Drop tuning a short scale

[superheavyfunk]

Do any of you tune your short scale basses to D overall or BEAD, or something else? If so, what strings did you choose and why?

I'd like to tune my shorty bass to D overall... On my regular scale basses, one is tuned to standard and wears DR Lo-Riders exclusively. The other is tuned to BEAD and sports Pressurewounds with a .128 B string. DR doesn't seem to make short scale LoRiders, and while the GHS strings are good, i'm interested in seeing what other options ppl have tried and liked.

Thanks for your input!

 

[MrLenny1]

I tune my 32" scale down a half step and find the string
action still feels good for gigging, never tried a shorty.
I would think going BEAD might not work so well on a 30 in scale.

 

[AboutSweetSue]

I tried it briefly. It was way too much on the Gibson SG.

 

[Jon Moody]

You can definitely do it. I put one of our artists short scale basses in Drop C. You are going to have to hunt for singles that will work for your needs though. It’s not a “grab a packaged set” type of situation.

 

[superheavyfunk]

You can definitely do it. I put one of our artists short scale basses in Drop C. You are going to have to hunt for singles that will work for your needs though. It’s not a “grab a packaged set” type of situation.

Yeah, I assumed as much. That's why I was hoping to get some info about what other ppl are using, so I'd have a starting point to work from.

 

[Astronaut]

You can definitely do it. I put one of our artists short scale basses in Drop C. You are going to have to hunt for singles that will work for your needs though. It’s not a “grab a packaged set” type of situation.

Any advice on gauges?

 

[Jon Moody]

Any advice on gauges?

Aside from "whatever you can find for a short scale," sure.

The gauges I used for the artist in question were .050-.070-.095-.120 for Drop C on his Fender Player Series Mustang.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Any advice on gauges?

Since nobody replied to my OP with any information back in January, I went ahead on my own and bought some labellas with high gauge numbers 760FS. They work really well in D overall, and the low string can even do drop C, although I might go a bit thicker if I wanted to do that often.

I couldn't really find much for rounds at the time though.

 

[Astronaut]

I have undergone using a five’s set but that went not to well. The .130 (long scale) put on a fight. Anyway the tension tuned to B was higher than I was expecting. The .105 that in there goes down to C# but it’s very wobbly tuner wise.
Was hoping the GHS SuperSteels medium scale to be an improvement. Will keep searching then. Thanks for the info guys.