Headless (DBE) strings too long?

[Lfalex v1.1]

Just tried to restring my Hohner B2a V.

 

B, E and G have made it to pitch. 

 

A string  won't make it beyond F#

D string is worse.

Reason? No more rearward travel in the tuners. 

 

Anyone else encountered this? 

I have no idea what the strings are that I removed. New ones are Elites 45-130.

Any fixes out there or have I just wasted £37?

 

NB- this bass has no clamping provision at the headstock.  It's DBE or nothing. 

[PaulThePlug]

I'd check the measurements, string, box, website...

Possible an over-long rogue set?

Is there a difference in length to the old set, or just how they are (or not) tuning up? - Gauge Change?

Edited October 31, 2023 by PaulThePlug

[Lfalex v1.1]

Hi Paul.

Just measured them up. Exactly the same length as the originals, ball-end to ball-end.

Gauges are heavier on the new set (don't start me on restricted choice of gauges/sets)

If you made me guess, I'd say the originals were 40,60,80,100,125. The new strings are 45,65,85,100,130.

 

The issue is that the A string won't come up above F#... 3 semitones short.

The D string is far worse. It makes F, 9 semitones short.

Does a notional .005" increase in gauge really cause that much difference?

 

[Lfalex v1.1]

A quick call to The Bass Centre has revealed that they suffered QC issues (string length being too long, unsurprisingly) with the DBE sets 😡

 

Whilst they've purged the rogue sets from their own inventory, there are still some out there in retail.

 

I only popped into Strings Direct as I was in the vicinity. It's a 70 mile round-trip otherwise. 

 

[tauzero]

That's a PITA. The one string type that length is critical on and somebody gets it wrong.

 

You can get adaptors that allow you to use normal strings on headlesses like the B2 series - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364283601229. I haven't bothered as I use Elites anyway on my B2AV and the 40-125 set is my ideal weight. Oooh, I wonder if half of a chocolate-block type electrical connector would work. After all, the actual terminal bit is brass with a steel grub screw going into it.

[Lfalex v1.1]

They're probably only ~3mm too long. But it's enough. 

I almost need a hard metal curved "seat" with a slot on it to insert into the head-piece to take up the slack.

 

And yes. It's the other critical  dimension besides gauge,  and it IS a PITA.

[PaulThePlug]

They gonna swap or refund?

Souldn't be £37 short for 3mm long!

At least that explains things...

[Lfalex v1.1]

The Bass Centre were very apologetic, and said they'd refund Strings Direct who could refund me...

 

Ideally,  I'd take the Hohner with me, and swap a good .065 and .085 out of another set, which Bass Centre could refund Strings Direct for.

 

I've currently got the new B,E & G on it, with the old A &D to stop the neck wandering. 

[lemmywinks]

Best option is to get an adapter and use whatever strings you like, Thomann sell them.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Called Strings Direct.

Meh.

Either go back to the shop (70 mile round-trip. I was passing that way the first time)

Or

"We'll Email you a Freepost label,  send the Strings back with your receipt and we'll refund you"

 

Uh... I don't own a printer.  I'd have to go and buy a Jiffy bag and then wait for a refund which may or may not materialise.

 

What a drag.

I don't recall any of this being my fault 😡

 

[tauzero]

They might be able to email you a QR code to use at a post office instead, and post offices sell Jiffy bags.

[Lfalex v1.1]

So... with Strings Direct being unhelpful , I'd  given up.

So my other half very kindly buys me a set of Elites 40-125s from Bass Direct, bless her.

They arrive in good time.

I fit them and ONCE AGAIN the D and A strings are too damn long.

 

Why in the name of all that's low-tuned haven't The Bass Centre (Elites manufacturer) contacted their retailers and recalled all the sets from the duff production runs?

 

So utterly F'ed off.

And don't be mentioning adapters for regular strings. I don't want to do that. 

I want DBE strings that fit at a sensible price; not what D'Addario are charging...

[EMG456]

As usual, late to the party here...

 

I had this issue actually way back at the beginning of the year with strings I had bought online last august!

 

Bass centre swapped them for other sets I was needing but quite surprised that this is still marching on.

 

I was led to believe it was only the .040 gauge sets which had the problem but that seems to not be the case.

 

Status have their strings back in stock and so I bought a few sets from them- can confirm the lengths are correct. They're easy to deal with too.