Tight,stiff strings

[*Munkeh*]

Hi all,

Me and my friend were jamming last night, he bought his bass to jam and i noticed how loose his strings were which affected playability to be much much better! He had a go on my bass and my fender active jazz strings were much tighter than his, it was harder to press the frets down, harder to chord on the fretboard. I don't understand how he got it like that! both our basses were tuned to standard aswell. I asked him how did he do it, he said when he received his new bass he just pushed the saddles back abit and raised the bridge abit as the strings were buzzing. I tried his theory but still the same.

Does anyone know how to get your strings to be less stiff?

 

[BaldBass]

pushing back the saddles won't effect tension. It will really screw up intonation but if you want a looser tension string you'll need to change strings and/or guage

 

[vindy500]

get a lighter guage string

 

[Jeffrey A-Bomb]

He probably had dr hi beams.. Those are the lightest tension strings I've come across.

 

[Luis Fabara]

Its the Setup.
Neck relief, saddle height. All that affect playability.

Of course the strings matter, but if the difference is so high its probably the setup and not the strings.

Read this:
http://www.tunemybass.com/bass_setup/

 

[Dr. Feelgood]

As was said by BaldBass, messing with the saddles will only screw up your intonation. Your friend's bass is probably out of tune...

 

[reddogbass]

Moving the saddles back, in theory, will increase string tension. The difference is minute- but the longer string requires higher tension to get in tune.

It could be a combination of many things- setup, break angle over the bridge and nut, string guage and string design.

 

[grimreaper65]

Could be any number of things, setup, string gauge, string through body, reverse headstock...

 

[69nites]

wait a tick

You DON'T like high tension?!?!?!?

 

[spudmaster34]

I try to get tension really, really high, but it is all personal