I’ve been looking into a lot of doom/stoner rock and metal and the majority uses somewhere between D standard and C standard tunings.
My understanding is that 50-110 gauge strings should be ok for those tunings.
My question is: would I need to file the nut to accommodate that size?
I figure tuning up to E standard, while stiffer, wouldn’t be terrible but at least I can downtune easily.
You will probably be fine without filing the nut. I used 110 for E, and I didn’t had to.
50-110 is not that extreme, should be fine. Now a set that’s like 65-115 might be another story.
Peter Hook’s signature strings have a .065 G string and it literally broke the nut on my bass 
That’s when I learned how easy it was to replace and adjust nuts.
Do you think 50-115 would fit a standard nut?
Trying to figure out if I need to make a full commitment to lower tunings via a nut adjustment or not.
I’ve done 50-110 with no problem. If I were trying it I would buy a spare nut. They’re cheap and simple to change
I’m feeling pretty good that 110 is the lowest I’d need to go.
Thanks Wombat!
Disclaimer: I only heard about this!
The string should sit half way down in the nut slot. In other words, if more than half of the string sticks out, it can give you issues. If it doesn’t, I guess you don’t need to file it.
On TalkBass, a user wrote they used the strings themselves as files when they needed to file the slots.
Personally, I think 110 should be so close to standard 105/100s that it won’t matter. Show us a picture when you’ve strung up. 
This actually does work (with rounds). Really all you need at all is a small round diamond file though, maybe $3.00 tops.
For C tuning, this might still be a bit floppy. I have 110, and tuning down to C really was very low tension, I didn’t like it. For the occasional downtuning to C I now use my bass whammy. As I play to myself in my room, it doesn’t matter that much that it doesn’t sound perfect.
Justin Chancellor uses a 110 E-string for Drop D, for Drop C he uses 135.
But just try it. You can still adapt if it doesn’t work out. Might then just as well be an excuse to get another bass 
Yeah so rather than Drop C, just go BEAD at that point. Then you are still tuned in 4ths.
I can’t speak from personal experience, but I wonder if a set of DR Strings DDT could be of interest. However, you still need to choose the gauge, so your original issue is still relevant.