The Uptuned Bass Players Esoteric Society -^@^-[U.B.P.E.S]-^@^- Only for bass players who have achieved a higher state of tuning!

[Baloney Balderdash]

So since my 28.6" scale main Ibanez Mikro Bass is currently tuned to G standard tuning, as in 3 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning, I thought I would start a thread for bass players who have one or more of their basses tuned up higher than what is considered the norm (that is basically E, all fourths, standard tuning for 4 string bass, and B, all fourths, standard tuning for 5 or 6 string bass).

That is weather we are talking about a 4 string one octave higher E standard piccolo tuning, a 5 string bass tuned E to C, a 6 string tuned E to F or E to E, a typical 4 string A or B standard, that is A to C/B to D, baritone tuning, an all fifths C to A cello tuning, or more esoteric variants of utilizing higher than regular tuning on your bass, be it on a sub short scale (bellow 30" scale length), regular short scale bass (around 30" scale length), or regular full 34" scale length bass.

 

This thread is meant as a place for discussing alternative higher tunings than what is considered the norm for bass, or simply just as a place for you to get a chance to wave your uptuned bass freak flag, should you feel such need.
 

To start out the discussion :

I had used an F# standard tuning (that 2 half steps above regular 4 string E standard tuning), which has actually traditionally been used in classical music for upright bass solo pieces, for my 28.6" scale Ibanez Mikro Bass for quite a while, using a gauge .090 - .072 - .054 - .040 string set, composed of single D'Addario XL nickle plated roundwound steel core strings, the gauge .072 and .054 string actually being guitar strings threaded through the cut off ball end of old bass strings to be able to sit in the bass bridge, but then recently decided to re-string my Mikro with gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 strings to tune it one half step further up to G standard tuning (why is explained following).

It does make it lean a bit more in the 4 string baritone guitar than bass direction, but there is still plenty of bottom end to fill out the sonic space as a bass instrument, and it seems to work better for the kind of bass/baritone/guitar crossover riff writing/playing style that I currently use it for in a drums and bass duo, where I also have my signal run through an always on 1 octave up effect, to give an effect somewhat similar to that of an 8 string bass (with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings).

This way chords work pretty much regardless of where I fret them on the fretboard without getting too muddy, and that thuddy, stacatto and somewhat dead, effect of playing the thickest string above the 12th fret, due to the reduced flexibility of the string caused by the shorter vibrating length of the Mikro's short scale length as you approach the upper end of the fretboard, has totally been eliminated with the lower tension and thinner gauge .080 low G string, which wasn't quite the case with the previously installed gauge .090 low F# string, also the gauge .034 high A# string seems to still just exactly have enough mass to be perfectly snappy and full sounding, like a real bass string, and not thin or anemic in any way, like as if it had been a guitar string.

All together basically resulting in a tone that now sounds clear and vibrant no matter what I play at the entire range of the fretboard, while still having that full tonal quality with plenty of punch and snap typical of a bass guitar.

Ironically the tone of my Mikro in some ways is now closer to what you would expect from a regular 34" scale bass, given the richer harmonic content of the thinner gauge strings, than it ever was before.


Here is how my lowly, but very much beloved, Mikro Bass looks (though back when this photo was shot it was still equipped with the gauge .090 - .072 - .054 - .040 strings and tuned to F# standard tuning) :

Edited December 5, 2021 by Baloney Balderdash