# NBD - LTD, drop E content!



## Goatfork (Jan 28, 2012)

So I bought this bass a little over a month ago but I was just now able to get it set up drop E, strung up with an 85-175 set.

I had to carve out some space in the nut, bore-out part of the bridge, tweak the saddles and the truss rod, and that was it.


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## Metastasize (Jan 28, 2012)

Very nice! I would love to hear how that sounds! I'm currently trying to decide on how to tune my girlfriends bass so I can start teaching her stuff I've been writing on my 8 string tuned to drop E. This is one of the options I've been leaning towards. That or just keeping it in standard and transposing.


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## Tarantino_Jr (Jan 28, 2012)

pics not worky


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## in-pursuit (Jan 28, 2012)

I would love to hear some DI clips of that, solo. PWITTY PWEEEEEZ?


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## AcousticMinja (Jan 28, 2012)

HELL YEAH! Those are some thick ass strings. I love it. I want to do the same to one of my basses, but tune it to C#0


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## Goatfork (Jan 28, 2012)

Tarantino_Jr said:


> pics not worky



Just got them working again


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## Tarantino_Jr (Jan 29, 2012)

TheGhunther said:


> Just got them working again



Oh god. DAT E STRING


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## Adam Of Angels (Jan 29, 2012)

Doesn't the decreasing size of the windings toward the bridge nearly kill the vibration?


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## Goatfork (Jan 29, 2012)

^No, not really. It's the ballsiest, hardest to tame string of the bunch actually.


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## ixlramp (Jan 29, 2012)

I love those Forest basses.

Is that a Rotosound drop zone set? I'm disappointed to see such a long tapered section on the lowest string, looks to be about 3 inches with the taper over the bridge pickup. You may find this long length of tapered section in the vibrating length creates a strange 'out of tune with itself' tone (inharmonicity: harmonics out of tune with fundamental), especially if you play on the higher frets.

Check out Circle K Strings, they sell 'drop tune' sets designed for equal tension strings in a drop tuning, so the lowest string will be as tight as the higher strings. They have a short tapered section of 1.625" to improve tone and reduce inharmonicity. They are super flexible for a clearer and more harmonic tone, their .190 has only 3 layers of wrap wire making it more flexible than this Roto with 4 layers. I'm sure you'll find them far superior 

I would suggest the .182 or .190 set here: vStandard Drop-tuned 4 Strings


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jan 31, 2012)

Which neighbor had to lose power for you to get that E string?


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## Goatfork (Jan 31, 2012)

The whole block, man.


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## m4rK (Feb 1, 2012)

Damn, thats awesome, lets hear it already!


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## NeglectedField (Feb 4, 2012)

I hope your tuner's good! At that tuning it becomes barely discernible to the human ear if you're in tune or not, that and -

PPPPPRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPP

Shit, I just soiled myself...


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## idunno (Feb 4, 2012)

what are you playing through amp/cab wise? you have trouble cutting through at all?


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## Goatfork (Feb 5, 2012)

idunno said:


> what are you playing through amp/cab wise? you have trouble cutting through at all?



I'm only running it through POD Farm 2; I don't have a bass amp. I'm a guitar player mostly.

I got this bass set up for drop E for the EP I'm working on, which is mostly 8 string stuff in drop E and I thought "Hey, why the fuck not?" 

When it comes to 'cutting through', it's a little different than usual. The bottom end of it of so fucking low that most systems might not handle it as nicely as I'd like, with clarity that is. The overtones and stuff up on the B string cut through well though. The guitar tone is very similar to that of the album Nothing, so it's relatively scooped to fuck. The bass sits nicely in the middle and the very bottom.

I wont have any examples for a little while, but when I do I'll be sure you guys here at SSO have a chance to hear it.


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## Brohoodofsteel75 (Feb 6, 2012)

How does drop E sound, my bassist friend it sounded weird but that was with a 160 gauge?


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## cGoEcYk (Feb 6, 2012)

Is it mainly guitarists who think of tuning basses to drop E? It's hard for me to imagine any useable tone down there. Where the clips?


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## ZEBOV (Feb 6, 2012)

cGoEcYk said:


> Is it mainly guitarists who think of tuning basses to drop E? It's hard for me to imagine any useable tone down there. Where the clips?



I'm a bassist wanting to tune to low F#, but I can't imagine tuning any lower for playing live. To play it live, I think you would need 21" subs for a 34" to 35" scale or a Knuckle Quake bass with it's 39.55" scale and some 18" subs to make it cut through the mix.
But yeah, I think of it, but that's about it. I know I won't have the means to play anything lower than low F# live on bass unless I have some much higher end gear like a Knuckle Quake and some 18" subs.
Recording is another story though. It's much easier to record such low notes than it is to play it live.


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## guitarister7321 (Feb 6, 2012)

Holy shit, that low E looks like one of those steel ropes they use on bridges! Really nice bass, too. Love Forest models. Must be really fun to play!

Happy NBD!


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## TemjinStrife (Feb 6, 2012)

ZEBOV said:


> I'm a bassist wanting to tune to low F#, but I can't imagine tuning any lower for playing live. To play it live, I think you would need 21" subs for a 34" to 35" scale or a Knuckle Quake bass with it's 39.55" scale and some 18" subs to make it cut through the mix.
> But yeah, I think of it, but that's about it. I know I won't have the means to play anything lower than low F# live on bass unless I have some much higher end gear like a Knuckle Quake and some 18" subs.
> Recording is another story though. It's much easier to record such low notes than it is to play it live.



Size of speaker doesn't mean anything about ability to reproduce low notes. It's all about box tuning, speaker design, and power handling. A 21" speaker may not push as much low end as a 15" speaker.

That said, I get plenty of low end with standard E tuning, let alone low B. My 32" scale Kubicki can absolutely shake the house on the "flat" active EQ setting in E standard... it's got an absolutely massive amount of 40Hz-area content. 

I have a hard time believing that tuning to a frequency where the all-important second harmonic is still too low for your average sound system (live or recorded) to reproduce properly would be all that useful or impactful when you can get that same impact with a more normal tuning without having to carry thousands of watts and specialized speaker systems.


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## MF_Kitten (Feb 7, 2012)

next time get Circle K strings, they have more balanced tensions between the strings, and the string wrappings will be "finished" right after the saddle, instead of at the first part of the pickup like here.

I bet it sounds awesome though


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## ZEBOV (Feb 7, 2012)

^This guy knows what he's talking about. He's not a stranger to super thick strings and ultra low tunings.


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## sh4z (May 1, 2012)

Would love to hear some clips of this by itself!


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## Goatfork (Jun 2, 2012)

^You can hear it in my new EP (link in my sig) but there aren't any spots where it's isolated. I'm working on a bunch of new stuff, maybe I'll get some bass going on it's own.


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## ixlramp (Jun 3, 2012)

TheGhunther said:


> ^You can hear it in my new EP (link in my sig)


Excellent music!


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## Goatfork (Jun 4, 2012)

ixlramp said:


> Excellent music!



Many thanks!


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## xeonblade (Jun 4, 2012)

You can kill a person with that string.


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