Thoughts on drop D tuners please.

[Delberthot]

Since I changed from a 5 back to a 4 I had been using mine with the double stop lever so I could tune the E to D & B quickly but have found recently that I don't really use the B that often so have changed back to the original lever for going to D. Just remember to get the vaseline on the lever for smooth action - ooooh matron.

I use a custom gauge of Chromes on my Precision as I prefer the balance - 45, 60, 80, 110. The 110 on the E means that I could still go down to B for the occasional song and the string wouldn't be too floppy.

I used the Rotosound Billy Sheehan strings once which have the 110 on the E but they lasted about 3 gigs before being completely dead - I usually get 8 or 9 full wedding sets out of a set of strings before I need to change them - obviously longer on the Chromes, much longer

[uk_lefty]

About this time last year I bought myself a five string Sire to test a number of things before I invested in a more expensive bass. One of those being whether I wanted a fretted fiver or if I preferred a drop D on a 4. Answer is I prefer the drop D on the 4. I have had a fretless fiver for over seventeen years but I don't necessarily play it as a fiver... It's more a 4 with some extra notes I may use at times if that makes sense. I tried to play the Sire as a fiver and had ok results. I ultimately moved it on, and my Fender jazz with a drop D, to fund a brand new USA Stingray. I quickly had a drop D put on the Stingray. Once you get used to which note is where and playing fifths and octaves without the usual muscle memory I find it easily sufficient. It's rare I'd need to go below D, or Db seeing as we are tuned half a step down from standard across the board. 

[mcnach]

On 08/07/2015 at 20:36, leschirons said:

I normally use a 5 or 6 string these days but, I seriously miss using my lightweight 4 string Jazz bass over the course of an evening as the others are starting to feel a little heavy in my advanced years.

I've realised, 99% of the time it's for the low D and just the odd occasion where I get bored down the head stock end so move up the board. I saw a covers band at a wedding a few weeks ago and the bassist was using a 4 string (an attitude I think) with a Hipshot drop D tuner. He covered a fair few of the numbers we do and used the drop D a fair few times. I'm not really into changing basses on gigs and wondered if any of you have forsaken the low B string in favour of a D tuner.

The alternative I guess would be buying a lightweight 5 string but thought I'd investigate your opinions first.

Thanks.

 

It can be a very useful thing to have if you use drop-D at times, or just require the occasional lower notes, but Idon't see it as a substitute for a 5 string: the intervals become larger and you don't have the ability to cover the wide range of notes at one single position across the strings as you do with a 5-string.

I've been using them for years because I had to play songs originally in drop-D using a lot of the open D string, and it made life a lot easier. BUt beyond that I don't seem to use them much.

[bazzbass]

On ‎10‎/‎07‎/‎2015 at 04:41, Woodinblack said:

Correction. The Hipshot XTenders (which is what we are talking about) generally detune to d (if put on an E - although it could detune to anything really). They do a double detuner option which lets you tune to either D or C, ie, it has two stops and you can pick either.

Strangely I can't see that product on their page any more.

iirc it's an option available when you select your D tuner on their site

[bartelby]

5 minutes ago, bazzbass said:

iirc it's an option available when you select your D tuner on their site

You are correct!

 

[bazzbass]

5 minutes ago, bartelby said:

You are correct!

 

I can't tell you what I ate yesterday yet my brain remembers minutia like this hehe

[bartelby]

Just now, bazzbass said:

I can't tell you what I ate yesterday yet my brain remembers minutia like this hehe

Your brain just retains the important things. 🤣

[Woodinblack]

12 hours ago, bazzbass said:

iirc it's an option available when you select your D tuner on their site

Yep, someone mentioned that the day after I posted that 4 years ago

 

[Stub Mandrel]

On 12/07/2015 at 10:20, ped said:

I play in D all the time and use light strings. I love the lower tension and the clank you can get from digging in.

I thought about getting a D tuner to drop the D to a B and even thought about putting one on the A string too.

Floppiness aside, would a standard D tuner drop a D to a B? Or an A to an E?

I'm surprised so few people tune DGCF. With a standard scale length it's not going to be much different from a SS

bass tuned to E.