D'addario 'Balanced Tension' Strings?

[Greg.Bassman]

Hi all. Hope you’re well.

I’ve decided to give the ‘Balanced tension’ range a punt.

Normally, when I change gauge, I send it to my local luthier to adjust the intonation/action to compensate for the change in tension. I’m not too sure about the procedure for BT strings though; are you supposed to adjust the intonation or just install them as is?

I'm currently using the EXL220's. The only difference in the BT version is that the A and D strings are slightly lighter (see below). Does the slight difference in the A and D string really warrant a new set-up?

Current: EXL220: (40-60-75-95)
BT version: EXL220BT: (40-55-70-95)

Edited October 22, 2016 by Greg.Bassman

[EBS_freak]

The change in tension is more likely to impact your truss rod. With regards to your intonation and action, that will change if you are changing the gauge. In short, when changing strings, do all three... although the truss rod change is less likely to be required if you stick to the same set of strings.

PS it's not uncommon to need truss rod tweaks throughout the year (especially if you play with a low action) as the wood changes with the weather... so to speak.

[Greg.Bassman]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1477066215' post='3159684']
The change in tension is more likely to impact your truss rod. With regards to your intonation and action, that will change if you are changing the gauge. In short, when changing strings, do all three... although the truss rod change is less likely to be required if you stick to the same set of strings.

PS it's not uncommon to need truss rod tweaks throughout the year (especially if you play with a low action) as the wood changes with the weather... so to speak.
[/quote]

Cheers for the feedback mate! Do you use Balanced tension yourself, or are you just speaking in general terms?

[miles'tone]

I've just moved to D'addario EXL160BT (the 120-50 set) to tune down to C natural on my fretless, and I have to say I'm very impressed! Perfect feel and volume from every string, easy to play too. I didn't have to change the intonation at all, they were fine luckily. Not bad considering I had Labella Low Tension Flexible Flats tuned to EADG on before them! I only had to give the truss rod a quarter turn tighten and lower the saddles to 2.5mm at the 17th note (no frets!).
They are holding tune very well.
Very pleased, nice price too!

Edited October 26, 2016 by miles'tone

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Greg.Bassman' timestamp='1477233705' post='3160727']
Cheers for the feedback mate! Do you use Balanced tension yourself, or are you just speaking in general terms?
[/quote]
I don't - I'm a DR man - just changed from Hi Beams to Low Riders as I think I prefer the higher tension of the letter.... But the same applies with all strings, I'd expect adjustments to be necessarily when swapping between strings with different tensions. For some people it may not be that recognisable but it will be for guys that play with low actions where a fraction of a mm could be the difference between the instrument being playable or not.

[Danuman]

I've been using the 220bt's on my main bass for quite some time. For some reason everything else feels really stiff on that thing (it's heavy too!).

I don't particularly remember checking the intonation when I swapped 'em out initially, but I do check ups every so often, so I guess I must have. I suppose you could see if it's in tune across the fretboard and take it from there.

The neck on my bass doesn't seem to be too finicky with regard to gauges, but I suppose it depends on what you're working with. Some minor tweaks may be in order.
Checking intonation isn't very hard, so it could be worth your while to learn about that. (There are great tutorials on YouTube.) Even adjusting neck relief is relatively low-risk as long as long as you don't do more than a couple of quarter turns per day. Just be sure to stop if you need to apply force.

Anyway, back to the strings. I like 'em a lot!

[thodrik]

I also use the balanced tension 120-50 set. Best set of strings for downtuning I have ever used. It can cover anything around D standard to C standard and the drop D variants.

I had to widen the nut on my Vigier to fit them on. No truss rods in that bass though! My Fender Precision needed a proper set up to suit the new strings, nothing drastic though.

[ead]

I'm a serial 170BT user and I do like the feel of them.

[colleya]

Does anyone know if a 5 string set is in the pipeline? My bass is due a string change and setup pretty soon and I fancy giving these a go.

[Guest ixlramp]

For now they're probably keeping it basic with 4 string sets, the idea is to add a matching tension single B to a 4 string set.
Matching E-B pairs would be roughly 95-130 107-145 120-160.

[D'AddarioUK]

[quote name='colleya' timestamp='1481311545' post='3191486']
Does anyone know if a 5 string set is in the pipeline? My bass is due a string change and setup pretty soon and I fancy giving these a go.
[/quote]

Hi Colleya,

There are no plans for 5-string Balanced Tension sets that I'm aware of. As ixlramp suggests, you can pair your chosen set up with one of our single B strings. If you'd like to work out which one would be appropriate you can use our [url="http://www.stringtensionpro.com"]www.stringtensionpro.com[/url] website.

[bazzbass]

with the slight difference between in the D and A strings I doubt you'd need to adjust intonation, it's usually when you go a bigger E string in my experience.

But adjusting intonation is something you should learn to do, it's easy and there are a ton of vids on it

Basically, set the G string saddle at 17" from the 12th fret if it's a 34" scale bass then with the open note in tune, adjust slightly by comparing the 12th fret harmonic to the 12th fret fretted note, if the fretted note is sharp, take the saddle back a tad.
Then each subsequent saddle should be set further back by the thickness of it's string , adjust slightly as needed .

apologies in advance if I got it wrong but this is what I've been doing and my basses are intoned perfectly , almost