Tuning a bass

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Garry Sharp said:
Rokket - you might be thinking about something else, there is a kind of bass that has like rubber bands for strings, very short scale, looks like a toy. Can't remember what it's called. Those nylon covered ones just go on a regular bass.
No, this was full sized, just funny looking, and it had a speaker built into it...
The strings were the black nylon. It was next to the short ones with the rubber bands. I could see the difference. But they have a lot of strange instruments in the guitar places over here. If I get a chance, I will take my digital camera with me next time I go and takes some pics for you to look at.
 
Mr # said nylon tape wounds are "dead, just no life or feel in them, and they feel kind of slimy under your fingers. They don't sound like an upright and they don't sound like a bass guitar."

THAT answers my question! They work fine with the piezo on the Ibanez.

Are we speaking of the Ashbory bass? Here's a history, which may or may not tell you how to tune it. http://www.ashelec.demon.co.uk/ashbory/
 

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I read far enough to discover it was named for Alun Ashworth-Jones and Nigel Thornbory, so I already know more than I did.
 
I've seen them here in Japan, like I said earlier. And the weird bass with the nylon strings was right next to it. I wish I could remember the name of it, I'd look it up. But I can take a picture of it the next time I go to the guitar store...
 
if a 6 string bass is tuned with a High B and a Low B how is a 7 string tuned ?
 
F-B-E-A-D-G-B.

Of course, if the 6-string does NOT have the first and last strings tuned to B, then the answer will be completely different.
 
Breaking Strings, Boiling Strings and Tuning!!!

Rokket said:
I've heard that a lot of bass players don't change their strings until one breaks (how often does that happen :confused: ). I don't do it because I am a cheap bastard. But also because I don't really like the sound of a new pair of strings. Too much excess noise. I play round wound strings because they have more punch, but I don't like the sound until they've been on my guitar for a couple months. Of course, that's just me. Opinions vary and are welcome...


Rokket I have had a time when I used to break my G on my Precision and could not work out why I did breake them. I did check everything, went to my guitar tech to get the bridge filed and finesanded, but really there were no rough spots noticeable so.............a mystery as to how that one came about.

As it is that bass is now in a different location, so I do not know whether the finesanding and filing has helped or not. It does surprise me that I did break the G often, as my playing technique has not changed so.................

Now to the string boiling and changing your stings:

I used to boil my stings very often, and really it is a "poor-man's" method to getting the sound of new strings. Does it work? Yes it does, but the brightness will soon fade away so you may be better off getting new strings in the first place, as this will save you time and effort.

Strings are far too expensive I believe but that is another subject altogether, but could be interwoven in the subject of this thread.

Do I like changing the strings on the bass often? No not really, I tend to keep them on for a long time as most of us do, however here is again a little story:

I have also a Jazz bass, which is still at my location here, with this one there is an undefinable "strange" sound somewhere. Had it checked and checked, and really it is all fine, but there is somewhere on the E a strange sound. Now I have discovered that changing the strings helps to muffle that sound, so really this instrument could do with changing stings more often that I would normally like to. I think the "strange" sound is just something in the woods, so it is in the nature of the bass. Also I really "like" it that you will start to notice these things after having played the instrument for years. It is almost like: The better you get to know your "childeren" the more you start to see their real behaviour, and usually this all comes out when you are recording, just in the middle of a take and you notice something like: "Well heh what the heck is that?" "Is there some kind of hum on my mike or is it my lead or...............?" and then you notice it is your instrument that has an extra added sound.................

Oh tuning eh? Okay last post was about 7 strings and 6 strings but I do not understand this: Is a 6 string not tuned like D-E-A-D-G-C ?that is low to high , all in perfect 4ths, right or...............?
So assuming this is right that the 7 string bass would have either an F at the top or an A at the bottom. Or is it that we do tune some stings in major 3rds? Have a feeling we may go over old ground here, expecially with all these nice links about 12 strings and alternative tunings, so if this is the case, please do not be offended by my lack of knowledge.

Eddie
 
Boiling does work, and it also will keep you employed

noisedude said:
I do worry about Garry sometimes. But does the boiling thing actually work? I live with an unemployed bassist who has changed his strings in at least the two years I've been here. I borrow his basses for recording but they both end up sounding like guitars that I've octave-dropped :eek:


Yes Nik it does work and your bass player may find that he is now fully employed as a kettle operator :D Just hope for you that he is willing to pay his share for the electricity bill :eek: as he may find that he need to boil almost any day just to keep that bright :) on his face

Eddie

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Some days you just want to keep things easy
 
lpdeluxe said:
F-B-E-A-D-G-B.

Of course, if the 6-string does NOT have the first and last strings tuned to B, then the answer will be completely different.
F ha ha! Thats what I said.

Well what is the standard tuning for a 6 string?

I said F B E A D G my friend argues with me and says G B E A D G simply because its more "logical" to have it that way. In reality neither of us have any idea.
 
taintedeity said:
F ha ha! Thats what I said.

Well what is the standard tuning for a 6 string?

I said F B E A D G my friend argues with me and says G B E A D G simply because its more "logical" to have it that way. In reality neither of us have any idea.
B E A D G C is the tuning on a six string. It's the same as a 5, but it adds the upper C....
 
So yeah... kinda like the order of sharps type of thing

F C G D A E B is the order in which strings are tuned?

What happened to the F# and C# ?

Or whatever... Im not much of music theory person but I know the order of sharps.
 
taintedeity said:
So yeah... kinda like the order of sharps type of thing

F C G D A E B is the order in which strings are tuned?

What happened to the F# and C# ?

Or whatever... Im not much of music theory person but I know the order of sharps.
Erm.. lol cancel that F# C#....
Why exactly would the top strings of a guitar be tuned B E and not C F ?
 
Why exactly would the top strings of a guitar be tuned B E and not C F?

The "conventional" ways of tuning a 5 string are B-E-A-D-G or E-A-D-G-C, depending on whether you want an extra bottom note or an extra treble note. Fender, in fact, tried to market a 5-string in the '60's with the high C tuning, and even cut off the fingerboard at the 15th fret to prevent unseemly bottom-string noodling. It was fated for an early demise. Anyhow, the top string is tuned to C to conform to the 4ths pattern across the neck, which allows the bassist to transfer his chops to the new tuning (as an aside, my stepson, an accomplished guitarist, tried playing my 5-string (B-E-A-D-G) but he couldn't adjust to the interval between the first and second strings being a 4th rather than the 3rd of guitar tuning, so his runs up the scale always ended up a semitone sharp!). For a bass player, tuning the top string to B (like a guitar) would cause the equivalent, and opposite problem: scale runs ending on the first string would probably end a semitone flat. This is more important than may seem at first glance, since a bass is ordinariily played much more percussively than a guitar, and "feel" is enhanced by not having to think about where you are on the fretboard.

There is a variation, for those who don't want to give up the 4-string but want the extended low end, of tuning to B-E-A-D. Of course, you lose the high G, but some people never play on other than the 2 lowest strings anyway.

The guitar has the opposing requirement: since it is a chordal instrument, triads must fall under the hand in order to be playable. As mentioned earlier, the mandolin gets around this difficulty by tuning in 5ths, which means that many major and minor chords can be played by fretting one or two courses of strings. The guitar, tuned in 4ths, requires more fretting, but the distances are less of a stretch so that 6-string chords are pretty common. Personally, I use a lot of open tuning on guitar and Dobro (I primarily play with a bottleneck or steel) and I have experimented with the 4ths tuning (E-A-D-G-C-F) and it just doesn't work. In this case tradition has it right.

So a typical 6 string would be tuned B-E-A-D-G-C, for an extended low end and an equally extended treble, without tampering with old 4-string habits.

It is also possible to tune a 6-string to E-A-D-G-B-E, just like a guitar, but I think you're getting into "baritone guitar" territory with that one.

Finally (no, not finally: there are an infinite number of ways to tune basses), some folks tune F-B-E-A-D-G, with the low F pitched 4 semitones below the low A on a piano, just because they can.
 
lpdeluxe said:
It is also possible to tune a 6-string to E-A-D-G-B-E, just like a guitar, but I think you're getting into "baritone guitar" territory with that one.

Standard baritone tuning = B-E-A-D-F#-B. I thought I was gonna try out a Denelectro baritone, at Guitar Center in Indy once, and quickly found out that baritone is a completely different "beast," than standard E-A-D-G-B-E guitar tuning. Then again, I was probably too giddy about actually finding a baritone to try, so I didn't think to just play the E-D strings open, to see if they were in tune...or even ask the guy next to me to play an open B, so I could check the baritone B strings.

I'm sure that once I actually get me a baritone (more likely an Epiphone LP), I'll have plenty of fun with it.

Matt
 
I forgot, there is a Gretsch model that's a bass/baritone, depending how it's strung and tuned. I forget the model name, but Musician's Friend used to sell 'em.

Matt
 
Standard baritone tuning = B-E-A-D-F#-B.

So it's tuned a 4th below a standard guitar (= 5th above a bass)? It doesn't sound terribly useful...maybe why I don't see a lot of 'em around.
 
lpdeluxe said:
So it's tuned a 4th below a standard guitar (= 5th above a bass)? It doesn't sound terribly useful...maybe why I don't see a lot of 'em around.

Check out Musician's Friend, under "7-string & low tuned." The Gibson baritone is definately out of my range, which is why I'm shooting for the Epiphone. Danelectro, Epiphone, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Italia and Schecter all make baritones, with the Ibanez being a Mike Mushok sig. model. Like I'd mentioned, in a previous reply, I'd thought that Bert Kaempfert and His Orchestra used a baritone, but it's actually a tuned up concert bass. I'm wanting to develop my own style of surfadelic rock, which is why I'm wanting a baritone. Depending on the manufacturer, the neck scale on a baritone is between a guitar and bass...the longer scale being useful to be able to tune lower, without ending up with "rubber band" strings. Gibson's LP baritone scale is 28", while the Epiphone LP baritone is 27 1/4". I don't think 3/4" is gonna make that much of a difference. :)

Matt
 
Warning at 12-string bass tuning site?

I don't really understand the warning, at that site. For 12-string guitar, I've been told it's best to not tune all strings to the same respective notes, since the tension that would be put on the neck could cause it to bend or warp. I forget what I was told, about how far below the roots that the octaves should be tuned, however. I'd suspect this would be the same with a 12-string bass, with 2 octave strings per root. Could it be that I'm missing the point of the warning, since I'm thinking about acoustic 12-string guitars that might not have a bolt-on neck?

Um...okay, never mind. I've still got that page up, as I'm typing this, and upon popping back over real quick, I noticed that some of the tunings are up tunings. My bad...I'll consider myself dully warned.

Matt (not ashamed to admit fault in public)
 
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