why do so many famous Elect. Bassists use such light gauge strings?

[Jeff Scott]

why do so many famous Elect. Bassists use such light gauge strings?

Because, we are the enlightened ones.

 

[gigetto]

Light gauge is more easy to play, good tones, less tension. Only disease that IMHO decays a little more faster than normal. But It could be one of my impression.

 

[Newby6string]

Light gauge is more easy to play, good tones, less tension. Only disease that IMHO decays a little more faster than normal. But It could be one of my impression.

I always have liked light gauge strings. I just ordered a Rotosound set of .025 to .115 stainless steel swing bass strings for my Ibanez GVB 36. For me the lighter the touch to sound a note, the better. Ever since the onset of type 2 Diabetes and the weakness it causes in my hands, lighter gauge strings just work out better for me. But, hey you use the strings that work best in your respective situations.

 

[gigetto]

I've started to use light gauge when one of my basse's neck broken.

 

[John01]

I'm super-late to this party .... but I'd add my voice to the "heavier (standard and upwards) strings" faction. And my reasoning is much the same as many others have already given: I play bass strictly as a side man (and I'm totally cool with that, plus I think it best augments the type of music we play), and for me the heavier gauges - 45-105 is my typical 4-string set - have by far a better tonal quality, sustain, harmonics and subsonics than lighter strings.

I can cut through the mix as much as I want/need by using an active bass and a decent amp (I'm an Ashdown devotee). Having said that, I typically don't *want* to cut through the mix too much, but nor do I want my bass to sound woolly, indistinct or muddy. 45s give me everything I want: presence, meatiness, clarity and a beautiful sonic presence underpinning the parts that do need to shine - vocals, guitars, keys.

 

[winegamd]

I think string technology/building techniques play a role. Hex cores are usually stiffer feeling, so lighter guage would make them more flexible.

Thumpin' and pluckin' techniques are just easier on lighter strings when you get past a certain notes per minute. It's less work to get the snap in the pluck. Hammer-ons are also easier. So is tapping.

Lighter strings require more control and thought when playing. Some Players like that extra "connectedness" to the music production.

I've played both and it just depends on the bass, music, and techniques being used as to which I prefer.

 

[gigetto]

Who start to play with light gauge don't use anymore...

 

[bobyoung53]

I usually use medium gauge strings, lately Rotos RS66 .105-.45, I like taut strings and fairly low action. I'm not a light player but can be if the situation calls for it but prefer to dig in. I hate fret buzz too and will set the action so there is virtually none. To me bigger strings have more presence and can be manhandled better.

 

[Ric5]

I like a set with a 105 E ... too thin of strings thins out my tone ...

hmmm ... that was my opinion back in 2009 ... These days I am liking thinner strings

When the B and e strings get too fat they get too boomy in the mix, But when the G string gets too thin it gets lost in the mix.

I like D'Addario super light 125 95 75 60 40, but I am finding I like the way the G snaps but for tone I like a 45 or 50 on the G

 

[Pier_]

let's resurrect and considering the last post, it's interesting how ideas and tastes change over time.

Electric bass was initially designed to be an electric contrabass, and had flatwounds at high tension, .050-.105 was considered 'normal'.

first here: actually that's not true. the first flatwound strings were made in 1954, but the electric bass was born in 1951.
history tells us that the first Precision until 1954 were strung with roundwound strings knotted at one end (no ball). also, Danelectro already used roundwound strings on their basses at the end of the 50's, and John Entwistle discovered "rounds" this way, but they were not produced in sets, so he went to James How at Rotosound asking for roundwound strings.

also, the original strings on basses were not heavy as we are used to think, and Fender's original flats in the mid 50's were 50-95, so they only had an heavy G string, due to the sounds required those days.

the story "original bass is with flats and derived from the contrabass" is also historically wrong because the first attempt to create a "bass guitar" were made in the 1930's and 40's with acoustic instruments similar to guitars, with roundwound strings.
it was useless (as are today the acoustic basses), and only in the 50's Leo Fender designed the electric bass as an option for guitarists to play bass without having to learn the classical instrument, and to make it more portable.

it's, as the name says, a "bass guitar", so the lower register of a guitar (which can be alto (the E-E guitar), tenor or baritone). due to the fact that tenor and baritone are less common, we lost the "alto" name, unlike instruments like the saxophone (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass) and others.

've played both and it just depends on the bass, music, and techniques being used as to which I prefer.

and that's the point I'd like to enlight:

most of the players that despise light strings have never really played with them I've noticed this thing also with guitarists.

you can read things like "heavy has more bottom end!" or "more bass!" or "more definition!"

that's not true, and many players won't notice the difference just listening.

for example, here's the same bass with 43-110 and 30-90 Rotosound strings:

Dropbox - Macho Man - Precision Classic 50 - Rotosound FM66.mp3 - Simplify your life

Dropbox - Macho Man - Precision Classic 50 - Rotosound BS66.mp3 - Simplify your life

that's the same bass, with the right setup for both strings, brand new and recorded after few minutes of use, just to complete the setup.

could you actually tell one from another just by listening? same bass, same pick, same hands and mind.

and if you notice, the lower notes are more defined and clear with lighter strings, and just a bit brighter on the G, without losing impact.

ah, the action is lower with the 30-90, speaking in millimeters, with less rattles, and a bit higher with the 43-110, to avoid rattles (the bass had a fret dressing last year, so it can use 1mm actions without any problem).

the first and most important thing is the personal feeling: I started with 45-105, went to 50-110 up to 52-110, then gradually decreased until I reached the 30-90 and used them for years.
then went back to heavier (gradually) because I felt like doing it, and now I'm decreasing again and went back to 30-90 comparing them head to head.

the real difference is in the hands approach and feeling, the way lighter strings "bounce" against the frets, the different feeling when plucking and pressing them.

the "sound" is probably the least affected thing.

 

[HaphAsSard]

actually that's not true. the first flatwound strings were made in 1954, but the electric bass was born in 1951.
history tells us that the first Precision until 1954 were strung with roundwound strings knotted at one end (no ball). also, Danelectro already used roundwound strings on their basses at the end of the 50's, and John Entwistle discovered "rounds" this way, but they were not produced in sets, so he went to James How at Rotosound asking for roundwound strings.

also, the original strings on basses were not heavy as we are used to think, and Fender's original flats in the mid 50's were 50-95, so they only had an heavy G string, due to the sounds required those days.

I don't know your sources, and I'd be especially interested in your "1954" date if you have an internet source for it, but regarding the rest I'll go ahead and redirect you to this post of mine:

1- all guitar-like bass string instruments invented before the 20th century
(the Mexican guitarrón; the Balkan contrabass tamburitza a.k.a. berda/berde/tamburaški bas/begeš; the Portuguese violão baixo/viola-baixo; the Italian chitarrone moderno; possibly others)
have traditionally come with roundwound strings, simply because that's all there originally was
(flatwounds were invented by Dorchester, MA -born Alpheus Babcock, who used them on his early 19th century pianos, of all instruments; after decades of oblivion, flats were patented in 1874 by a fellow named Hamilton, and gradually adopted for bowed string instruments);
of course, come the 1900s, it is possible and even probable that some of the aforesaid acoustic bass guitars, and others introduced in the meantime
(the bass mandolin; American upright figure-eight basses like the Regal BassoGuitar; the Russian contrabass balalaika and, later, the Ukrainian contrabass domra),
were occasionally equipped with flatwound double bass strings;

2- the first ever electric bass guitar, Seattleite Paul Turmarc's "Audiovox Model 736 Bass Fiddle" (1936), came with rounds, and so did its late-1940s revisitation by his son Bud, the "Serenader Bass";

3- throughout most of the '50s (first appearance of their Mastersound Flatwound line is on their 1959 catalogue), the sole bass guitar strings sold by Fender were their no. 90 Pure Nickel Wrap set.
Three years ago, Fender historian Terry Foster posted a picture of their packet sleeve on Instagram with the hashtag #notflatwound:

Now, I don't do Insta so comments and Foster's replies are invisible to me
(a propos of which, should anyone be so kind as to screenshot and post them here, I would be forever grateful),
but I've read the gist summarised as those no. 90 strings being some sort of modified roundwounds aka groundwounds, not unlike present-day D'Addario Half-Rounds;

4- other early bass guitars like the Höfner 500/1 (Paul McCartney's famous hollowbody violin bass aka "Beatle bass") came with flats all right, probably from the get-go (the Höfner and Pyramid Strings plants, makers of the Pyramid Gold chrome nickel flatwound line to this day, were neighbours in Bubenreuth, West Germany)

4- Danelectro basses (starting from their 1956 UB-2, the first short-scale 6-string bass - a type of instrument now commonly known as the "tic-tac bass" in Nashville recording studios, or "bass VI" after Fender's 1961 answer to it - and the precursor to the baritone guitar) came with roundwounds, made by Black Diamond, which a couple sources describe as polished i.e. ground (down to which extent is not known to me: half-rounds, in D'Addario parlance? quarter-rounds, as La Bella used to make?), and which were also available as replacement sets in US stores;

5- UK string manufacturer James How &Co., either as a NOS supplier for Burns of London and Vox, or under the marques "Top Strings" and "Rotop", later to become "Rotosound", started making stainless-steel bass roundwounds in 1962, probably with no fanfare and little impact on the market. They also wrapped them in a black nylon tape, at first selling them under the Burns label (they also came stock on some Burns bass models);

6- the Who's John Entwistle bought a Danelectro Longhorn bass in 1965, fell in love with it and its strings, tried to record the bass solo in "My Generation" with it but broke one string, couldn't find a similar string set in London musical instrument stores so bought one then two replacement Longhorns, kept breaking strings before one good take could be completed, the shop ran out of Danos to sell him, so he first finished the song with a Fender Jazz Bass with "tapewounds" (at the time in the UK it could mean *both* black-nylon wrapped, as mentioned above, *and* also regular metal flatwounds), then he learnt of Rotosound producing rounds, tried them, approached the company, worked with Mr. How in order to tweak the formula to his liking (this entailed a bigger core for the low E and A), and signed an endorsement deal that got him a lifelong supply of Swing Bass sets in exchange for his becoming the face (Mod pun intended) of the product. A Rotosound advert even appears in 1967's The Who Sell Out album. The Ox's high profile as an influential bassist, along with other prominent adopters (Noel Redding, Chris Squire), ensured the success of the Swing Bass strings, later to be called "Swing Bass 66" in memory of the Roto/Entwistle connection, and in time the establishment of roundwounds as the now-undisputed standard for bass guitar.

 

[Wood and Wire]

let's resurrect and considering the last post, it's interesting how ideas and tastes change over time.



first here: actually that's not true. the first flatwound strings were made in 1954, but the electric bass was born in 1951.
history tells us that the first Precision until 1954 were strung with roundwound strings knotted at one end (no ball). also, Danelectro already used roundwound strings on their basses at the end of the 50's, and John Entwistle discovered "rounds" this way, but they were not produced in sets, so he went to James How at Rotosound asking for roundwound strings.

also, the original strings on basses were not heavy as we are used to think, and Fender's original flats in the mid 50's were 50-95, so they only had an heavy G string, due to the sounds required those days.

the story "original bass is with flats and derived from the contrabass" is also historically wrong because the first attempt to create a "bass guitar" were made in the 1930's and 40's with acoustic instruments similar to guitars, with roundwound strings.
it was useless (as are today the acoustic basses), and only in the 50's Leo Fender designed the electric bass as an option for guitarists to play bass without having to learn the classical instrument, and to make it more portable.

it's, as the name says, a "bass guitar", so the lower register of a guitar (which can be alto (the E-E guitar), tenor or baritone). due to the fact that tenor and baritone are less common, we lost the "alto" name, unlike instruments like the saxophone (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass) and others.



and that's the point I'd like to enlight:

most of the players that despise light strings have never really played with them I've noticed this thing also with guitarists.

you can read things like "heavy has more bottom end!" or "more bass!" or "more definition!"

that's not true, and many players won't notice the difference just listening.

for example, here's the same bass with 43-110 and 30-90 Rotosound strings:

Dropbox - Macho Man - Precision Classic 50 - Rotosound FM66.mp3 - Simplify your life

Dropbox - Macho Man - Precision Classic 50 - Rotosound BS66.mp3 - Simplify your life

that's the same bass, with the right setup for both strings, brand new and recorded after few minutes of use, just to complete the setup.

could you actually tell one from another just by listening? same bass, same pick, same hands and mind.

and if you notice, the lower notes are more defined and clear with lighter strings, and just a bit brighter on the G, without losing impact.

ah, the action is lower with the 30-90, speaking in millimeters, with less rattles, and a bit higher with the 43-110, to avoid rattles (the bass had a fret dressing last year, so it can use 1mm actions without any problem).

the first and most important thing is the personal feeling: I started with 45-105, went to 50-110 up to 52-110, then gradually decreased until I reached the 30-90 and used them for years.
then went back to heavier (gradually) because I felt like doing it, and now I'm decreasing again and went back to 30-90 comparing them head to head.

the real difference is in the hands approach and feeling, the way lighter strings "bounce" against the frets, the different feeling when plucking and pressing them.

the "sound" is probably the least affected thing.

Real Macho Man play 110-190 strings.

 

[mikeswals]

At standard 440 tuning, I use 40-100 sets, and add a 125 B for my fivers. I just prefer the flexibility and snap.

I spent many years in original bands detuned half step, and I used 45-105, and may times had that E string tuned to a low C#. And for my fivers Id use a 130.
So the 40-100 flexibility at 440 is similar to a 45-105 detuned *to me*.

 

[HaphAsSard]

Oh, and let me address these two points as well:

the story "original bass is with flats and derived from the contrabass" is also historically wrong because the first attempt to create a "bass guitar" were made in the 1930's and 40's with acoustic instruments similar to guitars, with roundwound strings.
it was useless

You need to brush up your history yourself. Acoustic bass guitars, of various sizes, tunings and playing positions, have existed since the late 1800s (the Mexican guitarrón may be older). As for the first ever electric bass guitar, Paul Turmarc's 1936 Audiovox model 736 Bass Fiddle (q.v.) it was obviously not "acoustic" in any way, shape or form, but simply a short-scale (about 30") bass guitar just as we intend it: solid-body (actually neck-through), horizontally played, fretted, with a magnetic pickup (a split-coil, hum-cancelling one, to boot). In the late '40s, Paul's son Bud produced a very similar instrument, called the Serenader Bass (curiously, it was the first ever fretted/fretless bass, with the board going on unfretted past the 12th).
They were ahead of their time, homemade in small units and not adequately promoted, so they failed to create a market. However, apart from lack of adjustment at the bridge, there was nothing "useless" about them, as clear to the few who actually got to play them (and there's one gentleman on TB who owns one of each).
And yeah, they came with roundwounds.

it's, as the name says, a "bass guitar", so the lower register of a guitar (which can be alto (the E-E guitar), tenor or baritone). due to the fact that tenor and baritone are less common, we lost the "alto" name, unlike instruments like the saxophone (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass) and others.

Never was the normal, Spanish-tuned (E2 to e4) guitar ever called an "alto guitar" - so, no, we never "lost" the "alto" in the name - and I sincerely hope you've made it up (and not heard/read it anywhere), because this would at least mean it hasn't spread further. An actual alto guitar is typically tuned B2 to b4, a perfect fifth above standard.
In absolute terms, the central register of a standard-tuned guitar is already tenor as is. However, the instrument also easily extends into the baritone register. "Bass" and "baritone guitar" are terms (of the more, common, relative type) that are in common use, but they didn't have to be in the accepted sense they happen to have, nor is said acceptance universal: in classical guitar orchestras, the "bass guitar" is tuned B1 to b3 (as the baritone is, for the rest of us), and the "contrabass guitar", pace Anthony Jackson, is tuned E1 to e3, like the bass VI. As for the 4-string "tenor guitar", it only exists as an offshoot of the tenor banjo, with which it shares one tuning (C3-G3-D4-A4; please note it isn't the only conventional tuning for either instrument).

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

TBH, it doesn’t matter to me what gauge strings that anyone else uses. Whether it’s a big name pro or the other bass players in my area.
I use what works best for me.
I tend to pluck kind of hard, and light gauge strings just don’t work for me.

FWIW, I use standard gauge strings with hex cores. The higher tension that they are, the better for me.

 

[bobyoung53]

I've started to use light gauge when one of my basse's neck broken.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I used to use a 40-100 set. I like slapping (still ) although I don't do that much when I play gigs (because most of the stuff I play does not require it). I felt like my pops were nice and cutting, but the slaps missed the low end.

I tried a 50-110 set, and the slaps had enough low end, put the pops were not snappy enough.

A 45-105 set gives you the best of both worlds IMHO. And they feel nice.

I can see myself going to a lighter gauge when I get older, and if it feeels too stiff. I can compensate the tone using an EQ to some degree if needed.

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

I'm experimenting with some lighter strings at the moment, but I found I had to crank my action higher to get them to feel and sound right. They've not added any further comfort or improved my tone so I think I'll go back to 45-105 next string change.

 

[MattZilla]

OP not seen in fifteen years, was only active for a month, 147 zombie points. Nice one, fellas.

 

[Bflat]

Oh, and let me address these two points as well:

You need to brush up your history yourself. Acoustic bass guitars, of various sizes, tunings and playing positions, have existed since the late 1800s (the Mexican guitarrón may be older). As for the first ever electric bass guitar, Paul Turmarc's 1936 Audiovox model 736 Bass Fiddle (q.v.) it was obviously not "acoustic" in any way, shape or form, but simply a short-scale (about 30") bass guitar just as we intend it: solid-body (actually neck-through), horizontally played, fretted, with a magnetic pickup (a split-coil, hum-cancelling one, to boot). In the late '40s, Paul's son Bud produced a very similar instrument, called the Serenader Bass (curiously, it was the first ever fretted/fretless bass, with the board going on unfretted past the 12th).
They were ahead of their time, homemade in small units and not adequately promoted, so they failed to create a market. However, apart from lack of adjustment at the bridge, there was nothing "useless" about them, as clear to the few who actually got to play them (and there's one gentleman on TB who owns one of each).
And yeah, they came with roundwounds.

Never was the normal, Spanish-tuned (E2 to e4) guitar ever called an "alto guitar" - so, no, we never "lost" the "alto" in the name - and I sincerely hope you've made it up (and not heard/read it anywhere), because this would at least mean it hasn't spread further. An actual alto guitar is typically tuned B2 to b4, a perfect fifth above standard.
In absolute terms, the central register of a standard-tuned guitar is already tenor as is. However, the instrument also easily extends into the baritone register. "Bass" and "baritone guitar" are terms (of the more, common, relative type) that are in common use, but they didn't have to be in the accepted sense they happen to have, nor is said acceptance universal: in classical guitar orchestras, the "bass guitar" is tuned B1 to b3 (as the baritone is, for the rest of us), and the "contrabass guitar", pace Anthony Jackson, is tuned E1 to e3, like the bass VI. As for the 4-string "tenor guitar", it only exists as an offshoot of the tenor banjo, with which it shares one tuning (C3-G3-D4-A4; please note it isn't the only conventional tuning for either instrument).

Just for reference the Audiovox 736 came with round wound strings: 35 45 58 68 and the ferrules were small like on guitar strings. the bass string ferrules of today won't fit on the Audiovox.