Piccolo

[thumbsup]

What is typical tuning and guage strings for piccolo tuning?
I've got some 4 string basses laying around and thought I'd give piccolo a stab for some recording.
And what if for 5 string?

[jazzyvee]

I think it's an octave higher than a regular bass. Though I wonder if Stanley would have a piccolo tuned an octave higher than his tenor bass tuning.
 
 
Jazzyvee

[mike1762]

When I bought my 1st Alembic (a Spoiler) it was strung-up as a piccolo.  The folks at ABG told me Stanley had actually used it for a work-shop he had done in Atlanta.  THAT was some mighty tight string tension (even with really light gauge strings).

[bass6]

I recall reading somewhere that tenor bass = A bass tuned an Octave higher ( E,A,D,G,)  and the Piccolo is a bass tuned(A,D,G,C,)Which is a bit lower than the tenor bass. The Piccolo bass Would use reg. bass strings w/ the high C and minus the low E.I found that some guitar strings work well for the tenor set-up i.e. Guitar EADG Minus the B and high E strings. There is less string tension with reg. guitar strings when tuned as a tenor bass. Hope this helps

[pierreyves]

Tenor bass I play actually is like Stanley's tenor basses = ADGC. Piccolo bass I played in the 80's is EADG but one octave higher. You can find some strings but I don't know where.
Here is one of my songs (the piccolo Alembic serie I is the second chorus after Oberheim synthe):
http://www.batraciens-reptiles.com/some%20funk.swf
The intro was made with Musicman bass

[darkstar01]

i buy most of my strings from juststrings.com, and the d'addario piccolo sets are EADG an octave higher, gauges are .052 .042 .032 and a plain steel .020 . they're great strings, but you will definitely need to set your bass up for them. i tried using them on my Distillate, but the action was just way too high. i usually use them on a jazz bass.

[mike1762]

Yea... I definitely had to start-over with the set-up on my Spoiler.  I would imagine that most piccolo set-ups are on short scale basses.  No offense intended, but what is the point of using guitar tuning on a bass (solo stuff???)  I'm not a fan of Jazz/Jazz-Fusion, so I've never really listened to music that utilizes the tuning.

[darkstar01]

i just use it for solo stuff, because i can't really play guitar to save my life. it does kind of have it's own sound though. i definitely wouldn't say even my 70's jazz bass with emg's sounds like a guitar when i put piccolo strings on it, because it doesn't at all.  
i wouldn't call it the most practical thing ever, though. i've heard of guys playing 6 string piccolos tuned EADGBE, and that really doesn't make much sense at all.  
my own 2 cents, at least.

[thumbsup]

I play guitar also but try not to sound like a furstrated guitar player when i play bass with other pieces!
i acidentily caught some piccolo players on u tube and thought it was pretty cool but have never tried that tunning and i can see playing piccolo in some instances in a group setting!  
So am I to understand piccolo tunning is simply  EADG an octave higher than standard A440.
And tenor is standard A440 ADGC ?

[darkstar01]

yeah I'm pretty sure that's right. just like the high 4 strings on a 6 string bass.

[pierreyves]

here is a complete set with serie I piccolo bass. I did this with drum machine Oberheim, Oberheim OB8, Musicman bass. This is Atlanta from Clarke/Duke project:
http://www.batraciens-reptiles.com/Atlanta.swf
you can listen with flashplayer plugin

[bass6]

Another option for tenor bass= bass strings DGCF and avoid tuning up a whole step.You would have to transpose constantly, but you can get use to it.This tuning would avoid the tight string tension.I dont like that eitherI do recall Stanley Clarke Playing a Tenor bass ( school days)I dont remember the song though.

[David Houck]

Club member Hugh Bonar (hb3) does a lot of recording with piccolo bass.  He's posted some solo things that I thought were beautiful.

[David Houck]

Here is Hugh's Machineries of Joy; this shows of the kind of voice you get can with piccolo bass.

[hb3]

I was wondering who was playing that