Hi all,
The bass I’m currently using mounts a .100 E string. How does the tone tend to change when the gauge is higher, all the other things being equal?
Is there any noticeable difference in tone between, say, a .100 and a .105?
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Nothing a good EQ can’t fix 
It’s much more about feel than tone, I think. My favorite strings have a .089 gauge E string!
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This difference exists mostly with very light guitar strings, say 9/42 and lighter. But even the smallest bass strings are quite big already, and that’s more than enough to manage the magnetic physics that happen in a pickup. Nothing to worry about.
My #1 bass has a 100 E (or D 
) string and there’s nothing wrong with the tone.
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In my experience, a majority of the difference will be in the string tension. To ring out at the same fundamental frequency, a thicker string must be kept under greater tension than a thin one, which will need to be looser. The difference is in the feel under the fingers.
My main bass has a .110 E. Harder to fret, but oh, so much easier to pluck.
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I find a lighter guage easier to play for me, but it is just a personal preference.
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Hey @Rob150 I play GHS Precision flat strings in the light gauge.
So 95 for the E string.
I’ve been playing for 3 years and posting covers for the past 2.
Nobody’s ever complained that my tone was too ‘light’ on YouTube.
My free advice for what it’s worth is get stuck into the Beginner to Badass course and practice.
I averaged 2 hours a night for my first year. So over 700 hours.
The only thing that improved my playing was practice. So don’t obsess over the minutiae of tone, gear etc.
Get the bass in your hands and work on your chops.
Cheers
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Thank you Barney, I appreciate the encouragement
Mine too
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105 is a great start. Heavy gauges are great for plugging lighter are great for slapping. Almost all of my basses have 105/45 but a few of my favorites have 95/ 40 or lighter. I found that with the right touch 95/40 is awesome it’s still deep, yet highly bendable. You get the highs high and lows low. Fun.
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Thank you @Al1885 I am trying to do things properly and use as light a touch as my large hands allow for, letting the amp do the volume work for me. But to tell you the truth, one of the reasons why I started the thread is that one of the shops where I usually buy has D’Addario strings on sale (45-105) while my instrument mounts 45-100, so I was wondering whether it was worth it.
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I actually prefer .100 to .105
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Both my favorite bassist Victor Wooten and Sonny Thompson are both playing with 95-40 and the low sounds just awesome not as I imagined so I tried that on my Master built Warwick $$ and I just love it. I took a while to dial in the tuning as it seems like it kept stretching. Once it’s settled it’s very stable.
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I couldn’t have spelled that correctly with Spell Check.
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I think it also has a lot to do with string tension. Some short scale players use the last four strings of a 5 set to compensate. My Fender Mustang was setup by a professional luthier that way when I got it. I felt it was too much tension but the sound wasn’t really different. I have Rotosound flats 105 on my 34" scale bass and they feel very stiff compared to other strings.
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Yeah, Roto flats are pretty high tension.
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I find that I prefer heavier gauge strings mostly on any of my basses if I’m down tuning it for certain songs. If I down tune lighter gauge strings they tend to get pretty loose & create string buzz which annoys me a lot.
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Yeah downtuning is a good reason to go heavier gauge.
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that’s why only Greenie is on .100 and all my other basses have heavier strings
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I agree it is so much about feel. Most strings these days are very consistent so find a brand and gauge you like and you’ll be good to go. Not to say you. Shouldn’t experiment.
I tried out a set of Dogal Hellborg flats. The gauge spacing on the strings were bigger than other sets. I liked the E and A strings but the D and G were comparatively small and the fell was bigger than I liked. Maybe with more time with them My technique will improve and I’ll like them more. (They are still on one of my basses.)
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I think in the main you are right, that it’s a matter of feel and taste, but some strings are just really complimentary to a given pickup. I think a good example of this is Steve Harris. His signature strings sound good with any pickup, but pair them up with a Steve Harris signature pickup and the strings really shine.
Here’s the other end,
My Fender tele bass with it’s mudbucker. I took off the Fender rounds and replaced them with Fender flats and boy did the flats clash with the pickup. Just did not work on this pickup position.
I’m a flats guy. Love the feel and sound, but now I’ve got to acclimate myself to rounds for this bass.
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