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Change 4-string from EADG to BEAD?


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I actually bought a Squier VM Precision about a year ago with the sole intention of trying this out. Let's face it, is not the most prestigious of instruments when it comes to construction and certainly doesn't ship with a graphite neck, but it's been absolutely fine to gig with. It's actually tuned up a step to C (to match the guitarists who are tuned down accordingly) so is under even more tension than it would be as a normal BEAD, though I guess it helps that I like 'em fairly light, so it's strung 60, 75, 95, 125 which will help to keep the tension down. The nut was dead easy to sort; just used an old set of the same gauge strings as 'files' to get the slots to the perfect width at the same depth as before. The neck stayed put; all that was needed was to tweak the saddles and intonation.

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Will not wreck the neck at all. I think truss rods and neck adjustments are often painted as some sort of dark art, but what you have to remember is it's really just a bit of wood with some metal in it. Changing the tuning/strings on your bass will be fine but will need a good setup to have it playing nicely. Your bridge/saddles and nut will be the main problem here but you should totally go for it.

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If you look on the back of a packet of D'Addario strings they give you the tension of each string.

eg on a EXL170-5SL set for 36" scale
G 48.5lbs
D 55.7lbs
A 46.5lbs
E 40.5lbs
B 39.0lbs

I'm no expert but looking at that I would guess that swapping a G for a B means less tension on the neck.

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[quote name='el borracho' post='1234446' date='May 17 2011, 08:40 AM']If you look on the back of a packet of D'Addario strings they give you the tension of each string.

eg on a EXL170-5SL set for 36" scale
G 48.5lbs
D 55.7lbs
A 46.5lbs
E 40.5lbs
B 39.0lbs

I'm no expert but looking at that I would guess that swapping a G for a B means less tension on the neck.[/quote]

+1

B strings are, generally speaking, fairly low-tension.

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I use BEAD exclusively at the moment. My P and Sterling have been absolutely fine with the change, all that was required was some minor filing of the nut slots to fit the low B string, a slight truss rod tweak, and saddle adjustment for intonation/action. I use the bottom four strings from a regular 5 string set and discard the G.

So, go for it! I say leave the G string to the guitarists :)

Edited by Wil
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