Why don't more manunfacturers make balanced tension string sets?

[AK Bass Guy]

I think the point is that you do not have to make the choice.

Yes I got that part.
So we can end any confusion here.
Yes you can find strings that will be balanced for tone and tension.
I’m still in the string experimenting stage and if I have choose while still experimenting I choose tone over tension.

 

[micguy]

Well I’m happy for you.
I’m still in the experimental stages and will be happy when I find my ideal set.

Best of luck to you - it's out there, but you may have to buy singles to get your ideal "set". With 4 string basses, I had no problems getting packaged sets that work for me. With a 5 string...not even close.

 

[Lo-E]

I’m a fan of balanced tension, personally. I’ve used D’Addario BT sets for a long time with no compromise (in my opinion) in tone.
I also like the GHS Balanced Nickels and often order custom DR sets in 45-60-80-105 to make up my own BT sets.

I also agree with @JimmyM that some brands balance their tension pretty well without advertising it, such as Dunlop Super Brights. I find many of the Ken Smith sets to be well balanced, too (made by GHS but they’re spec’ed by KS).

So, overall, I agree with the OP that it’s a little surprising that BT isn’t more readily available or marketed. That said, I used normal (unbalanced) sets for decades without ever considering I was missing something and I suspect that’s the norm so there’s a lot of inertia to overcome in introducing a new standard.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

Best of luck to you - it's out there, but you may have to buy singles to get your ideal "set". With 4 string basses, I had no problems getting packaged sets that work for me. With a 5 string...not even close.

I’m mostly happy with my medium scale choice. EB Cobalt Slinky in D standard tuning. My short scale is bit more problematic because of the usual short scale tonality challenges. I don’t expect to have a prefect E string on a short scale but a nicer G would be appreciated.

 

[Gorn]

Lack of demand. Like many aspects of playing bass, I think this place can give a false impression that most bass players know about our care about these nuanced things.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

Lack of demand. Like many aspects of playing bass, I think this place can give a false impression that most bass players know about our care about these nuanced things.

Other issue is a lot of shops are vey guitar centric and bass guitar choices are limited.
I live in a small city and all the local shops here have much less choices for bass guitar.
Which leaves me ordering way too often online from mega corps. I always try and buy local when I can but most of the time what I want isn’t available locally.

 

[JimmyM]

Lack of demand. Like many aspects of playing bass, I think this place can give a false impression that most bass players know about our care about these nuanced things.

Yeah, but if it matters to you, it really matters. That's why D'addario makes sets that way.

 

[micguy]

I’m mostly happy with my medium scale choice. EB Cobalt Slinky in D standard tuning. My short scale is bit more problematic because of the usual short scale tonality challenges. I don’t expect to have a prefect E string on a short scale but a nicer G would be appreciated.

On a 34" 5'er, the Low E (as played on the B string) is a 25.5 inch vibrating string length (if you put a capo there, you have a 25.5 inch "strat" scale bass). That note, on my 5's sounds very good - more solid than the open E string. Getting a good sounding E string on a short scale is easier than getting a good B string on a full scale bass - you need a bigger gauge than you'd use on a 34, but not THAT much bigger.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

On a 34" 5'er, the Low E (as played on the B string) is a 25.5 inch vibrating string length (if you put a capo there, you have a 25.5 inch "strat" scale bass). That note, on my 5's sounds very good - more solid than the open E string. Getting a good sounding E string on a short scale is easier than getting a good B string on a full scale bass - you need a bigger gauge than you'd use on a 34, but not THAT much bigger.

Does the same B string problem track over to BEAD tuning. Sounds like it would. I was thinking about going BEAD on a full scale? It’s basically the only way for me to play most notes on full scale neck comfortably, I have a permanent left hand injury.
Give me something to do with my roasted maple neck from Warmoth.

 

[Gorn]

Other issue is a lot of shops are vey guitar centric and bass guitar choices are limited.
I live in a small city and all the local shops here have much less choices for bass guitar.
Which leaves me ordering way too often online from mega corps. I always try and buy local when I can but most of the time what I want isn’t available locally.

There are mom and pop online stores. It's not supporting local business, unless you're local to them, but it's supporting a small business, at least.

 

[Jazzdogg]

I'd like to learn more about the interrelationship between tension, feel, and sound.
Any threads, or other resources, will be appreciated.

 

[J Wilson]

Because like most things, one particular product is very rarely ever adopted across the board by everyone.

It works great for some guys, but obviously the take rate is not high enough for most manufacturers to jump in. And in a lot of case, manufacturers that publish tension charts, you can order singles and get awfully close anyway.

It sounded like a good idea, so I tried several sets for fives. To me, you're never going to make that B feel like the other four, and the other four felt like I'd strung it up with four A or D strings.

I suppose you actually couldn't teach this old dog new tricks, but again, others love them. Just didn't work for me

 

[Yahboy]

Most of the string sets I look at are pretty badly specced, especially on 5 string. the B string is always too thin compared to the rest of the strings and there's just overall a wide difference between string tension. It must be that people don't care, right? To me, it feels much better when the strings are similar in tension. If a company is starting why not make all their strings balanced. Could it also be some of the guitar/ bass traditionalism?

The best solution are swap your 34/35 scale 5 string bass with multi scale........

 

[Ljk225]

The best solution are swap your 34/35 scale 5 string bass with multi scale........

I'd like to meet some of the crazies who play multiscale fretless they're braver than i

 

[Dincrest]

It's very easy to get lost in the tension numbers rabbit hole. Yes, it's great that information like that is pretty accessible (at least from D'Addario, GHS, Stringjoy, and some others) and is useful if you have an older bass with a weak truss rod that can no longer handle heavy strings (just like our bodies in our 40s can't handle the stresses they could when we were in our 20s). But sometimes the more information we have ready access to, the more we start poring over it and getting hung up on things (like tension numbers) to the point where we miss the forest for the trees.

As a classic overthinker, I got myself lost in that tension numbers rabbit hole (I'm a notorious string GASer) and finally said to heck with it and will use whatever off-the-shelf string sets feel and sound best to me on my basses. I'm working on adopting a "think less, play more" mentality. I still think tension numbers are a useful tool and great information to have. But they shouldn't be the end-all-be-all. Go figure, my fingers and ears like 45-100 gauged NPS roundwounds best on EADG tuned basses, which can be all over the place in terms of tension.

(My main bass currently has GHS Roundcore Boomers 45-100 and those strings feel and sound AMAZING. I couldn't care less about what the tension numbers on the chart say https://ghsrep.net/uploads/2/2/2/5/22258814/2020-ghs-bass-guitar-tension.pdf I let my fingers and my body be the judge. Think less, feel more. Think less, play more. (My ballroom dance instructor always tells me "think less, dance more.") I want to try DR Pure Blues 45-100 on my bass's next setup, since they seem to be a good alternative to these GHS Roundcore Boomers, cost less, and I've always liked DR strings.)

And it's like with dating. Sometimes you'll meet a girl who meets all the criteria on your checklist but when you go on an actual date with her, that "spark" just isn't there. And the opposite holds true too. You might encounter a girl who's not really your type, but you have a great time with her.

 

[JimmyM]

The B string would have to be really fat. To the point it probably wouldn't fit in the bridge saddle or nut slot. Unless you have a multi-scale bass. I put together an even tension set for my Dingwall and it's great.

That is the truth, and it’s why my fondness for balanced tension only goes as far as the E string. I use a 120 B on 34” scale because it sounds like it actually came from the same set instead of sounding dead like heavier gauges. The lack of tension doesn’t bother me there. I wish the rest of the strings were that loose, actually. And while I have a ton of respect for Sheldon Dingwall going it alone for many years and sticking to his guns, ain’t no way I can play multi scales even if I wanted to. Which I don’t. No desire whatsoever. Please don’t try to sell me.

 

[Ritter667]

On a 34" 5'er, the Low E (as played on the B string) is a 25.5 inch vibrating string length (if you put a capo there, you have a 25.5 inch "strat" scale bass). That note, on my 5's sounds very good - more solid than the open E string. Getting a good sounding E string on a short scale is easier than getting a good B string on a full scale bass - you need a bigger gauge than you'd use on a 34, but not THAT much bigger.

I found that using the same gauge for 30" short scale basses as you use on your 34", but adjusting, especially your right hand, technique accordingly to the lesser tension is the key for great tone.

The shorter scale length the stiffer, exponentially, strings gets when you go up in gauge, resulting in the dreaded thud sound/tone (stiffness has got a relation to tension, but it is not the same, really stiffness is more of a function between scale/vibrating length, gauge and tension).

 

[Dincrest]

and then you have strings like LaBella RX steel 40-118 gauge... I don't know what sorcery LaBella uses, but that 118 B feels and sounds better than many 125 and 130 Bs I've tried, even on 34" scale basses.

All the tension charts would tell me that that 118 B shouldn't work, it's a bad match, yadda yadda yadda... but it works! (I like LaBella Rx Steels. I call them "steel with a nickel feel" strings. They're great). A 130 B string might be a better "tension match" with a 40-95 set, but that 130 B feels and sounds too "tubby" to me. I preferred a 125 B when I played 5ers. So, yeah, tension numbers ain't everything.

I fell down that tension numbers rabbit hole for a while myself. But then I said "to heck with it" and just started listening to my hands (and ears to an extent). Think less, feel more. Think less, play more. And, like I said before, my hands and ears are all about the 45-100 gauge on an EADG 4-string. Tension charts would tell me that "wrong" that the numbers are all over the place, but my hands like what they like. And if my hands like it, I will play more. And that's what it's all about.

 

[Toptube]

Most of the string sets I look at are pretty badly specced, especially on 5 string. the B string is always too thin compared to the rest of the strings and there's just overall a wide difference between string tension. It must be that people don't care, right? To me, it feels much better when the strings are similar in tension. If a company is starting why not make all their strings balanced. Could it also be some of the guitar/ bass traditionalism?

Most of GHS' sets are balanced tension.

Their Pure Nickels are their most tightly balanced product. And I think Roundcore Boomers may be the second most closely balanced. As those two products were designed with balance as a goal. They publish a tension chart, which they have linked front and center in their site.

Their quality/consistency is also the best, IMO.


As mentioned, Dunlop Super Brights are pretty good on balance. Even though they arent exactly 'balanced'.

 

[Pier_]

honestly i think it's as simple as people like numbers that end in 0 or 5. 40 60 80 100 is easer to say, to see, to remember, and to hear, than 43 56 72 101. Also when sending specs to manufacturers making them it's easier for them to decipher. SO EASE OF USE

well, that can be true, but also not true if you look at what guitar sets offer, and they are all odd and different, but people only look at the first and last gauge (FE: 10-46, 09-42)

custom and endorsed sets usually have a lot of specific numbers, lighter G and D string, heavier E ecc.

only bass sets, if I don't remember wrong, started with "even" sets due to Ernie Ball, because Fender sets were odd, Rotosound RS66LD in the 60's mentioned the exact gauges (48-63-82-102), then switched to "written 45-105", but still makes them with those gauges,
their Jazz77 also are like this: the 45-105 set has 50-70 as G and D, and the 50-110 set has 55-75 G and D.

La Bella uses a lot of odd sets, but also have the "even" sets.

IMHO "balanced sets" are not usually that balanced, and I still prefer odd sets, for example I like heavier G (Rotosound RS66LD, GHS P-flats 55-105) and lighter E strings, because the finger's arc and position prefer to have lighter strings far away and lighter strings nearby.