# Drop A string gauge, 5 string bass



## DECEMBER (Oct 19, 2021)

What's the heaviest gauge string anyone's fit on a 5 string without having to file out the nut?
I've got a Yamaha TRBX505 on the way and want to drop it to A. The Kalium string tension calculator shows that a .148 at A has comparable tension to a .130 at B. So I want to put one as close to .148 as will fit without having to file out the nut, cuz I don't wanna immediately void the warranty.
Thanks!


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## CanserDYI (Oct 19, 2021)

I can't see you getting anything over .130 without having to do some nutwork. Then again, some people are less picky about bass nuts, but I'm picky.


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## bostjan (Oct 19, 2021)

It depends. 

You know that the nut is not covered under Yamaha's warranty at any rate anyway, right?

But also, why are you wanting such a heavy string? Have you tried the stock string with that tuning? If not, you are putting the cart in front of the horse. Try the stock strings first. If they feel too loose or the tuning goes bad from low tension, then try a thicker string. If not, then don't try to fix what is not broken.

If you end up getting a thicker string, then see if it fits in the nut first. If not, widen the slot enough for it to fit. If something later breaks on the instrument and Yamaha refuses to repair it because of the nut, just know that they would have probably refused for changing strings anyway, because the strings, just like the nut, are not covered by the warranty.


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## DECEMBER (Oct 19, 2021)

bostjan said:


> It depends.
> 
> You know that the nut is not covered under Yamaha's warranty at any rate anyway, right?
> 
> ...


I had a Schecter Stiletto Stealth 5 string for a few days. It's 35" scale and had a .130... It was severely loose at A, so yes, I know it has to be at least a .140 to make a decent sounding low A on a 34" scale.
The Schecter was damaged by FedEx and had bad electronics and a back-bow, so I returned it, but if a .130 can't do A on a 35" then it definitely can't do A on a 34".


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## bostjan (Oct 19, 2021)

DECEMBER said:


> I had a Schecter Stiletto Stealth 5 string for a few days. It's 35" scale and had a .130... It was severely loose at A, so yes, I know it has to be at least a .140 to make a decent sounding low A on a 34" scale.
> The Schecter was damaged by FedEx and had bad electronics and a back-bow, so I returned it, but if a .130 can't do A on a 35" then it definitely can't do A on a 34".


Ah, I see.

I mean, a back bow is really easy to fix by adjusting the truss rod.

But there's a lot to unpack here.

Have you tried a .140" before? It's a matter of personal taste, but I _hate_ the tone of super thick strings. I think a .140" is not really quite to that point yet, but my point is that a thicker string at a shorter scale doesn't sound like a thinner string at a longer scale. Not even a little. They only sort of feel the same, but not really.

Plus, there is a lot more to tone than just string gauge and scale length. Electronics are a big part of that, so, if you are comparing the tone of messed-up electronics with an instrument with good electronics, then it's not really a good comparison.

I still recommend trying to tune to A with the strings that are on there, and then, if you don't like something about it, note what, specifically, you dislike about it and then go from there. It might get to the point where the Yamaha bass just isn't up for über-low tunings.


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## ixlramp (Oct 19, 2021)

DECEMBER said:


> What's the heaviest gauge string anyone's fit on a 5 string without having to file out the nut?


Heavy string sets with a .135 are common so i expect most nuts are cut to accept a .135. Probably not enough tension for you though on 34" as that is approximately equivalent tension to .130 on 35". But perhaps try a .135 single string first.
I expect you will have to file the slot slightly and use at least a .145.


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## thebeesknees22 (Oct 19, 2021)

I had to go with a tapered string when I went up to a .160 once at drop G#

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00YJJ0HHE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I can't remember what I have on my 5 string now. I think i dropped down to a .145 at that tuning.


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## DECEMBER (Oct 19, 2021)

bostjan said:


> Ah, I see.
> 
> I mean, a back bow is really easy to fix by adjusting the truss rod.
> 
> ...


Yeah. It was more than a back-bow. There were chips in the neck, but behind the styrofoam, so it wasn't hit there directly; I think the headstock had been bent which caused it to crack in the neck by 1st fret. The A & D strings had a weird attack, sounded like an upright, and ridiculous fret buzz. 
I have an Ashdown 220W 12" combo with dedicated inputs for active and passive, and the Schecter was really distorted in the high range (D & G strings). Had to turn treble all the way down on the bass and the amp. I usually like the sound of new bass strings, but this sounded like a hot mess. I couldn't tell which pickup was which until I tapped on them with my metal pick.
I'm definitely gonna see what the stock strings sound like before ordering custom gauge. I just wanted to gather information from others beforehand. I tried to put a .125 on a 4 string short scale for drop-D and it was way too big, went 'thud'. Didn't fit in the nut, but I think a .120 would have. So you really can't tell what gauge will fit in the nut until you have the string in it, so was just trying to get an idea of how big people have fit without filing the nut.
I have to have and measure the bass before I can order the strings: newtone strings, makes fully custom string sets. You put the length from ball end to nut when on the bass, you pick stainless or nps, you pick hex or round core, and they have every even number gauge from .200 to .18 
And no, I've played 4 string bass since 1998, but I just played a 5 string the first time last month. So I haven't had a chance to try different gauges on a 5 string yet. This is my first (2nd if you count the Schecter I had for 2 days). But the few I tried in-store were all really loose at drop-A.
I'm now using .110 .85 .65 .45 on my 30.3" 4 string DADG. It's almost right, but I think next time I'll get a .108 instead.
A .140 will likely do it for A, as I want it still loose enough to growl, but tight enough to have tone and minimal fret buzz.


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## RevDrucifer (Oct 19, 2021)

DECEMBER said:


> Yeah. It was more than a back-bow. There were chips in the neck, but behind the styrofoam, so it wasn't hit there directly; I think the headstock had been bent which caused it to crack in the neck by 1st fret. The A & D strings had a weird attack, sounded like an upright, and ridiculous fret buzz.
> I have an Ashdown 220W 12" combo with dedicated inputs for active and passive, and the Schecter was really distorted in the high range (D & G strings). Had to turn treble all the way down on the bass and the amp. I usually like the sound of new bass strings, but this sounded like a hot mess. I couldn't tell which pickup was which until I tapped on them with my metal pick.
> I'm definitely gonna see what the stock strings sound like before ordering custom gauge. I just wanted to gather information from others beforehand. I tried to put a .125 on a 4 string short scale for drop-D and it was way too big, went 'thud'. Didn't fit in the nut, but I think a .120 would have. So you really can't tell what gauge will fit in the nut until you have the string in it, so was just trying to get an idea of how big people have fit without filing the nut.
> I have to have and measure the bass before I can order the strings: newtone strings, makes fully custom string sets. You put the length from ball end to nut when on the bass, you pick stainless or nps, you pick hex or round core, and they have every even number gauge from .200 to .18
> ...



Best of luck to you on a 34", sir!

I bought a Warwick 5-string Streamer Standard last year and I went through hell trying to get that thing sounding good a whole step down. It sounds GREAT with lighter gauge strings tuned to standard, but once you go further than a half-step down, the low B and E strings would just create this ridiculous sub bass fundamental note with no actual tone to it. Then you'd hit the other strings and they'd sound great. I went through $400 worth of strings in 1 month trying to find the perfect set, tried different gauges from StringJoy.com until I said "Fuck it, I'm just not even going to bother playing in drop A or B....I don't need to" and bought a 4-string Spector Pulse. (the bass is the SHIT and the 5-string is 35").

Shortly after that, I realized my Peavey Millennium 5-string is a 35", I slapped some medium gauge strings on it, dropped it down a step and low and behold, it sounds fucking great! While I'm sure there are some 34" basses out there that can sound good with the right gauge string, my Warwick is not one of them and that whole experience just turned me away from ever trying to droptune a 34" 5-string again. And then right after that, Fractal updated their pitch block in the AxeFX III, so I've just been using my Pulse for everything because the Virtual Capo tracks well enough, the only tuning I do is going from CGCF to DGCF, then I just use the virtual capo to go up or down.


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## CanserDYI (Oct 19, 2021)

I have a 4 string bass tuned AEAD 34 inches with a .135 for the low A. Little floppy, really only when its open string, and even then I'm constantly picking my open strings a bit lighter as it is anyway to prevent some "BWOOOOONGG" going on.


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## DECEMBER (Oct 19, 2021)

RevDrucifer said:


> I went through $400 worth of strings in 1 month trying to find the perfect set, tried different gauges from StringJoy until I said "Fuck it, I'm just not even going to bother playing in drop A or B....


I wouldn't imagine nickel plated strings sounding very good in drop tuning with a string bigger than .130.
I'm definitely gonna get stainless steels. I can't put a link in this because my acct is new, but Newtone strings and Kalium both have custom stainless gauges. Newtone up to .200 and Kalium up to .266


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## Crungy (Oct 19, 2021)

I only go 130 at the largest for drop A. I feel that's too thick on some 34" scale basses though.

@RevDrucifer any 5 string Warwicks I had were decent for drop A. The 4 strings not so much. Drop C is the lowest I'll go on a Warwick 4 unless it's a longer scale model like the Taranis.


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## RevDrucifer (Oct 19, 2021)

Crungy said:


> I only go 130 at the largest for drop A. I feel that's too thick on some 34" scale basses though.
> 
> @RevDrucifer any 5 string Warwicks I had were decent for drop A. The 4 strings not so much. Drop C is the lowest I'll go on a Warwick 4 unless it's a longer scale model like the Taranis.



Mine's a Chinese-made Streamer Standard, not one of the German ones. It does have the nice bridge on it and MEC pickups, but man....I tried _everything_ possible and have just taken it as that bass is meant to stay in one tuning where it sounds GREAT. Ryan Martini is my favorite bass player and I just love that Warwick tone so much, it can get there, but only with lighter gauge strings in standard. If I used lighter gauge while downtuning, the lower strings would just go out of tune the second you'd hit them before they'd return to pitch, but thicker strings would produce that ridiculous fundamental that you couldn't just EQ out, because that's all there was. I'm glad I went through the experience though, because I really learned how important string gauges, the types of string cores, action, compression, etc are with the bass. 

And then I got that Spector Pulse, plugged it in and boom, there was the bass sound I was going for-



The Millennium sounds great with these same presets (AxeFX III), but that damn Warwick, no matter string gauge your put on it, it sounds like compete ass below standard tuning.


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## DECEMBER (Oct 20, 2021)

Oh, also, has round core or hex core worked better for you in drop tuning?


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## Hexer (Oct 20, 2021)

For whatever it's worth:
34" scale 5-string tuned to A-standard (whole step down from standard tuning) with a .135 low A string, played fingerstyle, Nickel plated strings
https://soundcloud.com/user-917741605/magnetar-one-project

The bass is an Esh Stinger I with active EMG singlecoils (and a piezo bridge, but that doesn't change too much about the tone audibly).

Also keep in mind, that there is quite a lot of distortion going on in this track, so it sounds clearer when played clean of course. I just wanted DIRT for this one.


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## DECEMBER (Oct 20, 2021)

Hexer said:


> For whatever it's worth:
> 34" scale 5-string tuned to A-standard (whole step down from standard tuning) with a .135 low A string, played fingerstyle, Nickel plated strings
> The bass is an Esh Stinger I with active EMG singlecoils (and a piezo bridge, but that doesn't change too much about the tone audibly).
> 
> Also keep in mind, that there is quite a lot of distortion going on in this track, so it sounds clearer when played clean of course. I just wanted DIRT for this one.


That's sounds good! A lot of clarity between notes (people often mention the problem where the 4 lowest notes all sound the same).
Thanks!


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## Hexer (Oct 20, 2021)

DECEMBER said:


> That's sounds good! A lot of clarity between notes (people often mention the problem where the 4 lowest notes all sound the same).
> Thanks!


Thank you!

I did notice that it's a bit easier with Standard B tuning but A still works. I basically tuned down because I joined a band that has the guitars in D. We MIGHT go back to standard though, we'll see.


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## DECEMBER (Oct 26, 2021)

I have the Yamaha TRBX505. It's great! Can't believe how bad that Schecter was compared to this, the difference is only $50. Must've been a dud. That all black look was pretty, though.
Although this one sounds great, the .130 doesn't even sound too good at B, let alone A. It's completely unusable for drop-A. So I got a Blue Steel .105-.045 set and a D'addario Pro Steels .145T on the way.
I ordered customs for my short scale 4 from Newtone strings, and also a .146T for the 5, but since that will likely take ~3 weeks, I ordered the .145T for now. 
I've never played a 5 string before this month, so I wasn't sure if I would be able to play it like a 4 string, but I've found that I can, the 5th string doesn't get in the way in a way that prevents me from playing it like a 4. If I can't find a string that makes the low A sound great, it will be disappointing, but I don't think I would exchange the bass for a 4 string model. 
I may need to look into a new amp, that's gotta be a factor for how the 5th string sounds. I have an Ashdown EBLite 12" 220W EVO III combo and a Behringer BXL3000 15" "300W", though I hear they spec the peak wattage instead of RMS, so it's probably a 150W since it has a 200W rated speaker. 
What amp(s) do you know that sound great with the 5th string? ($600-700 max).
I'll update when I get the .145T on it.


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## DECEMBER (Nov 3, 2021)

Put the D'Addario Pro Steels .145T on the TRBX505. It was farting out on both my amps, but I filed the nut and it pretty much stopped sounding terrible. A .148 would probably be best but the .145 barely fit thru the tailpiece. I'm still waiting on a .146T from Newtone.
I was all ready to load up both my amps and sell them to GC and buy a new one, but it suddenly decided to sound better that day. 
I'm still working with my Digitech BP355 and recording with many presets, dialing in the best settings for recording. I think it sounds as good as a 27Hz string can sound, being that most amps' frequency response start at ~40Hz.


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## CanserDYI (Nov 3, 2021)

DECEMBER said:


> Put the D'Addario Pro Steels .145T on the TRBX505. It was farting out on both my amps, but I filed the nut and it pretty much stopped sounding terrible. A .148 would probably be best but the .145 barely fit thru the tailpiece. I'm still waiting on a .146T from Newtone.
> I was all ready to load up both my amps and sell them to GC and buy a new one, but it suddenly decided to sound better that day.
> I'm still working with my Digitech BP355 and recording with many presets, dialing in the best settings for recording. I think it sounds as good as a 27Hz string can sound, being that most amps' frequency response start at ~40Hz.


What did you find was causing the fart out? Was it speaker breakup or maybe some string buzz? What amps are you running through?


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## DECEMBER (Nov 3, 2021)

CanserDYI said:


> What did you find was causing the fart out? Was it speaker breakup or maybe some string buzz? What amps are you running through?


Not sure. I hear it's very common with low B strings, especially if dropped to A. It wasn't fret buzzing. It might have been a combination of settings on the BP355 and having it sitting on the nut, as it didn't fit in the nut until I filed it. It might have improved with breaking in the string, too. It was doing it on the stock .130, too, which was just way too loose at A, but it did it at B, too. I even tried it on a $900 Mesa Boogie tube combo and same thing. 
I can still hear the oscillations at the frequency of the farting noise, but I'm sure that's just a characteristic of the 27Hz frequency, which is very low. But it's not sputtering anymore. I doubt the frequency response of either of the amps goes below 40Hz.
I have an Ashdown EBLite 12" 220W EVO III combo and a Behringer BXL3000, 15" and "300W" (I hear they spec the peak wattage instead of RMS, and it has a 200W rated speaker, so I'm guessing it's a 150W RMS). The Ashdown is overall a better sounding amp, but the 15" speaker of the Behringer does handle the low A just a little better. 
Not great amps. I'm gonna list them on Reverb.com and see if I can sell them, I'll probably get a new Ampeg Rocketbass model.
The Markbass 2x10" combo (300W or 500W?) at GC had the smoothest response to the low A. It was $900 used, but otherwise, it was a pretty lousy sounding amp. And had a very bad hiss, which I've seen lots of comments about.


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## DECEMBER (Dec 25, 2021)

Update: even the .145 didn't sound very good. I finally got the .146 from Newtone (stainless, hex core) and put that with a Blue Steel 105-45 set and it sounds a LOT better. Well, had to get a different amp, too, a Blackstar Unity U250 (250W, 15"). This does the low A much better! As better as it sounds with these new strings, the Ashdown still doesn't do the low A well. Unfortunate, cuz I kinda like it's tone better. The U250 is a digital modeling amp, has 3 'amps' & 3 responses, so 9 total combinations. Built-in OD, distortion & fuzz, and they're different for each amp setting. Built-in compressor, chorus and octave, too.
I'm not big on digital, but if it does the low A well, I can't complain. And I got it for $400 used, in perfect condition.


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## Kymatik (Sep 12, 2022)

I put a .160 on my G&L 2500 (34") a few days ago because I dislike the feel of floppy strings. Kinda excessive for B but I just tested it in A and it still sounds defined and plays well. Sits high on the nut though, might file it out a bit.


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## stringsmatter (Oct 6, 2022)

max .0130 I think though never tried it.


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## Hexer (Oct 16, 2022)

Little update from my end: I think I finally found my ideal strings: Sadowsky Black Label steels.
For A-tuning (everything whole step down) on the Esh Stinger I 5-string (34" scale), I use their set with a tapered .135 as the lowest string. They have slightly higher tension at the same gauges than most other strings and it feels and sounds pretty great to me


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## Kymatik (Oct 17, 2022)

I put on a .160 on my 34" G&L 2500 for B because I'm crazy and drop A barely works properly with that imo. My next bass is gonna be a Dingwall or something like that for sure. Nothing beats scale.


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## DECEMBER (Oct 17, 2022)

I'm using a .148 now on a 34" for drop-A, A=432Hz, making the low A 27Hz.


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