The Modified BEAD 4 String Bass Club

#142
Doner Designs said:
Well, I filed open the slots on my Stingray's compensated nut....I'm committed now...does not look easy to do a nut swap.
Click to expand...

I have 5 four strings set up for BEAD. I occasionally change any one of them to EADG with no problems. If the slots in the top nut are properly formed at the bottom (round) so the strings are seated in a radius, you won't need to change the top nut to go back to EADG.
 
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#143
I got a Peavey Patriot yesterday. It's from 85 and travelled 5000 miles from Minnesota to Scotland in a cardboard box to be with me.

The neck had a serious bow so I tuned BEAD to lessen the tension and still allow it to settle in the Scottish climate.It sounds great and
I've got a feeling it'll stay BEAD.

While I own a few 5 strings this just feels natural.
 
#146
Alright.. Been contemplating this nice for a while. I'm in love (that's right, IN LOVE) with the sound of a low B, but I have trouble with 5s. I prefer a 4 string jazz neck. I have a Warmoth stingray copy (Aguilar 3 band and pup) with d'addario flex steels. Sounds super aggressive and lots of fun to play. A couple of questions, though:

I read a few posts up about being able to modify the nut so you can switch back to standard, could that be explained more clearly?

I love my flex steels, but I was thinking of going to chromes for BEAD, suggestions?

My other option is, I'm building a pj bass that should be really killer. I was planning on having it standard with flats, for some variety. Think I should tune that one BEAD instead of my Warmoth?
 
#148
I guess the sound that I'm after is sort of in the video below.. I'll warn you, though; it's not in English and the song choice almost couldn't be worse. But I do love the sound of his B. Looks like roundwound to me, but idk. I haven't had much experience with flats

 
#149
LowEndWooly said:
Alright.. Been contemplating this nice for a while. I'm in love (that's right, IN LOVE) with the sound of a low B, but I have trouble with 5s. I prefer a 4 string jazz neck. I have a Warmoth stingray copy (Aguilar 3 band and pup) with d'addario flex steels. Sounds super aggressive and lots of fun to play. A couple of questions, though:

I read a few posts up about being able to modify the nut so you can switch back to standard, could that be explained more clearly?

I love my flex steels, but I was thinking of going to chromes for BEAD, suggestions?

My other option is, I'm building a pj bass that should be really killer. I was planning on having it standard with flats, for some variety. Think I should tune that one BEAD instead of my Warmoth?
Click to expand...

All of your options should sound good. I have switched to BEAD on all but one of my 4 string basses including a J a P and a Stingray as well as a Spectorcore fretless. Flats generally will give you higher tension vs rounds so you get a nice tight B string if you use Chromes or just about any flats except Thomastiks which sound great but are rather floppy.

If you try it first on a Fender spec neck it's very easy to buy a pre-made nut if you want to go back and still have a really tight nut slot. Usually if you file the nut slot into a V shape, and be careful not to make the slot any deeper, you will be able to switch back without a problem. Also, to try it out you can open up the slot just a little and then do more once you decide to keep it BEAD.

Before I had nut files (Stew Mac sells them) I used to wrap sandpaper around a round object like a toothpick or a ballpoint pen cartridge to get a rounded shape. Again, the key is not to go any deeper with the bottom of the slot and to keep a slight V taper on it.

BEAD rocks. Five string basses are too fat for me and I don't need no stinkin G string. :)
 
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#152
These are all BEAD except for the 5 and the Stang....

IMG_8421-crop.jpg


IMG_8423-crop.jpg


I haven’t done a “family photo” in a few years and there have been several changes. I’m relatively happy with the current lineup. From left to right (which happens to be Fender evolution sequence – Fender, Musicman, G&L and lastly the Fender clones):
  • Mustang reissue with Nordstrand pickup 5% overwound, Audere Pro-Z preamp and custom pickguards from Axetreme Creations (“real” tort with Mustang Cobra car markings).
  • Stingray HH Ball Family Reserve with clear pickguard and custom backplate from Axetreme Creations (tire tread background with Stingray car markings). No other modifications.
  • G&L M2500 with third pickup, splitting switch and custom backplate from Axetreme Creations (tire tread background with Super Bee Six Pack car markings).
  • Self-made ”Doner Designs” Jazz bass clone. Dubbed the Old 442 bass after its four band preamp, four pickups and two coils per pickup. Old refers to the body which is from my first Squier bass. Allparts neck, Dimarzio J pickups, Willpower Neck pickup, Audere 4 band preamp, Babicz bridge, Wilkinson tuners and custom Marcus Miller style pickguard from Axetreme Creations (red tort with Doner Designs logo on the front and Oldsmobile 442 car markings on the backplate).
  • Self-made “Doner Designs” 72 P bass clone. Warmoth body and neck. Mahogany body, birdseye top, tung oil finish, wenge neck, macassar ebony fingerboard, burled walnut pickguard, maple knobs, Nordstrand NP4a, Audere 4 band preamp, Babicz bridge, Hipshot Ultralight tuners. Too classy to get a car theme alter-ego.
  • Spectorcore fretless (on the couch) with SGD Lutherie Neo pickup, stock piezo pickup in bridge and dual Audere preamps – one for the magnetic pickup and one for the piezo.
All have LaBella 1954 flats and Hipshot X-tenders. All except the Mustang and the 5 string are strung BEAD.

The car theme commemorates my previous hobby which was a little more expensive than bass collecting. I had a Mustang Cobra and a Corvette Z06 (not a Stingray) at one time. The Super Bee Six Pack name is a tie in to the 3 dual coil pickups and the color which fits the Mopar cars of the late 60’s when my Dad worked for Chrysler.

Amp rigs not shown are Markbass. One is an Alain Caron signature amp and the other is a mini stack of the 1x12 combo with a 1x12 extension cab.
 
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#153
Well I just slapped on some d'addario xl170-5 45-130 err... 65-130. :) So far I'm really liking it on the Squier Precision bass standard special thingy (P/j squier with J neck). Not sure about the pickups at the moment, I'm thinking about the Spb-3 Sjb-2 setup. But man, that B string has got some balls, can't wait till my next band practice. The picture is from when I just bought 'er so I will post some pictures once I have some extra time.

http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/J...[user]=121765160&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1
 
#154
I'm in! I recently built this BEAD Frankenjazz - Squier body with a Moses graphite neck, 35" scale, Badass bridge, Bart 9J1 pups and Sadowsky pre (vol/vol + bass/treb + passive tone). Sounds and plays great; and now I don't have to expose my Stingray 5 to the perils of bar gigs.

BEAD bass.JPG
 
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#155
I've wanted to try this for a while. But, I've been down to one bass (Mustang) for the last couple of years. I didn't see any sense in trying this on a short scale. My wife bought me a Squier VM fretless P bass for Xmas. After sanding the fingerboard and stringing it up with a 130-65 set of strings I'm finally happy with it. I picked up some EB Slinky's and put them on today. But, I think I'm going to end up putting on tapewounds or flatwounds.
 
#156
Hey, I have a question about tension on a BEAD.

I ordered a set of Chromes for the BEAD bass, but I've been reading into balanced tension sets. Seems like anybody who has tried a balanced set has not returned from it..

I tried finding how to calculate to balance a set of Chromes per each single string, but I can't really find anything that makes sense.. even checked out circle K. Maybe @ddawson2012 could throw some info my way. The goal would be to have as flexible of a set as possible on a 34" scale without being ridiculously floppy.

EDIT: I actually went through and downloaded D'Addario's tension chart and mapped out a pretty balanced BEAD set.. .132 .95 .75 .55 (35.9, 35.2, 36.4, and 36.6lbs respectively) that averages being about 36lbs, staying within 1.4lbs. Just bought them on BassStringsOnline.
 
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#160
I tried this idea once on an 80`s Lotus P bass copy. It was fun, but the EB rounds had a floppy B at .130, and the super cheap pickup didn`t care for anything below like F(and yes this means the E string too!). Sold the bass off strung up with standard tuning and strings. I need to try it again with better string choices this time!

-Jake
 
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