Boy do I feel dumb. I was tuning and tightened too much. Snap!
Completely my fault, new bass, different tuner arrangement. Well, off to Amazon. Where do you get your strings?
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Amazon 
Usually either these or EXL160’s (50-105)
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sweetwater. I like their filters. Also Amazon if I am looking for something specific.
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Or these
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Amazon
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Those are in fact in my drawer right now, pulled off of a BEAD 4, with an unused G
And I sold my 5 with those on it.
edit: oops, no, it was these. Another good option
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Thanks for the help everyone. I ordered 2 sets of strings, so next time I will have a spare ready.
@howard how does it sound without the “g” string? I assume you went EADG using thicker guage
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I tuned it BEAD and it sounds exactly like a 5 string. Except only the good parts
BEAD tuning is fun. Very easy to do on most 4-strings, just buy a 5-string set and put the lower four strings on. Maybe file the nut a bit if needed (I did).
This is a very common metal tuning.
It’s even better for the bass; BEAD is lower tension than EADG.
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Interesting. I wonder if I can get away without filing the nut; and I wonder how my Jazz would sound like this
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pretty awesome I am guessing
free band name suggestion: Growly B
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Interesting
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Meh. Cheaper to buy the D’Addario 5-string set, plus .125 is super wimpy for a B. And you would still need to file, most likely.
Plus the D’Addario strings are probably better.
Probably want to look in to nut files too. I just used modeling files I had and was fine.
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topic:
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Wow. I find it fascinating how many people buy from Amazon. If I can get it from a music store and it’s not that much more and I don’t need it urgently (unless they have next day shipping), then I will. I use Amazon when that isn’t the case. I just know that the more people shift business to Amazon, the more of these stores will cease to exist. And I’d hate to not have a local music store anymore. I’ve seen this happen a lot with hobby games stores as well. I’m not a die hard “fight the man” type of person or anything, but I do try where I can. Not telling anyone else what to do, just stating my process. If you want to keep going direct to Amazon in first instance, there is nothing wrong with that. I have almost daily deliveries from Amazon, but my stance with specialty stores is a bit different than bread and butter items.
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Sometimes I buy from SoundHouse (Japan’s version of Sweetwater) but really that’s no different than Amazon.
I could buy from the online stores of the music chains here too but often they are the fulfillers in Amazon and Rakuten (basically, Japan’s other Amazon) anyway.
Sometimes I will go to the stores and have bought from them before (big ticket items, even, including two basses) but for strings, meh, Amazon is fine.
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Yeah, and again, that’s perfectly cool. But I think people would be surprised to know how much music stores rely on non-instrument sales to keep themselves going. Not only is is the additional revenue and margin, but it keeps traffic coming to them.
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Right, and volume keeps them in manufacturer discounts, etc. I will buy from a store if I need something and happen to be out near a store. But I don’t think I am going to make a trip to a store for just strings if I’m not already out.
Weirdly I probably would for picks though. I guess the differentiator is if I want to look at something, or know exactly what I want to order, for small items like these.
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I’m off the beaten path, people don’t have exotic things like 5 string basses. heck they can’t even do a setup at my local store. I was in there this week (buying picks @howard) and didn’t see any strings for 5 string basses.
We are so rural here that literally a bald eagle flew past my window 15 feet away yesterday.
I could special order strings in but that would take some time. I’ll stop by and ask. But I did order from Amazon as I don’t want my bass down for days. Should get here Monday.
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What’s recommended for B strings? I figured 130. They have the medium (130) and heavy (140) also available. I would imagine 140 to be too big for a 34” scale. Not sure how much difference a 35” scale makes though.
I’m using the regular GHS Bass boomers (44-105) on mine.
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130 or 135.
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