36" scale strings

[crgaston]

What brands and types of strings will work on a 36 scale Alembic?
 
Thanks,
 
Charles

[keavin]

I bought some DR's fat beams for my bass & those suckers were 6 feet long each!...you could use em for a freakin clothes line!

[David Houck]

TI makes 36 strings, and I believe several other makers do as well.

[bob]

Depends on how many strings you need. TI looks to only be offering 36 in four string sets right now, though you can get 5 or 6 string sets flat or round in 34. [edit: wrong, they do offer some 5 string sets]
 
The length can be tricky. Alembic tends to be somewhat flexible, shall we say, on the distance between the tailpiece and bridge, so on some extra long scale instruments you might get away with a 34 set and others not.
 
If you try to use shorter scale strings, you might end up with the silk windings in the nut - but then you can also shave some of this off (after applying some nail polish or similar, to prevent further unravelling).
 
(Message edited by bob on June 06, 2006)

[crgaston]

Thanks guys.
 
I have been toying with the idea of a 36 BEAD 4 for a while, but it is still off in the nebulous future somewhere at this point, so maybe in a couple of years there will be more chioces available.  I'll remember to specify a short bridge-to-tailpiece length.  The DR's on my Rogue would make it 36 if the tailpiece were just a hair closer.  
 
 I wonder if it would matter if the reduction in diameter started somewhere in the nut instead of having the full string diameter for the whole length of the slot.
 
Bob, funny you should mention that; I used to have to cut the silk off Alembic NK-2's when using them on my 35 Modulus, but only on the B string.
 
Charles

[dfung60]

There are a number of GHS strings that come in Long Scale Plus which is appropriate for 35 and 36 basses (these are also the ones you buy for basses that string through the body).  I like Boomers on some of my basses and nobody else seems to like them at all, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
 
You may have minor intonation problems on the open strings if the full windings aren't passing through the nut, but this will disappear when you fret.  The problem with trying to make do with shorter strings is that there's often sharp edges in the silk area, so you run the risk of getting poked when your down there.
 
David Fung