Have a Piezo Bridge‽ Help Me on this Super Important Experiment!

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mad scientist
May 25, 2008
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4,551
Brooklyn
#1
anyone willing to be a part of this i will gladly buy you a set of regular strings. i need you to take the strings of your approximately 34" scale bass and put on the same strings as those little kala u basses. then make a video review of if they work out.

i want to see if you can play sub bass on a regular bass using those strings. i'm building a 42" behemoth that i want to get mass produced but that is another story, that isnt' done, for another day.

now i understand those actual kala strings out of the bag won't work. so will have to find them from a supplier you can get them at length. anyone knows of such a supplier. please post a link. together we can make tectonic plate sounds. thank you
 
#2
What you want people to do isn't physically possible.
Those strings will not fit on the tuning posts of an instrument designed for traditional strings. Ubasses use custom posts.
Also the nut would have to be recut. The E on a normal set of Pahoehoes is twice as thick as a traditional metal E string.
 
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#3
impossible eh? that's bit over the top. in the big world of talkbass someone out there might be sporting enough to try this. maybe theyre about to replace the nut anyways? just to see if the strings play "normal" you could play them over the nut in super high action. as for the tuners, you could get past this "impossibility" by maybe tying them to the tuners. as for the bridge, that would depend on the style. i've tried up to a .29(?) or was it .267(?) on my basses from octave 4 plus. we're not talking about landing on the sun... thank you for concern and help
 
#4
this is similar to when i tuned my sg b-b with baritone strings.... they said, "IT CAN'T BE DONE!"... like hell it can't. it's a matter of if you like the result. i guess i should wait for the inevitable comments, "sub contra basses are impossible, and even if they do work, theyre stupid" doesn't matter, if you post clips of a knuckle quake bass or not. "it doesn't work and it's dumb... it's weird, i don't like weird. and it doesn't sound like a jazz/p bass, so what the point?"
 
#6
no, i have not used that particular brand. if i had one of those laying around and a full scale bass with piezos, i would have already posted that it works or doesn't work. and by work, i mean the strings don't/do have a playable tension, or the piezo does/doesn't put out anything worthwile. as for the shear impossibility, if i had one, i betcha i could attach them to the tuners in a fashion and get them up to tune somehow, not matter how "impossible" the feat might seem. and to be clear i'm not expecting this idea to be plug and play, i'm sure there will be some tricks involved.
 
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#7
looks like stew mac has tuners. i might have to throw them on a cheap bass and do this myself. i will don a magic wizard cape whilst i do impossible feats. the question is where i can find the cheapest piezo bridge.
 
#11
between posts surrounding skip fantry, jauqo xiii, and a few others, i would love to see all the posts about impossibility and/or how stupid sub contras are. i will definitely have to go through the archives and get some great quotes when i finsih my sub bass. not this "ubass" experiment but my main one. when i get to kickstarter stage
 
#12
I believe it can be tried... there is most certainly a way to get the strings to hold on the tuner with the right technique. Send me the strings and I will perform the experiment!

I own a Kala U-Bass so I know how the strings work. Sure, it will be kinda dicey but if it's doable you can then tweak the hardware to improve it.

However, I do not have a piezo pickup but I don't believe that is necessary to pull off the experiment...we already know that the U-Bass strings work with a piezo pickup. What we don't know is if they can be strung up on a long scale bass.

PM me if you want me to try it.
 
#13
Double E said:
However, I do not have a piezo pickup but I don't believe that is necessary to pull off the experiment...we already know that the U-Bass strings work with a piezo pickup.
Click to expand...

sweet. someone who believes in miracles. ;) i already have a piezo bridge on the way. i do think it's important to see if they sound usable. with my other experiments in the super lows, without amplification it's damn near silent.

as for the strings, i contacted one manufacturer and am awaiting a reply. i will contact more with time. i will keep you in the loop.
 
#14
[CRTL+ALT+DEL] said:
sweet. someone who believes in miracles. ;) i already have a piezo bridge on the way. i do think it's important to see if they sound usable. with my other experiments in the super lows, without amplification it's damn near silent.

as for the strings, i contacted one manufacturer and am awaiting a reply. i will contact more with time. i will keep you in the loop.
Click to expand...
The longer scale would not require the strings to be as thick, but they are pretty low tension on the 20" scale I am not sure how the tension will feel on full scale bass, this may be a bigger factor than the ability to get them to lock onto the tuners. I would bet that the manufacturer would have some input on the viability of using these wacky strings on a traditional scale bass.
 
#16
DiabolusInMusic said:
You want to test Kala strings on a 34" bass tuned to low F# with a piezo, correct? What is the purpose? What will you gain that you currently lack? Admittedly, I have no experience with a Kala.
Click to expand...
The polyurethane rubber strings have a seriously tight fundamental that I think the OP is hoping will translate nicely to his sub-tuning.

I am finding the thought interesting just for the act of trying these strings on a long-scale format.

I really dig the tone of my U-Bass as does anyone else I've played it for. The scale is limiting though.
 
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#17
Didn't aquila make a test set of strings? there is a youtube video showing the results on a 34" acoustic bass guitar.

The new La Bella Silverback strings might be a good compromise. They are nylon metal wrapped strings for the GoldTone microbass. They are meant for uke basses, but are thinner than the Pahoehoes. They don't stretch, but if you could get longer versions of them it should work pretty well on a 34" bass without modifying too much.
 
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#18
I tolerate these rubber abominations on Ashbory and U-Basses because they allow huge lows on very small scales.
I don't understand why anyone would bother with these on a regular bass.
What's the project ? If the idea is to go low, there already are strings that allow a low E on 34" instruments.
 
#20
why? why? why? yes you can tune low with big strings from octave 4 plus or kalium. has anyone tried playing a .25 or similar on a bass and trying to tune to below 20hz? i have on a regular scale bass and it feels like a slack rope. not like a string that rings. there is the ratio of length|tension|diameter that needs to be balanced to get a playable string. my thought is if you can with those rubber strings make an 18" tune eadg, then on a 34" that would equate to maybe tunings with playable strings way down low.
 
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