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Old 11-25-2011, 11:10 AM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Pope View Post
It is my understanding that the tension specification is internal linear string tension. In other words, a machine suspends a speaking length of string with some sort of scale or meter attached to the string and the reading is taken off the string at pitch, or it is done mathematically by computing the mass of the string in relation to pitch. So this is the linear tension, not the downforce over the bridge. D'Addario has taken this to a high art, publishing not only the relative tensions of all of their orchestral strings, but also a pdf booklet with every one of their guitar and electric bass strings at conventional scale lengths for every reasonable pitch.

Ken, I see your points in your post. And all things do change from bass to bass. I only used Spirocores as an example because it is what I am familiar with and easily pulled it up, and because they do have a dedicated 5ths tuning set of strings. Besides TI and D'addario, other companies are now publishing their tension specs. Pirastro seems to be the holdout, not publishing anything besides the general subjective class of tension for their sets.

Am I ever going to choose a string bassed (pun intended) solely on a published mechanical specification? No. But it may help narrow the universe of strings to a few sets that may be suitable for me to try in a particular situation besides the subjective "Weich," "Mittel," or "Stark."

No, a raw string tension spec may not be that usable for a variety of reasons, and because of the differences in construction cannot predict how a string will feel or sound or react under a bow. But by using some vector physics equations the linear tension can be used to derive an estimate of the downforce over the bridge and onto the top, for a particular stand, bridge height and tailpiece setup, and the corresponding break angles over the bridge, and more importantly, compare the relative downforce over the bridge of different sets. In other words, If I wanted to change from 4ths tuning to 5ths tuning, and I do use Spiros Weichs, and I didn't want to change the setup of my bass (besides possibly having to adjust the nut slots for the increased diameter of the lower strings), I would start with using the 5ths Mitts set, because the published specs indicate that with the similar linear tension for the set, it will have a similar downforce over the bridge and therefore load the top in a similar manner on the same bass with the same setup. Now, once there, I may or may not like the feel or the tone of the set, but at least I have a starting point for trying it out, and that's the whole point of publishing tension specs for strings. If I don't like it, then I can see from there where I would want to go with a different set, and get an idea of how the bass might need to be set up differently from there, and avoid a lot of wasted time and money in the hit-and-miss approach to trying out strings, as we see so much of the fallout from that on the various forums "for sale" sections.

So obviously, and sorry to take the Spiros example again, of course their Mitts set will have more tension overall than their Weichs set, but less than their Stark set, but how do I know how they will compare, other than anecdotally from other players describing their experience, to something like a Pirastro Jazzer, which is also labeled as a medium tension or feel set? Published string tensions would help a little with that. Not much, granted, but a little.

Then again, as you say, even with the best of care, a string just may not sound good on a bass. The example you gave where there was obviously less downforce on the bass with the conventional set of strings indicates to me that the 5ths set that was on there had significantly more linear tension than the set used to replace it for evaluation, even though both sets may have been labled with the same generalized descriptive term.

I'm not trying to provoke arguments. All I'm saying is that unlike a lot of the rest of the musical world, basses, bass strings, and such are still spoken of with so much subjectivity that it makes it very difficult and frustrating for everyone, from relative novices to DB like me, to seasoned professionals such as yourself, to compare anything apples-to-apples. Publishing string tensions is only one minor way of trying to help with that disparity.
Ah, ok..
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