Bass Strings?

[-Gavin-]

What's a good gauge for playing in C?

I'm jamming around on a borrowed bass for recording and it's set up for being in E.

Whaddya rekon?

 

[Razorjack]

Totally depends on how you like your strings to feel. I prefer my strings tighter in low tunings than I do in standard.

 

[-Gavin-]

Aye, exactly! I shoulda explained that a bit better!

I want them tight cause i ahve some fast semi quaver picking (around 200-240) depending on song and i want them tight enough not to flat around...

 

[sparkyness]

Anything from 120 or heavier should do it. I play in Drop-Db with 110's at nothing faster than 180 and those flap around a bit but it's part of my tone somewhat.

If you've got strong enough hands, you could get a lighter gauge 5-string set and simply tune the B up a tone. That would be very tight.

Another thought: depending on how heavy you go, you might have to drill the string hole in the bridge slightly if it's built for standard 4-string gauges (not the best idea on someone else's bass ). The groove on the bridge saddle should be fine though. I had to do that on an old bass I used to string B-E-A-D.

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

.125 should do the job

 

[gibbed]

Anything from 120 or heavier should do it. I play in Drop-Db with 110's at nothing faster than 180 and those flap around a bit but it's part of my tone somewhat.

If you've got strong enough hands, you could get a lighter gauge 5-string set and simply tune the B up a tone. That would be very tight.

Another thought: depending on how heavy you go, you might have to drill the string hole in the bridge slightly if it's built for standard 4-string gauges (not the best idea on someone else's bass ). The groove on the bridge saddle should be fine though. I had to do that on an old bass I used to string B-E-A-D.

I had to drill my SX bass to fit a 50-70-95-115 set on.

Lately, I've been leaving my bass in E when playing with C guitars and just playing higher up on the fretboard. It seems to fit in the mix well. Check out "b.a.r." to see how it sounds:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=673281

 

[sparkyness]

You're just doubling in the same register as the guitars a lot of the time then....kinda putting yourself out of a job really. Low-C and octave below the guitars shouldn't be too hard to get to sit in the mix. Anything lower is where you can find yourself playing "mix tetris" with the kick, bass and low-end of the guitars.

All part of the fun of the detuned wars these days

 

[gibbed]

You're just doubling in the same register as the guitars a lot of the time then....kinda putting yourself out of a job really. Low-C and octave below the guitars shouldn't be too hard to get to sit in the mix. Anything lower is where you can find yourself playing "mix tetris" with the kick, bass and low-end of the guitars.

All part of the fun of the detuned wars these days

You're only doubling when you chug on the low C, if you play the guitar parts higher up on the fretboard you're good to go. If your bass part is up higher, you can put the meat of the kick lower and get more thump too.

It is quite a challenge to make the bass fit into detuned guitars