.140 Tapered or .135 standard Low B?

.140 Taper vs .135 normal Low B?

  • .140 Taper

    Votes: 7 38.9%

  • .135 Normal

    Votes: 6 33.3%

  • Other (comment below)

    Votes: 5 27.8%
  • Total voters
    18
Stuey3D

Stuey3D

Nov 23, 2021
476
1,036
1,271
#1
Hi all.

I was wondering if I could get some advice regarding Low B strings. I am due to receive an Ibanez Mikro GSRM25 and I plan to upgrade the bridge and tuners to a Schaller 3D-5 roller bridge and Gotoh GB707 tuners.

I already have two 4 string Mikro’s both with GB707 and upgraded bridges, one set to E standard and the other set for BEAD. The issue I’ve been having is on the Low B sometimes it can be a nightmare to tune you’ll pluck the string and it will bounce all around the indicated B on the tuner, however fret 5 and it’s a perfect E and 12th is a perfect B. Other times the bass will tune perfectly, however the Low B on a short scale can be a little temperamental to play for a hard playing noob like me, I almost have to force myself to go gentle sometimes. This is the same experience with a .125 Dunlop flat and the standard Ibanez .130 roundwound as these are the only strings I could find in that scale length.

Now my plan is on the 5 string is to go up a gauge on all strings for a bit of extra tension, there is a custom place that will make me strings in any gauge/length/taper etc so I’m planning 140/110/90/70/50 however the Schaller bridge tops out at a .135 but after contacting Schaller it’s due to the roller saddle, so a tapered .140 will work.

My question is would a tapered .140 be better than a non tapered .135 for tension/tuning stability/ease of tuning/intonation or would it be better to just get the .135 as a standard string and have done with it. From what I’ve been reading on here a tapered B is a bit of a mixed bag, some love it and others hate it saying it sounds different to the rest and has harmonic issues etc. For reference the bass comes fitted from the factory with Ibanez own brand 130/105/85/65/45 strings, and these tend to be one of the only sets available for a short scale 5 string bass.

For me I only play Rocksmith which officially doesn’t support B tunings, unofficially custom DLC does so sound isn’t too much of an issue as the game EQ’s the heck out of things. For me I need a stable string that can handle a ham fisted noob muddling around on it and from other basses I’ve played I’ve always preferred the higher tension strings when I can get them.

Any advice is welcome, especially if you’ve played a Low B on a short scale bass.
 
#3
I'm not aware of tapered vs. non-tapered construction having any substantial impact on tension, so if the strings are otherwise identical the 140 should have more tension than the 135. The extra tension could be useful for the short scale, although that doesn't necessarily mean that you would prefer the feel and tone in reality.

Regarding tuning stability and intonation, I'd suggest that you are probably better off browsing through the tons of threads and posts about tapered vs. non-tapered strings generally, as there is no simple answer and you are going to get lots of arguments on both sides of this. Personally I have not experience much difference between the two.
 
#4
Stuey3D said:
The issue I’ve been having is on the Low B sometimes it can be a nightmare to tune you’ll pluck the string and it will bounce all around the indicated B on the tuner, however fret 5 and it’s a perfect E and 12th is a perfect B....
Click to expand...

I don't play a short scale, but this has been my experience with my 34" 5-string Yamaha. It's now wearing a low B with an exposed core, which has made a world of difference.

Stuey3D said:
From what I’ve been reading on here a tapered B is a bit of a mixed bag...
Click to expand...

It has also been my experience that tapered B's can work wonders on some basses, while it can create extra problems on others. You will have to experiment.
 
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#5
michael_t said:
A tapered low B for short scale? Does such a thing even exist? Who makes them?
Click to expand...
A place in the UK called Newtone Strings will make you a completely custom set exactly how you want them, length/material/taper/core etc. So I am getting a custom set from them amazingly not much more expensive than an off the shelf set for a 5 string either so my desired custom set a .140/.110/.90/.70/.50 will cost £38.84 without shipping and I think shipping is about £5 they’ll take around 14 days to be made for you but they supposedly go through multiple checks by different people as they are all hand made.

The bass player from Cradle of Filth uses them as I saw their page retweet him.

I think what I may do is buy 6 strings and have a .140 tapered and a .135 standard and then decide when I get them installed which sound and feel better, i think its around £9 for another individual string so not too much for a bit of experimenting. Was just seeing if there was a general consensus on here for one or the other, however its nice to know that being tapered wont reduce tension on the .140 so I would still potentially benefit from it on a short scale bass.

Newtone Strings – British Handmade Guitar Strings

Those are the dudes I am going to buy my strings from, I’m not affiliated with them at all nor am I an employee. I am taking a big stab in the dark on these strings but these seem to be the only way to get the strings I want since short scale doesn’t get much love from the big boys like Ernie Ball/D’addario etc. These may be the best strings ever and will kill the big brands for me, or they could absolutely suck but its a case of try them and see for me.
 
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#7
michael_t said:
Yes, I've heard good things about Newtone. This answers my question as to where one might find tapered low B's for short scale.
Click to expand...
Ahh that fills me with confidence, I have already had a chat with them on the phone and they seem very nice and knowledgable and being able to build my own string set with some expert help over the phone if needed will be great.
 
#9
ooh, that's what..28 or 29 in scale? Go high. That's going to be so low and a small scale that it'll be difficult to be "too high".

A 34" scale tuned to G# would be a B at the 3rd fret. So think about what kind of tension you'd want for a low G# string.

On my own string journey (ha), I was also having trouble with intonation, and widening the bridge slot, and liking tapered strings better, and going with larger and larger gauges. One day, I was planning on getting a new set to just tune up to C# from BEAD...and I tuned a tapered 145 daddario pro steel up (from B to C#)...and it sounded fine! I thought it was going to be insanely tight, but it was not hugely different. I've settled on a 130 for C# now. But my take is that the gauge has to go waaay up to make much difference for those low notes. So my recommendation would be to try to get a properly sized string as large as possible, and definitely tapered.

If you try Kalium, their guitar strings seem like they would be the right length of winding for you. I realize it will sound crazy, but I'd maybe pick a 154 or 160:
Standard Length .154” Round Wound Hybrid Electric Guitar String | Kalium Music

Most string calculators won't help you that low, but this one seems to imply that a 28.6 scale at B0 would need a string over 150 to be the same tension of a 105 tuned to E1. I don't think a 168 or 174 would even be crazy. I suspect that (while it does sound bananas) the 184 on an Ibanez Mikro tuned to B0 would not really be tighter than, say, a 115 roundwound E string (tight, yeah, but people do it).
Guitar String Diameter Calculator
 
#10
Newtone strings are right up there w/ kalium so far ime. The platinum set I custom ordered w 2 tapered strings have lasted about a year now as well. They are super communicative and great quality. I can't use brands like EB or d'addario since I've gone to better quality like these and labella and such.
 
#12
I’m speaking from 34” scale basses- My experience with tapered low B’s, has been terrible.. ive’ had tapered low B’s on 2 high end Ken smith 5’s , and they sounded weird, weak, and warbly, especially above the 12th fret. I changed my strings to Dr hi beams, (and pure blues as well)
and it make a huge improvement. Keith Roscoe does not recommend tapered strings on his basses, he says they don’t intonate well at all, especially up high on the neck, and that’s been my experience as well. Also, a 130 low B is as large as I’ll use, I’ve had bad experiences with anything over 130.
 
#17
Lenny JG said:
Newtone strings are right up there w/ kalium so far ime. The platinum set I custom ordered w 2 tapered strings have lasted about a year now as well. They are super communicative and great quality. I can't use brands like EB or d'addario since I've gone to better quality like these and labella and such.
Click to expand...
How are the platinum set? When I was speaking to them they said the platinum whilst still being rounds actually have a bit more tension and a more flatwound tone to them.

I really wanna keep the GSRM25 as roundwounds since my GSRM20’s both have flats. For me I absolutely love flats as they feel like heaven under my fingers compared to rounds, however when setting up a bass for my child ready to take to school for lessons I put rounds on it and I do miss the aggressive sound that rounds have. So my plan is to keep my main Mikro with flats and have the option to have rounds on the 5 string Mikro.

The thing that got me though is when he said the platinums have higher tension than their standard diamonds which if the platinums have a played in roundwound tone rather than a full flatwound tone then this may be a good compromise for sound/tension.
 
#18
Dust2Dust said:
I curious about the stock strings that come on the bass. . . . whether the B tunes as well as the rest of the strings, I mean.
I've got a 4-string Mikro and was thinking about getting the 5 string.
Click to expand...
This is going to be a new one for me too, I already have one 4 string Mikro tuned for BEAD and currently she has Dunlop flats on her and when the B tuned in correctly and not have one of its bouncing all around the note when tuning moments then it sounds and plays well, but you also have to be delicate with it as due to the much lower tension it is easy to fluff your notes etc. That being said I did have it tuned all the way down to G# for a Staind song and whilst it was hanging off the fretboard and you really had to be careful with how you played it I still managed in the high 90% on Rocksmith when playing the song, although luckily it is a very easy song to play.
 
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#19
Rumfoord said:
ooh, that's what..28 or 29 in scale? Go high. That's going to be so low and a small scale that it'll be difficult to be "too high".

A 34" scale tuned to G# would be a B at the 3rd fret. So think about what kind of tension you'd want for a low G# string.

On my own string journey (ha), I was also having trouble with intonation, and widening the bridge slot, and liking tapered strings better, and going with larger and larger gauges. One day, I was planning on getting a new set to just tune up to C# from BEAD...and I tuned a tapered 145 daddario pro steel up (from B to C#)...and it sounded fine! I thought it was going to be insanely tight, but it was not hugely different. I've settled on a 130 for C# now. But my take is that the gauge has to go waaay up to make much difference for those low notes. So my recommendation would be to try to get a properly sized string as large as possible, and definitely tapered.

If you try Kalium, their guitar strings seem like they would be the right length of winding for you. I realize it will sound crazy, but I'd maybe pick a 154 or 160:
Standard Length .154” Round Wound Hybrid Electric Guitar String | Kalium Music

Most string calculators won't help you that low, but this one seems to imply that a 28.6 scale at B0 would need a string over 150 to be the same tension of a 105 tuned to E1. I don't think a 168 or 174 would even be crazy. I suspect that (while it does sound bananas) the 184 on an Ibanez Mikro tuned to B0 would not really be tighter than, say, a 115 roundwound E string (tight, yeah, but people do it).
Guitar String Diameter Calculator
Click to expand...
Having already snapped the truss rod in the neck of a Mikro with some Labella Jamersons I am now really conscious of the amount of tension I am willing to stick on that neck.

In my experience the standard 130 round or the 125 Dunlop flat I have installed actually intonates very well the only issue I really have and it’s probably more a Rocksmith thing is sometimes the tuning will not settle, so when you pluck the open string it will bounce around the note but not properly on it however the fretted notes are perfect. The tensions of these strings are ok and certainly playable, but I would like a slightly higher tension without too much modding of the nut etc which is why with the Schaller bridge I am getting a tapered .140 seems to be a good way to go. Being tapered it gets around the .135 limitation of the Schaller which is due to the saddle not being wide enough but the hole is, plus I shouldn’t have to file the nut as the .140 should drop in and over time widen the nut itself as I’ve seen this happen on my GSR180 I put a .110 in instead of a .105 to begin with and now it has a .120 D’addario balanced tension string and all without me having to touch the nut at all.
 
#20
Rumfoord said:
On my own string journey (ha), I was also having trouble with intonation, and widening the bridge slot, and liking tapered strings better, and going with larger and larger gauges. One day, I was planning on getting a new set to just tune up to C# from BEAD...and I tuned a tapered 145 daddario pro steel up (from B to C#)...and it sounded fine! I thought it was going to be insanely tight, but it was not hugely different. I've settled on a 130 for C# now. But my take is that the gauge has to go waaay up to make much difference for those low notes. So my recommendation would be to try to get a properly sized string as large as possible, and definitely tapered.
Click to expand...
Talking about C# my current 4 string BEAD Mikro will become my C standard bass as when I’ve tuned that up temporarily to play C standard C# standard and D Drop C the strings feel amazing, and that .125 Dunlop flat become so much more playable.

On Rocksmith which is my main use for bass B is not officially supported whereas C is so B tuned songs are the custom DLC made by the community and have to have some kinda tuning work around to play, however I don’t have a huge amount of stuff in B or below but I do have quite a bit around the C tunings. For me the 5 string Mikro is for the few B and below tunings and to have the option for roundwounds on a bass with the form factor that I love, as both my current Mikro’s have flats. Now for me I have really fallen for flats as they play amazingly and feel like heaven under the fingers compared to a round and they also hide my sloppy noob playing more than rounds since they hide all the sliding/fret buzz noises etc, HOWEVER I do sometimes miss the pure aggressive sounds you get out of rounds which I rediscovered after setting up a bass for the child with rounds and hooking that up to Rocksmith.
 
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