Regular 34" Bass tuned up to ADGC (or near offer)

[Waddo Soqable]

As above, has anyone tried this and what gauge strings did you use? 

The obvious method I guess would be to dump the E string, and shunt the A D and G up a notch, then find a skinny string from somewhere to be the C.  Or would I need an extra light set to start with? 

I'm presuming if using the existing AD+G the tensions required would be the same as when they were in the conventional 'slots'. No doubt the pull on the neck would be somewhat different and need trus rod tweaks, no big deal really I'd think.. 

Any Intel most welcome guys.... 

[Hellzero]

0.145 for A

0.110 for D

0.065 for G

0.032 for C

[Hellzero]

But if you want a piccolo tuning try the D'addario EXL280 set, that's what Michael Manring is using for his multi-tuning Zon Hyperbass.

[Baloney Balderdash]

The official term for a 4 string bass guitar tuned A to C (as the top 4 strings of a regular B standard tuning tuned 6 string bass) is a "tenor bass" (I realize this is an oxymoron, but non the less the official term, and makes sense when you realize it is actually named after the 4 string instrument that is called a tenor guitar, rather than it's frequency range), Stanley Clarke makes a lot of use of tenor bass both live and on recordings, and got one of his signature alembics always being strung up and tuned this way, similarly such is also part Victor Wooten's standard live arsenal of instruments too, with one of his signature Ying/Yang Foderas always being strung up and tuned this way.

 

I realize I am not really answering your question, but I am really tired, a bit more info in this thread that I started a few weeks back though:

 

But to answer your actual question, yes, whatever strings and gauges you prefer for respectively your A, D and G strings currently, and then something like a gauge .032 or .030 string, depending, for the high C.

 

You can buy strings individually, or get a 6 string set and just use the top 4 strings of the set, and you can compare gauges and tension here (based on D'Addario strings, but will approximate most other brands): https://wahiduddin.net/calc/calc_guitar_tension_from_size.htm

 

Personally I prefer an as close as possible to perfectly balanced tension between all strings.

 

If you are in doubt of which to chose I would probably recommend a string  set made up by respectively gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .032 regular nickel-plated roundwound steel hex core strings.

 

Nut slots ought to be fine without any issues whatsoever, and by far most likely there will be absolutely no need to cut a new nut, do expect the need for a basic setup though, with truss rod/neck relief, string action, and intonation needing to be (re)adjusted/set.

 

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Waddo Soqable]

Cheers gents, all good stuff. It's something I fancied experimenting with on the Headless thing I "made" as I think it'd work and sound well with it. 

Interesting that it's termed tenor bass.. I've in fact got a tenor guitar, well OK it's a regular acoustic guitar that I cut the neck down width wise and strung up with 4 strings. It works very well, surprisingly ( bearing in mind I'm a Neanderthal guitarist) .  Technically it's possibly a plectrum guitar rather than tenor as it's got a longer guitar length scale whatever. I'll have a dig about thru my selection of used strings and see if there's owt that'd do for the high C. 

Thanks for the gauge guidance, that'll be handy 👍

[velvetkevorkian]

11 hours ago, Hellzero said:

0.145 for A

0.110 for D

0.065 for G

0.032 for C

The A/D/G gauges here seem like you're tuning a BEAD set down?

[Baloney Balderdash]

1 hour ago, velvetkevorkian said:

The A/D/G gauges here seem like you're tuning a BEAD set down?

Those gauges that @Hellzero listed makes very little sense to be honest, and certainly not at all in relation to OP's actual question.

 

The gauges seems to suggest a tuning like this (following the tuning listed by Hellzero )

 

Gauge .145 = A0

Gauge .110 = D1

Gauge .065 = G2 (and honestly that would be ridiculously high tension and tight to the point on not playable, G1 tuning on the other hand would make it ridiculously floppy to the point of not playable, really seems more suited for a D2 tuning)

Gauge .032 = C3

 

I can't think of anyone who would want to tune their bass like that, and as said the gauge .065 tuned to G makes little sense regardless, certainly not what OP asked for, and even if one would use this tuning the suggested gauges would result in a tension wise highly imbalanced set of strings.

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[PaulThePlug]

Rotosound Swing Set of 30-85 or 30-90 Funkmaster sounds! Ideal...

Edited March 10, 2023 by PaulThePlug

[Hellzero]

Yep, @Baloney Balderdash and @velvetkevorkian I play bass, not guitar, so it's a standard tuning for bass with a low G# and I used to play 8 strings (not octave) basses, so yes it's fully usable.

 

Check Yves Carbonne work.

 

Stankey Clarke and Victor Wooten play tenor basses, but Stanley Clarke is using a short scale bass for that, which seems more suited for these guitarist tunings.

 

According to Michael Manring, the piccolo set he's using is the best gauge for his multi-tuning approach, meaning the strings can go down or up without being too flappy or breaking when going up.

 

Won't make friends, but balanced sets are pure marketing bullshìt.

[Baloney Balderdash]

42 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

Rotosound Swing Set of 30-85 or 30-90 Funkmaster sounds! Ideal...

85 and certainly 90 seems a little tight to me for tuning A1, and in comparison to those A string gauges .030 seems a little floppy for tuning to C3, certainly not very balanced tension wise.

 

I mean not ridiculously so, but certainly wouldn't be ideal for me personally.

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

4 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Yep, @Baloney Balderdash and @velvetkevorkian I play bass, not guitar, so it's a standard tuning for bass with a low G# and I used to play 8 strings (not octave) basses, so yes it's fully usable.

 

Check Yves Carbonne work.

 

Stankey Clarke and Victor Wooten play tenor basses, but Stanley Clarke is using a short scale bass for that, which seems more suited for these guitarist tunings.

 

According to Michael Manring, the piccolo set he's using is the best gauge for his multi-tuning approach, meaning the strings can go down or up without being too flappy or breaking when going up.

 

Won't make friends, but balanced sets are pure marketing bullshìt.

First of all that's quite a list of highly subjective opinions there that has very little to do with actual facts.

 

Also how exactly does that help OP?

 

Further more Victor Wooten uses a regular 34" scale bass as his tenor bass (as said the official term for this kind of A1 to C3 tuning on a 4 string bass guitar), and he seems to be doing quite okay, despite maybe not being quite as much of a real bassist as you from your perspective.

 

Regardless a gauge .065 string still makes little sense on a 34" scale, or a 30" scale for that matter, instrument for tuning to G, regardless of octave (it will, as I said, end up respectively either unplayably tight or unplayably floppy), and regardless of how much of a real man and bassist you might not might not be (I'll let however you even are supposed to grade that up to you).

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Waddo Soqable]

To be doubly clear I am indeed tuning Up here rather than down ( so called tenor bass tuning it seems) ..

I'll have a hunt thru my bag of assorted old strings and show them to the digital caliper in a bit, you guys have given me food for thought & some useful and interesting info, much appreciated 
 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Waddo Soqable

[Matt P]

85-65-45-35 would be my starting point ( taking the tensions and diameters from a standard 100-45 set, from a glance at the tension figures for the 6 string D'addario XL set the 32 for the C seems a bit on the low side compared to the others so bumping it up to 35 should help.

 

D'addario used to have a fantastic string tension calculator for this sort of thing but i's been out of action for ages (supposed to be back up this year at some point.

 

one option is to give Newtone a try, they charge about the same for a custom set as a regular set so you could tailor a set to suit. (I haven't tried the Newtone bass strings yet but I've been using the acoustic guitar strings exclusively for about 15 years now and won't buy anything else)

 

Matt

[Hellzero]

4 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

First of all that's quite a list of highly subjective opinions there that has very little to do with actual facts.

 

Also how exactly does that help OP?

 

Further more Victor Wooten uses a regular 34" scale bass as his tenor bass (as said the official term for this kind of A1 to C3 tuning on a 4 string bass guitar), and he seems to be doing quite okay, despite maybe not being quite as much of a real bassist as you from your perspective.

 

Regardless a gauge .065 string still makes little sense on a 34" scale, or a 30" scale for that matter, instrument for tuning to G, regardless of octave (it will, as I said, end up respectively either unplayably tight or unplayably floppy), and regardless of how much of a real man and bassist you might not might not be (I'll let how you even grade that up to you).

 

 

 

You're a very aggressive person, and your opinion about the subject is as subjective as mine, and sorry for you, but you don't own the only truth.

 

That said, I have a Ying Yang Standard, so I think I quite like Victor Wooten, but I don't play the way he plays and I'm glad I don't.

 

Furthermore, I would like to know when did I write that Victor Wooten is not using a 34 inches scale bass in tenor tuning?

[Waddo Soqable]

Easy guys, I really appreciate everyone's input, advice and opinions on this, particularly as it's not something I've considered before! 

Shunting my existing strings over a notch gives me as they stand..

A 80   D 60  G 45  I found a potential C at 30 but it wasn't long enough.. I've got another bag of random regular Git strings that I'm hunting for amongst my junk, I'd think I'll be bound to have something 30 to 35 in with that lot. 

My intention is to give it a try with what I've got available already, as proof of concept and if I think it's going to be a useful / desirable thing, I'll look at getting a 'proper' set as mentioned above. 

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

19 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Easy guys, I really appreciate everyone's input, advice and opinions on this, particularly as it's not something I've considered before! 

Shunting my existing strings over a notch gives me as they stand..

A 80   D 60  G 45  I found a potential C at 30 but it wasn't long enough.. I've got another bag of random regular Git strings that I'm hunting for amongst my junk, I'd think I'll be bound to have something 30 to 35 in with that lot. 

My intention is to give it a try with what I've got available already, as proof of concept and if I think it's going to be a useful / desirable thing, I'll look at getting a 'proper' set as mentioned above. 

 

D'Addario, if that is your preferred string brand, do make individual purchasable single regular nickel-plated roundwound strings made to fit a regular 34" scale bass of the gauges .030, .032 and .035 .

 

Of those the gauge .032 one will be the closest match to the set you mention tension wise.

 

It will be slightly lower tension than the other strings in the set, but the highest string of bass string sets usually is, better than it being higher tension than the rest, as thin strings with too much tension has a tendency to dig into your finger, and actually feel stiffer than thicker strings of similar tension, as well as they won't need as much room to vibrate either compared to thicker strings of similar tension.

 

Also a gauge .032 string is pretty much standard for the high C of 6 string bass sets.

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Waddo Soqable]

I'm not bothered about brands at all, as long as they're round wound they'll do for me 😁

[Waddo Soqable]

Plus the bass I'm doing this with is headless ( not double end strings) so I've got a bit of leeway with string lengths.. a regular guitar string would likely do for C

[Baloney Balderdash]

20 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

I'm not bothered about brands at all, as long as they're round wound they'll do for me 😁

Well, different brands and models of strings, even if the same basic type, tends to be made a little differently (small variation in the composition and treatment of the alloys used, how tight they are wound, core thickness and shape e.t.c), so it is recommendable to stick to one brand and type/model of strings for one set/instrument, for a more consistent feel and tone.

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Waddo Soqable]

1 minute ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Well, different brands and models of strings tends to be made a little differently, so it is recomendable to stick to one brand and type of string for one set/instrument, for more consistent eel and tone.

I take your point of course, as I say at this stage it's a try out, I'll treat it to a proper set if I like the experiment