9mm
What is 9mm? The E? I prefer to 'pull' the sound rather than to 'press' for it. I do dig in but more pulling than pressing. Also, I bow closer to the bridge when more sound is needed and I don't hit the FB that way. A really good bow helps this as well.
Scoop/Camber in the FB on my basses are very slight. Less than 1mm the first octave and less than 2mm overall. Ask Arnold as he did them for me. This would be the Hart and the Martini which are the Basses I play the most now that the Gilkes is gone. The Gilkes had a bit more camber mainly because of the neck movement when strung up. You can plane it flat but under tension, all bets are off. Most of my Necks have had Graphite Bars put in for stability. Helps to control the stiffness and desired camber over a normal neck without the Graphite CF.
I think for graduation 1mm for tight strings and 1.5 for looser ones. Also, this depends on how tight the bass itself is. Not all basses have the same taughtness in the string from what I have seen.
For digging in and playing hard ask Arnold how he set-up the basses for some of the Guys in the Met that hammer the instrument.
On my Hart with Belcanto's Orch/Ext. set I have G-E, 4, 5, 6, 7mm with the string spacing about 27.5mm centered. The height as i mentioned before of the middle string is about 6mm so a nice playable curve. Plays like a dream.
The Martini with Evah Weich/Ext. set I have slightly higher strings at the end of the FB and graduating about 1 1/4-1.5mm per string so a tad more curve but the same bridge for some reason. The spacing is 28mm centered on the Martini. Hard to measure these things exactly.
My basses play with ease for the most part. It's the music that's hard to play, not the bass.
Depending on the music, the season, how I feel and whatever, I might raise the strings on occasion if need be. These settings are about as low as I go. With tighter strings, you can go lower than with looser ones. Still, I like not to think about the bass when playing it, only the music which is usually hard enough.
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