Bass strings for SRV band

[David Houck]

Nick; 32 strings are designed to be tuned to E-A-D-G on a 32 bass.  Take a set of 32 strings and put them on a 34 bass; now put a capo on the first fret.  You now have, essentially, a 32 bass.  Tune the bass to E-A-D-G; the strings are at their proper tension.  Now take the capo off; the strings are still at proper tension, but the bass is tuned to Eb-Ab-Db-Gb.
 
I haven't done this myself (I don't play in a band that tunes to Eb), and thus don't know which strings would not have issues with threads and with windings that wouldn't be long enough.  But if your strings don't have these issues, then putting 32 strings on a 34 bass gives you normally tensioned strings tuned to Eb.

[edwin]

Beyond scale length, I don't think there is anything intrinsically different about short scale strings from long scale strings. The main issue is not to have the outer windings wrap around the tuning post in order to reduce the likelihood of the string unraveling. Other than that, it's just a question of string gauge.

[sonicus]

Dave,____ What if the strings will not  be long enough ?

[David Houck]

Wolf; that's why I mentioned threads and wrappings; a lot of strings wouldn't work.

[sonicus]

HI edwin. You must have made your just before I clicked on mine to post.   OK then _____

[bsee]

Dave, I see no point in using a 32 scale string. The difference between the tension comes from the gauge and mass of the string. Just bump up one size and it should compensate plenty for the tuning change. A 32 set of 45-105 shouldn't do any better for tension than a 34 set of the same type and gauge.

[afrobeat_fool]

For me it is the constant thought process while playing. It is difficult to transpose. But to think of playing in Eb when my fingers are hitting what they know to be E natural, and to arpeggiate in that key and to move in the relative minors and tri-tone substitutions, not to mention moving thru modes.((ahhhhh!)) I'm freaking out. And then to play the next song in a standard tuning with a different axe. Weird. It is much easier to transpose as I have done for 25 years, and use the SF-2 to generate low bass response.  
  What about the cloth string winding in the nut with shorter strings, not to mention Edwin's point of unwinding around the tuning post? I think it is an interesting idea though, Dave.  
 
Nick

[David Houck]

A decade and a half or so ago, my guitar player shows up to rehearsal with his guitar tuned down and asks me to do the same on my bass.  So I tune down and we play some tunes and the strings are just lying on the frets and buzzing all over the place and have no feel and response to them, and I'm thinking to myself that I've got an amazing bass (Alembic Essence) with wonderful strings (TI's) and I love the way my bass sounds and feels under my fingers; so why am I tuned down and putting up with this mushy tactile response.  So I said no, we're not doing this; and tuned back up to E.  I was a lot harder to get along with back then.

[sonicus]

That wet noodle bass string thing is lame ! good for you Dave!

[terryc]

Dave, the same happened to me just a few weeks ago, a show band needed a dep, so I learnt the songs(which didn't float my boat) and when I got there he announced everything was half tone down, I said 'why?', he said so he didn't have to change the keys for his voice.
I said he was cheating as opera singers don't say to the orchestra, 'change down please I can't handle this'
He said if it is a problem you might as well leave..well I did as I am too old to put up with crap like that from people like him.
I never understood this dropped tuning stuff, if you want to play beyond Eb then get a five stringer or get the keys player to play the same notes to compensate.
Keep it concert, that is what I say

[David Houck]

Terry; yes, the singer in your situation apparently doesn't get the relationship between fingers and strings and instruments.  As far as dropped tuning, I do understand it from the perspective of someone like Stevie Ray Vaughan and other guitarists who have similar reasoning to him or are trying to get that tone and feel.  Stevie liked really thick gauge strings for their tone, but the heavier the gauge the harder to do all the vibrato and string bending that Stevie does.  The solution for Stevie was to tune down; he still gets the thick gauge tone with the flexibility that comes from lower tension.  Of course those strings eventually destroyed his fingertips and he did eventually switch to a string that wasn't quite as thick.
 
So, from that perspective I can understand tuning down.  And I would imagine that for Tommy Shannon it was a wonderful experience to play bass with Stevie night after night.

[sonicus]

I went through the same recently  and told a song writer  who wants me to work on a demo with him that if he tuned down that I would being playing my 71 Fender Precision Bass that I have  tuned  B/E/A/D  . He later  said never mind I like the  sound   of the Alembic better.
 
(Message edited by sonicus on May 26, 2010)

[mario_farufyno]

Dave, it is not unusual to play half step down to a guy who had to play with Horns a lot. Horn players tend to use this Key on their compositions and arrangements since Saxes and Trumpets are tuned in Eb or Bb.  
 
This is why people like Chuck Berry, Steve Ray and many Gospel musicians got used to write and play in those tunnings. So some guitarrists opt to tune down, as they can  play in a confortable key for the Horns and keep using open strings on the Guitar...

[mario_farufyno]

Let me re-phrase that... I supose that Steve Ray tune down for keeping things easy to Horns.  
 
What I know is that Check Berry write in Eb because he started playing with a Pianist who played Jazz and usually wrote songs on this Key (since this Key is easy to tap on Keyboards and Saxes).

[adriaan]

Hm, lots of confusion regarding transposition here ...
 
Saxes and trumpets can be Eb or Bb, meaning that if you ask them to give you a C, you will hear an Eb or Bb as it is on a piano. If you play a lot in a jazz setting, you'll get used to playing in F, since it is D or G for the horns (with just 1 or 2 sharps - but on a 4 string you can't really hit that all important Eb underneath, don't you hate it). Try getting them to play some guitar-oriented changes, and their brain will have to work overtime.
 
Having PP, I have no problem detuning on bass or guitar. However, my brain will not allow me to refer to the open Eb as an open E (in my mind) so I have to do a little transposition in speaking. I can sing from notes from non-C tuning, but I have to transpose the notes I'm reading (no guarantees for any pleasant sounding notes in my singing, but that's another bucket of something). And if I try playing a keyboard that is tuned too low, my fingers can get lost completely.