Which string set for 6-string E to F?

[Reissueplayer]

I confess I do like playing chords on bass and my Zon seems like the perfect bass for it. Currently strung B to C, it could be fun to try out adding a higher F. Are there any string sets on the market aimed at this? If I just added a higher one, what gauge would go well with the others?

 

Who has tried it already and what was your experience with it?

 

Cheers,

 

Ola

[Boodang]

No experience but was looking at the 7 string Ibanez. I string my 5 as high C but it looks like once you go up to F it's a plain string ie. not wound, which might feel a bit weird.

[Hellzero]

There are some round wound 0.018 or 0.020 F strings made by Pyramid, Newtone and Dean Markley, for instance. 😉

[BigRedX]

11 hours ago, Boodang said:

No experience but was looking at the 7 string Ibanez. I string my 5 as high C but it looks like once you go up to F it's a plain string ie. not wound, which might feel a bit weird.

 

Are you sure? I've no experience of 34" sets but all the Bass VI sets I have tried (30" E-E) have a wound high E string.

 

If this was me, I'd be looking at getting Newtone to make me a 34" set based on their Axion Bass VI strings

[Boodang]

49 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

Are you sure? I've no experience of 34" sets but all the Bass VI sets I have tried (30" E-E) have a wound high E string.

 

If this was me, I'd be looking at getting Newtone to make me a 34" set based on their Axion Bass VI strings

The Ibanez 7 string comes with a plain F string but I'm sure you could get custom sets made. Just got to pay attention to gauges so you end up with a balanced set.

[Reissueplayer]

Thanks for the replies! Stringjoy seem to be making long scale roundwounds in 0.025 gauge. Maybe I should try that

[Downunderwonder]

Wouldn't you string it as a bass 'guitar' with B and E on top?

[BigRedX]

13 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Wouldn't you string it as a bass 'guitar' with B and E on top?

 

Really depends what and how you play. 

 

Most ERBs are tuned with all the strings a 4th apart. It means that you can play the same patterns whatever string you start on and still be in tune.

 

A Bass VI will normally be tuned the same as a guitar but an octave down.

 

However there are no fixed "rules". I tune my Bass VIs EADGCE simply because it some of the songs we play require a drone "C" and overall it's a good compromise tuning that doesn't require me to retune between songs.

[Downunderwonder]

I just figured the chording would be more straight forward with trad guitar intervals.

[BigRedX]

2 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

I just figured the chording would be more straight forward with trad guitar intervals.

 

Even on a Bass VI chords of more than two strings tend to be muddy and indistinct unless played high up on the neck. If you want to play "guitar-style" chords use a guitar it works and sounds a lot better. For 2 note chords so long as you know where the notes are on each string the intervals between strings doesn't matter.