems there it's sort of barren out there for BG flatwound strings tuned in 5ths.
I am still in 5th on all basses - BG & upright/EUB with a mix of flats and rounds on different BGs - and of those Kalium dominates for rounds. Most recently, I ordered a LaBella single set (based on the FX strings) through BSO and they work great with pretty even tension but are a bit lighter in tension overall. String gauges are .039, .056, .077, .128 - which is the same as their FX set, but I ordered singles to not get the E.
I also added a set of GHS Pressurewounds to my Fender P - .040, .062, .080 & .128 which also sound really good. I do think that the GHS might benefit from a .058 D sting though and will likely order one to see if the slap tone more closely matches the .040 A string. When/If I do, I'll report back but it might be a while as I really want to see how the GHS' age and play in for a while.
John
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Because I fell in love with someone who will never be 91 the 20th September 2017, I tried this tuning the other day (CGDA), I learnt many things.
- B A D G string set works perfectly
- My first bass had flatwounds and didn't sound very well, I put roundwounds and now sounds wonderful
- Interesting tuning but it's not for me, maybe it could sound better on an upright bass
- I tuned my first bass again in 4ths but in roundwounds and I can say it is a very valid bass
- I do think 5ths tuning is more interesting for an upright bass even if Jannick Top lines are beautiful
- I'm more enthusiastic when I hear a bass guitar tuned in 4ths than an upright right
That is the exception
I really love Red Mitchell
- B A D G string set works perfectly
- My first bass had flatwounds and didn't sound very well, I put roundwounds and now sounds wonderful
- Interesting tuning but it's not for me, maybe it could sound better on an upright bass
- I tuned my first bass again in 4ths but in roundwounds and I can say it is a very valid bass
- I do think 5ths tuning is more interesting for an upright bass even if Jannick Top lines are beautiful
- I'm more enthusiastic when I hear a bass guitar tuned in 4ths than an upright right
That is the exception
I really love Red Mitchell
Don't sign me up. One of my bass influences Onesimo Joe Gonzales played a bass tuned in fifths. So I have no problems with any one playing in 5ths. There's an adedge that many bass players made a living on the root and the fifth. Every easy when tuned in fifths. By tuning a 4 string Bb F C G you have the range of a five string. Since avoid open string playing it's learning new fingering, and different positioning, since learned on an up right, I have to move my left a little more. Frets help get the right notes. Do I want to change, I don't have the motivation thx for reading
Can you guys talk me into (or out of) this terrible idea? I think I'm pretty satisfied with standard C tuning (C in fourths) on my bass, but I also have a 5 string I'm considering turning into a sort of perfect fifths baritone guitar thing. Starting from C2 and going to E4 (the same as lowest on cello to highest on a guitar). I don't want to on bass because I use the harmonic properties of bass to fill out my chords so, ironically for bass, the tighter possible chord shapes are more useful because I get more note per shape, but on guitar I really like very open expansive chords so I figure perfect fifths would be great for that. Plus, I have a 5-string laying around I never use as a bass. What do you all think?
Anytime anyone wants to try something odd that does no permanent damage to their bass and costs no more than a custom set of strings, I say GO FOR IT! You should get enough amusement from the experiment to justify the cost, not to mention the educational value of the effort. I just recently bought an SRC6 to go along with my Squier VI. Both are tuned from C1 to B3, the traditional six string guitar's B. It is nice to have that range although I am still learning how to sensibly incorporate it into my playing. I've taken to short scale since I got the Squier and I have modified the Squier enough to consider it perfectly adequate to perform any six string tasks I will have. So I am giving serious thought to converting the SRC6 to an SRC5. The SRC is a nice short scale bass platform, Ibanez really should make them in four and five string versions too for all the short scale fans out there....
Good luck with your experiment, I hope it does what you are expecting from it!
Good luck with your experiment, I hope it does what you are expecting from it!
Have any idea if a guitar string will have enough length? I just realized that at least my top 2 or 3 strings will have to be guitar strings to be light enough for the range. Nevermind, all but the bottom string would have to be guitar strings.
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Well because I'm impulsive I went ahead and did a thing.
I remembered I had an eight-string guitar lying around not doing anything, so boom 4-course all fifths baritone. Low to high it's G1-g2-D2-d3-A3-a4-E3-e4, though I'm missing the A3 string (it's a scrounge project re-utilizing the strings that were on it plus a few strings I had unopened from other weird projects I've done). It sounds massive! Very one-man-band (or maybe two if I want a drummer) sounding.
I remembered I had an eight-string guitar lying around not doing anything, so boom 4-course all fifths baritone. Low to high it's G1-g2-D2-d3-A3-a4-E3-e4, though I'm missing the A3 string (it's a scrounge project re-utilizing the strings that were on it plus a few strings I had unopened from other weird projects I've done). It sounds massive! Very one-man-band (or maybe two if I want a drummer) sounding.
Kalium is your friend!
I would've never thought to do four courses! Good idea
El Bajo Verde is spot on.
Kalium makes some terrific roundwound strings. Be sure to use the tension calculator too.
I think that I've finally found my gauge with the Kalium Hybrid strings: .037 (A), .057 (D), .086 (G), .130 (C). Great feel, tension and tone for finger style and slap.
Haven't tried these gauges in Stainless yet, but that's up next. I may go lighter on the top though - got to love the gauge availability with Kalium!
FWIW, I still use singles from BassStringsOnline.com or 5 string packs (tossing the E string) with flats. Right now I'm using LaBella DTF FX-B's as my flat string of choice.
Hope this helps...
John
Kalium makes some terrific roundwound strings. Be sure to use the tension calculator too.
I think that I've finally found my gauge with the Kalium Hybrid strings: .037 (A), .057 (D), .086 (G), .130 (C). Great feel, tension and tone for finger style and slap.
Haven't tried these gauges in Stainless yet, but that's up next. I may go lighter on the top though - got to love the gauge availability with Kalium!
FWIW, I still use singles from BassStringsOnline.com or 5 string packs (tossing the E string) with flats. Right now I'm using LaBella DTF FX-B's as my flat string of choice.
Hope this helps...
John
Well I'm actually considering joining the club now. I thought that standard fourths tuning was still best on bass with how often and how I play chords but I'm starting to think the more spread out chords may work better on bass to avoid muddiness and have fuller chord voicings available.
I'm getting a bunch of strings for my normal six string guitar (C to B low to high hopefully) and if I like it enough i may have to match my bass to it. My hands are pretty large and wide stretches are pretty comfortable and shifting is easy so maybe the advantages for chords will outweigh the disadvantages in playing lines and riffs. I hardly ever play walking lines anyway.
I'm getting a bunch of strings for my normal six string guitar (C to B low to high hopefully) and if I like it enough i may have to match my bass to it. My hands are pretty large and wide stretches are pretty comfortable and shifting is easy so maybe the advantages for chords will outweigh the disadvantages in playing lines and riffs. I hardly ever play walking lines anyway.
Robert Fripp of King Crimson fame is a proponent of all fifths tuning for the guitar. Or almost. He wants to tune CGDAEB, an octave above where I tune my sixes but that high B string has been a problem. It is hard to make one that won't break. So his New Standard Tuning uses a G instead of a B on the top string. The Wikipedia article on NST implies that the high B has been "impractical until recently". Maybe that means you will find a high B string that will work. If not you could drop the whole tuning if you want to stay in pure fifths or you could go with NST and tap into the Guitar Craft community for advice with the tuning.
FWIW, I've found myself playing conventionally tuned guitar for a singer these past few months, and have no problem switching between that and bass.
I used a tension calculator and .007 strings should work unless they snap at the same tensions an unwound .019 string, for example, is fairly average at. If this doesn't work I may go down to something like Bb-G instead. I like pretty high tension and got fairly heavy strings so hopefully they'd be acceptable still in that range.
Well, thicker strings can handle more tension without snapping, since they have more cross-section to carry the tension load, so it may not work. But it's worth a try.
Guitar and bass are just different enough mindsets over all I think it may be doable. I might still try out fifths tuning on my 5-string and if I like it enough I'll definitely switch over. I used to always wonder why such an inconvenient tuning as all fifths was the orchestral standard when fourths seemed so much more balanced but I'm starting to realize that's really the backwards mindset from the truth. Fourths is great for tighter chord voicings and playing lines in position on longer scale lengths, but especially on smaller instruments fifths makes way more sense if you don't want those tight voicings, which I don't really.
Anyone out there with a seven string bass tuned in fifths?
Is this possible?
This is just a thought experiment.
Is this possible?
This is just a thought experiment.
I have considered it, and it is possible, thanks to Kalium.
I thought about CGDAEBF# or AEBF#C#G#D#
I believe you could have something that functions in both guitar range and bass range!
gebass6,
Tried it a Conklin GT7 but ended up selling after it didn't work out too well.
FWIW I went with "standard" fifths tuning starting with a Kalium low F and went up from there i.e. FCGDAEB. The low F was a terrific string (I still have it if you're interested...) but it wasn't for me.
The issues were with the high B string. Gossamer light and I kept snapping them. Going larger so they didn't break meant too much tension
Sounded good, but I find with 5ths I'm back to a 4 string though I may consider a 5'er in the future. Right now, 4's enough...
John
Tried it a Conklin GT7 but ended up selling after it didn't work out too well.
FWIW I went with "standard" fifths tuning starting with a Kalium low F and went up from there i.e. FCGDAEB. The low F was a terrific string (I still have it if you're interested...) but it wasn't for me.
The issues were with the high B string. Gossamer light and I kept snapping them. Going larger so they didn't break meant too much tension
Sounded good, but I find with 5ths I'm back to a 4 string though I may consider a 5'er in the future. Right now, 4's enough...
John
On a slightly different topic...
I've been going through my string supply a bit lately (the three plus gallon sized ziplock bags of strings that I have on hand from trying so many strings in 5ths). On my MIM Fender Precision, I previously had Kaliums on it and tried GHS Pressure Wounds, Fat Beams and a few others. Bass always sounded good, but not really great.
My wife and I were at a local brew pub (Lariat Lounge in Evergreen, CO) and there was a blues band playing. Notice that the bass player was playing a MIM Precision with Nylons. His playing sounded like the BOMB. Even the upper register was full of bass goodness.
I had tried a set of GHS nylons previously on my Tom Clement Kim 4 (Jazz style bass, now sporting Nordstrand MM 4.4 split coils) and my hotrodded Hoppus P/J, but hadn't ever put the Nylons on this Precision. On the Kim, the Nylons didn't sound awesome, and on the Hoppus with Basslines (P/J pickups) in it didn't sound the greatest either.
But once I installed the Nylons on a fully stock MIM Precision, the Nylons came ALIVE! Wow, this certain Precision has never sounded so good... The bad news is that GHS has since discontinued their Nylons. Now I need to find a backup set in case a string on the bass ever breaks. I guess I'll be adding to the strings in my gallon bags...
Anyway and FWIW, I'll keep Kalium Nickels on the Kim, Kalium Stainless' on the Stingray, Labella flat (extra lights) on the Hoppus and Nylons on the Precision. My basses have never sounded this good!
John
I've been going through my string supply a bit lately (the three plus gallon sized ziplock bags of strings that I have on hand from trying so many strings in 5ths). On my MIM Fender Precision, I previously had Kaliums on it and tried GHS Pressure Wounds, Fat Beams and a few others. Bass always sounded good, but not really great.
My wife and I were at a local brew pub (Lariat Lounge in Evergreen, CO) and there was a blues band playing. Notice that the bass player was playing a MIM Precision with Nylons. His playing sounded like the BOMB. Even the upper register was full of bass goodness.
I had tried a set of GHS nylons previously on my Tom Clement Kim 4 (Jazz style bass, now sporting Nordstrand MM 4.4 split coils) and my hotrodded Hoppus P/J, but hadn't ever put the Nylons on this Precision. On the Kim, the Nylons didn't sound awesome, and on the Hoppus with Basslines (P/J pickups) in it didn't sound the greatest either.
But once I installed the Nylons on a fully stock MIM Precision, the Nylons came ALIVE! Wow, this certain Precision has never sounded so good... The bad news is that GHS has since discontinued their Nylons. Now I need to find a backup set in case a string on the bass ever breaks. I guess I'll be adding to the strings in my gallon bags...
Anyway and FWIW, I'll keep Kalium Nickels on the Kim, Kalium Stainless' on the Stingray, Labella flat (extra lights) on the Hoppus and Nylons on the Precision. My basses have never sounded this good!
John
