E&A strings reversed..

[Michael Harrison Jr.]

Ken, I just noticed on the 19th Century Italian that the owner let you photograph (http://www.kensmithbasses.com/double...t_Italian.html) has the strings wound on the tuners in a normal C extension method instead of how you normally see it without an extension. Was this done because the person is normally used to a C-extension or is there some benefit to doing it this way?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Michael Harrison Jr.

Ken, I just noticed on the 19th Century Italian that the owner let you photograph (http://www.kensmithbasses.com/double...t_Italian.html) has the strings wound on the tuners in a normal C extension method instead of how you normally see it without an extension. Was this done because the person is normally used to a C-extension or is there some benefit to doing it this way?

Many players who have C-Ext's on other Basses string their non ext. Bass the same way so the E and A is always in the same place.

Personally, I think it opens the sound up a bit as well extending the after length. The Candi Bass is now strung that way as well and sounds great. The web pics of the Candi were taken before I switched the A and E around on the pegs. My Storioni is strung that way as well.

[Drake Chan]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Many players who have C-Ext's on other Basses string their non ext. Bass the same way so the E and A is always in the same place.

Personally, I think it opens the sound up a bit as well extending the after length. The Candi Bass is now strung that way as well and sounds great. The web pics of the Candi were taken before I switched the A and E around on the pegs. My Storioni is strung that way as well.

I just switched the A and E strings from their normal respective pegs on my school's carved Juzek, I have to say that I am now a believer of this method.

In their previous "normal" positions, the A string lacked power and volume while the E string had decent power but felt really tight. Now, the A string is feels much tighter and has a good deal more volume. It feels and sounds very similar to the D string now. The E feels and sounds much looser and pliant now with the longer afterlength. But the biggest benefit of the switch is that the E has a much broader and bigger bottom. Playing it open, it now sounds almost organ-like, though perhaps a bit less direct.

I love the sound up close, but I don't know what it sounds like far away (which I think is more relevant to the audience). But for now, count me as a convert.

I also had problems with a harsh G string, so I put a Pirastro rubber tone filter on my G string. Meh, give me a couple of days, but I think it sounded better without it. I've been told that a soundpost adjustment may be the reason the bass seems to hate G strings (I've tried a Flexocor, Original and '92, and I've tried an Obligato; they all had a twangy guitar quality to them. The current Helicore orchestral seems to work best so far). I really need to get this bass setup one of these days.

[Ken Smith]

It's not just the length change when switching, it's also the angle of pull. The A-string is now a much sharper bend and the 'E' is shallower than before. Considering the thickness of the E-string (.105 avg) combined with the normal sharp angle pull, the switching to the upper peg is a drastic change. Perhaps the 'freedom' given to the string when moving it to the A-peg reflects back in the sound and tension as well.

[Ken Smith]

I moved this from the 'Candi Sale' thread over to here as it is a completely different topic discussion...

[Michael Harrison Jr.]

Will unwinding the E & A at the same time reduce enough pressure to let the soundpost fall, or should it be ok? I'd like to test this on my bass.

[Anselm Hauke]

very interesting topic,

i once have seen a bass that was strung this way (see picture). now i begin to understand why

[Drake Chan]

Last October or so, I had my bass fixed up and setup by Jeff Bollbach. His work was truly fantastic, and my bass sounded and played better than ever. I however, neglected to get my fingerboard planed and dressed because it was a bit out of my budget at the time.

I ran into a few problems afterwards, however:
- Jeff noted that there were a couple of high spots on the fingerboard in thumb position on the G string. These high spots came to haunt me later as the colder weather came around.
- the G string, a Flexocor, was noticeably more nasally than any Flexocor that I have played. I had acquired it used, and it was nasally on other basses as well.
- The high spots tended to hit the G string when the string was bowed. I believe they acted as harmonics and caused the G string to squeak and squeal badly.
- My A string....was just not there. It didn't play particularly well with the bow, and it required a good deal of bow pressure to get it to vibrate with the bow. It also sounded pretty dull.
- The G on the D string had a terrible wolf tone.
- Thumb position was still pretty hard to play on the bass.

1. So I had first tried to change my G string to an old Helicore G I had around - it was even worse. So I put the Flexocor back on.

2. Next, I lowered the E to a low D. This relieved a lot of the tension on the bass, and made it easier to play all around. It also made the bass more sonorous and full-sounding overall. But the other problems still remained.

3. When I finally had enough of the squeaky and buzzing G string, I decided to get a new Flexocor G. But then, I raised the bridge adjusters, and both the squeaks and rattles were gone. That problem was solved; however, the rest of the problems remained, and the bass was now a tad harder to play - that said, it was also easier to play without a squeaky and buzzing G string bothering me.

4. I had stopped playing for a while, as it was a bit discouraging to play my bass. I had always wanted to swap the E and A strings from their respective pegs, and I even wanted to tell Jeff to do it for me when I picked up my bass last October. But I figured at that time: why fix what wasn't broken?

Today, I decided to make the switch....and the difference has been nothing short of stupendous - almost all my problems have been fixed. Let's hope it stays that way. *cross my fingers*

With the E (low D, actually) and A switched, I believe the bass has much lower tension before overall. And it shows while playing: thumb position has been almost a breeze, and I managed to get in close to 2 hours of practice because it was so much easier to play now.

The A string, which was once difficult to bow, is much easier to bow. It still sound a bit dull, just less dull.

The bad wolf tone I had gotten whenever I bowed the G on the D string....was totally gone. Or hidden. Whatever it is.

But the biggest change was on my G string. Previously, it sounded nasally when bowed on almost any position. Now? It merely sounds bright, which is much, much more tolerable.




Who knew that swapping those two strings could do so much! Perhaps there are other reasons why everything changed for the better. I don't know.

Soundwise, the bass has a bit less volume, I feel, up close. Dunno what it sounds like further away. But it's a tradeoff that I'm definitely willing to live with.

[Richard Prowse]

Originally Posted by Drake Chan

Who knew that swapping those two strings could do so much! Perhaps there are other reasons why everything changed for the better. I don't know.

Evidently you can get the same results by chanting,
"Nan Myoho Renge Kyo."