I have been playing for the better part of 35 years with much to little attention paid to the strings I used or the tension differences between strings. Over the past 15 or so years I have have been more acutely aware of these things as I have become a string junky thanks largely in part to TB. The majority of my energy has been tracking down different flatwound strings and seeing how I liked them on whatever the brand of basses that I happen to be gaga over at the time. Add to the equation that most of the bands I have played in the past 6 years have tuned down to Eb (mainly for singers who are aging... over 40). Since I have been tuning down I always have some basses tuned to E and others tuned to Eb because I do sub work and other gigs where people tune to standard pitch. Add to this the final part of the equation that I am a Type 1 Diabetic with neuropathy issues in my hands as well as the effects of arthritis and spinal stenosis. And finally.....age. And as I near 50 I realize that I am no longer an indestructible hard head who can ignore the signals his body is sending him.
With all that said, I have grown very accustomed to the feel of a bass tuned down a half step. I almost feel as though none of the previously mentioned ailments have any effect on my playing and can move around at will on most basses with a medium gauged string. For example I feel the LaBella 760FL's are my perfect string tone and feel wise when I comes to flats. I had to play a night last year with the same strings tuned to E and by the end of the night my hands were cramped to the point where I only was able to use one finger on each hand. Once I put LaBella LTF's on that bass, I never had any troubles. I have since found that most standard gauged rounds and flats need to be tuned to Eb. The struggle has become finding strings that I can handle tuned to E without going to dental floss gauges.
I have also discovered that tension and feel is a very VERY subjective thing. Last night I put a set of EB Group III flats on a bass tuned to E because I read many comments here on TB about the tension being lower than that of Chromes.... SO I thought Perfect...... a good flat that I can tune to E. Uh no..... I tried em out and there is no way I can tuned those bad boys to E... they felt like bridge cables.... tuned em down a half step and they were still rather tight, but manageable.... so for the time being that bass is now an Eb bass.
I am currently playing in one band that tunes to E and at my church they tune to E. So I say all of this to state that I really appreciate the input and opinions I find here on this forum. It is nice to get opinions and directions on what others experience with different brands of strings. I also have a lot of fun and enjoyment from taste testing and changing and researching strings. So my hands and my mind both appreciate all of you who contribute your input to something that many might find tedious and boring.
With all that said, I have grown very accustomed to the feel of a bass tuned down a half step. I almost feel as though none of the previously mentioned ailments have any effect on my playing and can move around at will on most basses with a medium gauged string. For example I feel the LaBella 760FL's are my perfect string tone and feel wise when I comes to flats. I had to play a night last year with the same strings tuned to E and by the end of the night my hands were cramped to the point where I only was able to use one finger on each hand. Once I put LaBella LTF's on that bass, I never had any troubles. I have since found that most standard gauged rounds and flats need to be tuned to Eb. The struggle has become finding strings that I can handle tuned to E without going to dental floss gauges.
I have also discovered that tension and feel is a very VERY subjective thing. Last night I put a set of EB Group III flats on a bass tuned to E because I read many comments here on TB about the tension being lower than that of Chromes.... SO I thought Perfect...... a good flat that I can tune to E. Uh no..... I tried em out and there is no way I can tuned those bad boys to E... they felt like bridge cables.... tuned em down a half step and they were still rather tight, but manageable.... so for the time being that bass is now an Eb bass.
I am currently playing in one band that tunes to E and at my church they tune to E. So I say all of this to state that I really appreciate the input and opinions I find here on this forum. It is nice to get opinions and directions on what others experience with different brands of strings. I also have a lot of fun and enjoyment from taste testing and changing and researching strings. So my hands and my mind both appreciate all of you who contribute your input to something that many might find tedious and boring.
