Stringing an acoustic bass

[elom]

Hi all, not been around for a while...

So I have this old, cheap acoustic bass which just sits in the corner of the living room and occasionally gets picked up for a quick 5 minutes. It's still got the same strings on it that it came with when I bought it from Thomann over a decade ago. Until today. I was putting a fresh set of strings on my main bass (which I do every 6 months) and thought that as there was a bit of life left in the old ones I would put them onto the acoustic. That's when the fun started.

I thought it would be pretty simple but I was wrong. Everything seems to be going okay but when I tighten up the strings the bridge pins ping off and literally go flying across the room! I've given up now before I break something, either accidentally or through frustration... How am I supposed to get these damn pins to stay in? I must be missing something.

Actually I have just thought of something as I am typing, is it the strings? Do I need special strings for an acoustic? The used ones that I have been trying to put on are D'Addario Pro Steels. Might it be a tension thing?

Any help would be very welcome. It may be old, cheap and battered (much like myself) but I'd at least like to get it functional again!

[floFC]

Stop right there. yes, you need special strings for acoustic basses.

[hubrad]

5 minutes ago, floFC said:

Stop right there. yes, you need special strings for acoustic basses.

Ball end bass strings, use whichever you prefer.

The trick, as with acoustic guitar, is to get the ball alongside the pin once it's through the soundboard, so the pin acts as a toggle rather than holding the string in by friction.

Initially fiddly, but once you get the hang it becomes second nature.

[Cato]

It might not be the strings, the tension on standard steel or nickel roundwounds isn't going to be massively higher than it is on the phosphor bronze it presumably came with. Flats might be pushing it though.

It could just be that the pins/anchoring hole thingies are knackered.

I've got an acoustic guitar which has a tendency to pop a couple of pins when I tune the strings up to tension after restringing.

Believe it or not I solved the problem with a bit of blue tack around the heads of the pins in question.

The blue tack thing really shouldn't work on a guitar and I reckon there's no chance of it working on a bass with the much greater forces involved.

I think you might have to get a tech/luthier to take a look.

Edit. 

But definitely try @hubrad's technique first.

Edited January 20, 2019 by Cato

[RedVee]

You really don't need to have special strings on a ABG at all. My ABG came with Phosphor Bronze which gave out too much finger noise, so I replaced them with La Bella White Nylon Tapewounds. The way to string them is to bend the ball end at around an inch to 2 inch angle so it grips onto the underside of the body, with the ball end facing towards the neck inside the guitar Then just locate the pins and you should be good. By not doing this the pins will just fly out when you tune the string up to pitch.The bend in the string will act like a hook stopping it from popping the pin out when tuning.

Edited January 20, 2019 by RedVee

[Dad3353]

This ^^ is correct. The pins will have a groove in them. This groove should be facing the headstock, and will slide down the string, past the ball-end. When under tension, the ball-end will not be beneath the pin, but alongside, such that the more tension, the more the string itself tightens the pin against the hole. If done properly, the pin cannot come out, however high the tension. The bridge would bust first.
Hope this helps. 

[ubit]

7 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

This ^^ is correct. The pins will have a groove in them. This groove should be facing the headstock, and will slide down the string, past the ball-end. When under tension, the ball-end will not be beneath the pin, but alongside, such that the more tension, the more the string itself tightens the pin against the hole. If done properly, the pin cannot come out, however high the tension. The bridge would bust first.
Hope this helps. 

This! Plus you don't need special strings for acoustic bass. I have flat wounds on mine and they sound great. If they are fitted as described by Dad and RedVee, you won't have any problems. It's exactly the same as stringing an acoustic guitar.

Edited January 21, 2019 by ubit

[ubit]

I should add, you will need to hold down the peg at first until you have enough tension on the string. Once this is achieved, the string can be fully tuned and won't move ever! You might need a tool to remove it when you come to change the strings. You can buy these quite cheaply. They have snips and a socket for winding strings easily.  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Planet-Waves-Pro-Winder-String-Winder/dp/B0002E1G5C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1548062489&sr=8-3&keywords=guitar+winder+and+cutter.                       The cupped bit at the end can be used to remove the pegs

Edited January 21, 2019 by ubit

[floFC]

13 hours ago, hubrad said:

Ball end bass strings, use whichever you prefer.

 

12 hours ago, RedVee said:

You really don't need to have special strings on a ABG at all.

 

5 hours ago, ubit said:

This! Plus you don't need special strings for acoustic bass.

Well, it would appear I am the victim of some clever marketing ploy. I learnt something today!

Edited January 21, 2019 by floFC
Typo

[TrevorR]

My trick was always to bend the bit of the string where the bare wire goes round the ball end at a 45 degree angle so that the ball end didn't get trapped on the bottom of the bridge peg and ping it out.

 

[TrevorR]

13 hours ago, RedVee said:

You really don't need to have special strings on a ABG at all.

True, but I've always found that stainless steel or nickel rounds always sounded pretty sub par on either an acoustic bass or guitar - much worse on a 6 string guitar. Bronze, phos bronze of flats/tapes always just worked/sounded much better to me. So not NEED but much prefer. YMMV, of course.

[ubit]

1 hour ago, TrevorR said:

True, but I've always found that stainless steel or nickel rounds always sounded pretty sub par on either an acoustic bass or guitar - much worse on a 6 string guitar. Bronze, phos bronze of flats/tapes always just worked/sounded much better to me. So not NEED but much prefer. YMMV, of course.

As I said, I have flats on my acoustic bass and it sounds nice. It came brand new with bronze strings, but they went dead very quickly. I thought I'll embrace the acoustic element and went for flats.

[lemmywinks]

Use black nylon coated strings on an acoustic, sounds much better. Also ignore the poster who thinks you need special strings, that's nonsense.

[lemmywinks]

Oh and defret it too! 😁

[Geek99]

I cut the end of the pin off at an angle so the string ball slips down it and neither gets stuck on the pin or pops it out

see sketch below

Edited January 22, 2019 by Geek99

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Geek99 said:

I cut the end of the pin off at an angle so the string ball slips down it and neither gets stock on the pin or pops it out

Nobody likes a clever-clogs..! 

...

...

 

[Geek99]

It’s obvious isn’t it ?

 

Edited January 21, 2019 by Geek99

[Geek99]

@Dad3353 surprised no one else does this 

[elom]

Cheers guys, will give that a bash first chance I get!

[josie]

My two fretless basses, acoustic and electric, both have D'Addario chrome flats and they're equally good on both. 

I'm planning to put tapes on the acoustic fretless and move the flats to the fretted acoustic (when I can afford to! 😞 ) The acoustics are sister Michael Kellys, so I'm assuming that since the flats are fine on the fretless they'll be fine on the fretted as well.

[Dad3353]

7 hours ago, Geek99 said:

@Dad3353 surprised no one else does this 

Those that have never had a problem or have simply just not thought of doing it, I suppose (such as myself...), but it does appeal, now that you've shown it. Well played, that man. 

[elom]

Thanks for all the advice folks. Bass now properly strung and no pegs popping!

[Rich]

On 21/01/2019 at 14:59, Geek99 said:

It’s obvious isn’t it ?

 

Definitely going to try this next time I restring my lovely Tanglewood.

[Geek99]

Just use a Stanley knife - 45 degrees works 

[Brook_fan]

Some good advice on here, and just to add my two cents worth, no , you don’t need special strings for an acoustic.  However, make sure you pay attention to the tension.  You may need to just the truss rod if you go up or down in tension.

Robbie