noirpunk Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Hi all, I'll shortly be recieving a short scale bass. Just wondering what the drill is when I have to change strings? Is there any way of modifying standard scale strings for a short scale? Any good value for money short scale sets around? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 [quote name='noirpunk' post='671029' date='Dec 1 2009, 01:25 PM']Hi all, I'll shortly be recieving a short scale bass. Just wondering what the drill is when I have to change strings? Is there any way of modifying standard scale strings for a short scale? Any good value for money short scale sets around?[/quote] How short? 30"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirky Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I use D'Addario EXL160S - D'Addario seem to be the only short scale strings that are available on Stringbusters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firmo Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I'm in a similar situation at the moment, I don't really know all that much about bass strings. I play an Epiphone Rivoli and have never changed the strings since I got it (over four years!) - really need to change them but I have no idea what strings to get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 You really need proper short-scale strings for a short-scale bass otherwise you end up wrapping the full thickness of the string around the machine head which isn't good. Also many short scale basses have guitar style machine heads and only true short scale strings will fit. And what is the scale length of the bass you're getting? A lot of people say short scale when they mean medium scale. True short-scale is up to 30½" Medium scale is up to 32". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noirpunk Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 It's gonna be a 30.5 scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozbass Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 (edited) I like d'Addario's nickels (EXLs) very much but don't tend to use them on my short-scales. You could have a look at Alembic short strings (silked at both ends and made specifically to fit a 30.75" scale), or Newtone in Derbyshire. I wanted something very specific for a couple of short-scale basses and Newtone custom wound two sets to exact specs - the strings are superb and not too expensive. It was a successful trial and I'd certainly use Newtone again. Beyond these two, Fender supply short-scale strings as do Thomastik. My advice would be to avoid trying to modify standard length strings - it's more hassle than it's worth and almost always a sub-optimal solution. Edited for spelling Edited December 2, 2009 by lozbass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Until recently Rotosound had been proving incapable of making anything constantly other than 34" roundwounds, so I was getting my short scale string from [url="http://www.newtonestrings.com/"]Newtone[/url]. There's were a complete revelation after the crap I'd been putting up with. Haveing said that though the last set of short scale Rotos that I bought weren't too bad at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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