Ooh. I don't see bass guitar strings on their site at all, so I gotta ask... how did you obtain these?
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The Fifths Tuning Club
- Thread starter ~M.o.M~
- Start date
They're actually intended for an Electric Upright Bass (EUB) with 34" scale, a fretted NS/Design Omni Bass. I picked up my set from Gollihur Music. They sell four-string and 5-string sets. Mine are five strings, C1-G1-D2-A2-E3. And as it's a two-octave fretboard, the full (non-harmonic) range should be C1-E5!
At this moment it's USD $149 for CGDA, and $189 for CGDAE. My understanding is that NS/Design originally offered sets like this when they marketed their 34" scale EUB as a "bass cello," but discontinued the sets and now market the instrument as the "Omni Bass."
These sets are imported from Germany, and while they're obviously not a bargain bin product, I tried contacting the manufacturer directly, and it was much more expensive to order them direct.
These would certainly fit a bass guitar, but FWIW the reason to buy these instead of just ordering custom gauges from one of the big suppliers is that these are specifically designed to sound good for arco playing with electric pickups.
Besides putting them on an Omni Bass, the CGDA set might be of interest to someone who plays a Takamine TB10 and wants to tune it in fifths.
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Heh, I might be spoiled by having bought some 128/90/60/40 gauged Chromes back when they were available. Got one set on a bass now, and another I took off a bass that I sold that might survive being installed on something with a 2+2 headstock. But I like the nice balance of tension.
if there are eight bits in a dollar, those strings are quite a few bits expensive!
If you got two basses, one in standard and one in fifths, then you can buy a five string set of LaBella DTFs (I think your choices are 760fl-b, fs-b, or fm-b, as available), and use the .128 off of that for your C, and use the rest of that set for a four string standard tuned bass. Then take a four string set of LaBella DTF FX (the one with a .096 low string), throw away the A string and use the rest of those for your G, D, and A. It would be nice if they made a 760fx-b set, then you could just toss the A string and go to town, but if it ever existed, I have not seen it in the wild.
There was a lot of talk about tuning systems and temperaments way back in this thread. I'm currently reading up on that subject myself, and found a fantastic article about violin temperaments in both theory and practice. It is quite a technical read, and I admit some of this stuff is still beyond me. It's probably of little practical use to those of us bound by the frets of 12TET (myself included), but maybe the fretless players (especially DB!) may find it insightful.
I just finished something you all might find interesting.
29" scale tuned CGDAEB
.125 .085 .055 .035 .020p .013p for a nice progression from 29lbs for the C1 to 23lbs for the B3
I also bought a set for G0 D1 A1 E2 for a different bass at the same time.
29" scale tuned CGDAEB
.125 .085 .055 .035 .020p .013p for a nice progression from 29lbs for the C1 to 23lbs for the B3
I also bought a set for G0 D1 A1 E2 for a different bass at the same time.
Quick note to those getting a set of Lenzner, clean them first!!! They're filthy!!!
my introduction to the subject of just intonation began when I started to explore harmonics, and began to read about why some of them are "out of tune." this article was dense, but great. it doesn't hand-hold, but after a bit I begun to grasp what he was talking about with respect to 2,3 tunings, 2,3,5 tunings, 2,3,5,y tunings, &c.
thanks for the link!
Nothing nearly that involved, I used an Art Deco style vent cover as a mask for spray paint. There's something that might pass as a build thread in the Luthier's Corner over here Special Edition Build Off: Rat Deco
Gotcha -- I'd seen that video not too long ago and the finish on your instrument made me think of it -- pretty neat, nevertheless!
So how do you like it? How's it feel and sound, playing through that big range?
It's actually pretty nice the high strings work great for chords, and the low strings are still very usable even with the shorter scale. With the short neck the reach to the first position is super comfortable. Tone wise the middle pickup Is tight and focused and sounds great with distortion and the neck pickup warms up chords nicely.
For the last 7 months I have been using the Ibanez EHB1005SMS, 32-30" scale, with Stringjoy custom gauge hex-nickel roundwound strings (.135, .095, .065, .045, .030). It's medium-high tension, which feels really good for the right hand on the short scale, but now that I am due for a string change I am going to go one notch lighter gauge across all strings so that I can comfortably perform some bends with the left hand.
Not sure if I've posted a picture of this one but here's my Killer Simmony - basically a Jazz (in spite of the shape) with flatwounds, tuned in fifths of course.
Say what now?! I just got mine, but haven't put them on yet; thanks for the heads-up!
