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.30 bends
- Thread starter JanBerisha
- Start date
You gotta specify what you're tuning it to - if it's tuned to G, you can probably get a lot of bend out of it. If it's a C string on a 6 (where .030's show up more often), then it's got a lot more tension to start with, and may not like being bent much. If it's a 35" scale, that adds more tension than if it's a 34"; that makes it less forgiving of bends as well.
- Oct 13, 2022
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- Audio/Music software developer, contracted with a company you've heard of and deving my own stuff.
Best way to find out would be to do some crazy bends and see if the string breaks. I’ve seen some guitarists bend much thinner strings all the way across their guitars’ necks and whammy bar the strings up and down several pitches without them breaking.
Keep in mind, though, that a .030 wound bass string has a thinner core wire than some of those plain steel guitar strings.
- Oct 13, 2022
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Fair. Although, metal is pretty strong in tension or shear. I’d posit a guess that the string wouldn’t necessarily break from the bend, but from the metal fatigue of repeated bends + aggressive playing, a la bending a paper clip back and forth until it breaks. But… I haven’t taken a Strength of Materials class since high school, and that was only high school level strength of materials, and that was 20 sometime years ago. So, someone else would probably be much better suited to say for certain.
There is one certain way to find out. Burton was known to play Rotosound 90-30's and if anyone was trying Burton style bends on a .030 G string, it was Burton doing Burton style bends on a .030 G string.
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My Steinberger has had .030 to .090 set for years cause I like to bend. Broke one G in something like 25 years. Run it.
.030 are great for bends and I never broke one the times I had basses strung with super extra light strings. However, they have a very thin tone quality so if you utilize the G-String a lot as part of your standard bassline kit, you have to keep this in mind
Well, it would probably break easier than a .035 or .040, but it’s not guaranteed to break. Most string breaks are due to the string being stressed over a sharp bend of some kind. The pressure of your fingertip against the string isn’t the kind of sharpness that causes a break, it’s more a bridge saddle, nut, fret, string tree, etc.Indeed, I messed up
But yeah, 0.030
With that info to consider, you might have a bass with a bridge that is more likely to cause a break when the string is pushed out of line. It’s hard to say what kind, type, design of bridge is more likely to do that. Experimenting might be the only way to find out.
If you haven’t used a .030 G string in the past, you might not like it for other characteristics having nothing to do with stretching. I tried a .035 G string on one bass that played better with light strings, and just couldn’t get any decent output from that string diameter. I don’t go below .040 for any reason now.
GHS boomers come in a .030 set. Super fun.
D’Addario has a .035 set. These were very nice on my 35” Cirrus.
Go to town on bends, you won’t break strings.
C strings are cheap, $3-5. FretNation.com sells single strings.
I have been looking for the limit of light strings and low tension. .085-.030 tuned E-G was about as light and loose as I could go. Some strings handle this better than others.
I started the experimenting with sets of used strings and single C’s. I bought a few different C strings and started exploring light gauges, low tension, and light touch. It’s a moving target because technique has to adjust to the new setup.
Gauge numbers aren’t everything, some .040 sets are nice and loose (DR pure blues VW), while the same size set of DR Hellborgs, is very stiff.
Good luck!
D’Addario has a .035 set. These were very nice on my 35” Cirrus.
Go to town on bends, you won’t break strings.
C strings are cheap, $3-5. FretNation.com sells single strings.
I have been looking for the limit of light strings and low tension. .085-.030 tuned E-G was about as light and loose as I could go. Some strings handle this better than others.
I started the experimenting with sets of used strings and single C’s. I bought a few different C strings and started exploring light gauges, low tension, and light touch. It’s a moving target because technique has to adjust to the new setup.
Gauge numbers aren’t everything, some .040 sets are nice and loose (DR pure blues VW), while the same size set of DR Hellborgs, is very stiff.
Good luck!
Never knew that. Was that his regular set, do you think? One of my bands played on a bill with Trauma ( pre Metallica Burton. ) I watched him carefully from close up.
What Strings Did Cliff Burton Use?
What strings did Metallica's Cliff Burton use?
Cliff Burton Rickenbacker History: The Cliff Burton “FrankenBacker”.
Cliff Burton - Wikipedia
Beats me. I just asked Dr. Google. Now that I look more, mebbe the G was a 0.035". I dunno. I'm not really a fan one way or other.
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