Hello guys,

I've been doing crunching some numbers regarding the different strings gauges and tunings and the effects that these have on the overall and individual tension of the strings.

The general rule is that if you lower the pitch of a certain string, you get less tension on that string. So to avoid getting a floppy string that won't vibrate and hold a note, you increase the gauge of the string. (This means that the string gets thicker and heavier). The opposite also happens, that to get a higher pitch a higher tension is necessary and if this is too high, then bends become difficult and the string may break if too much tension is applied; so we decrease the gauge for the higher notes. Therefore, we have different gauges for different pitches in order to have a range of tensions in which the string will sound good. However, on most instruments, the stick being one of them, the tensions are not similar and thus give us a different feeling of each string, some which are "too tight", some that are "too loose" and some that are just right. If we change from a certain gauge to another (light-medium-heavy), the tension of each string will be either higher or lower, but there will still be a difference.

D'Addario (which is the manufacturer of Stick strings for SE) came up with a few sets of Balanced Tension Strings, in which the overall tension of the strings is the about the same as their regular unbalanced sets, but the individual tension of each string is very similar to the others. I've tried these in my guitars and is all I ever use since, the feeling is great and there are no more "tight" or "loose" strings anymore, all of them are just right.

If we take a 10-string stick with classic tuning as an example, a medium gauge set has an overall tension of around 200lbs. If we go down to light gauge we reduce the tension to about 150lbs and if we go up to heavy we go up to circa 250lbs. That is while keeping the exact same pitches on every strings, so the only way to do this is to make the strings thinner or thicker. This is particularly important for instruments without a truss rod, as the use of heavier strings could cause the neck to bow or break if done recklessly. That is why SE recommends light-gauge strings for pre truss-rod instruments.

Now, if we take the same string set, medium gauge for example and we down tune to matched reciprocal, the tension goes down to about 180lbs; and if we down tune further to deep baritone melody, then the tension goes down to about 150lbs. For DBM with medium gauge we have a similar tension as classic with light gauge, however, since the strings are heavier they feel too loose and don't sound good.

So far we know the effect of string gauge and pitch on the tension of the strings as a group, but we haven't looked into each individual string. The bass side of the stick has the same tuning for classic, MR and DBM, so the tension was relieved on the melody side ONLY. Uneven string tension could cause twisting or warping on an instrument's neck. I find this to be a critical topic in the Stick due to it's flat and wide fretboard, compared to a bass or guitar.

Let's have a look at Fig. 1 where we can see that the tension has a wide range across all ten strings, being the thickest strings that have the highest tension. If this difference is increased even further, i.e. buy using a "wrong" mixed set of strings, the neck could bend due to the higher tension and even twist due to the uneven tension. I still don't think that the original set is ideal as the tension spreads from about 12lbs to about 32lbs! As I mentioned above, the overall tension is about 200lbs, which means an average of 20lbs per string, which makes the 12-32 range huge.

If we now look at Fig. 2 we see the different tensions for light, medium and heavy gauge sets with classic tuning. The tensions increase as the strings get heavier, but the variation among the strings is more or less similar. I understand that the people at SE have looked at this and somehow arrived at the conclusion that this would not represent a big problem for instruments with a truss rod. Although for pre truss-rod sticks, only light gauge strings are advised.

Things could get worse if one were to use the same set of strings for different tunings, this is highly overlooked on many instruments as it is much cheaper and easier to just re-tune a guitar (for example) from standard, to drop d and to half-step and so on, instead of changing the strings or even having multiple instruments with different string gauges for different tunings. Fig. 3 show how the tension changes just by down-tuning the melody side, where the average tension of that side goes from around 15lbs to 10lbs and then to about 5lbs. This was one of the first things I tried on my stick, where DBM was almost unplayable as the strings were too loose and had no sustain or note definition. I stayed in MR for a few days until I could not stand the different tension between both sides anymore, so I went back to the intended tuning for those strings, classic. Moreover, as it was mentioned in another post, the tension of the strings has to be high enough to make the strings sound without much effort, but high enough to make them sound good.

Finally, Fig. 4 shows an example of a balanced tension set would look like for the Stick. The medium set has an overall tension of about 200lbs, but the tensions ranges from around 12lbs to 32lbs; therefore, this set aims to have as close as 20lbs per string using actual string gauges, a combination of plain and wound. This was probably the second experiment that I tried on my stick, as it had come (used) with mixed strings, were most of them were light, but the lowest (#6) had a medium-gauge string. The tension was too high and the string was too loud and sensitive compared to the other strings; so I replaced it with a light gauge string with immediately better results. Nevertheless, I still didn't fully like the different feel of such a wide range of gauges, so I asked SE if they could put a "hybrid" set of strings with more uniform gauges. Their reply was that the diameter had to exponentially increase in order to have different pitches. This is 100% correct, but you can also change the string tension for the same effect. You can see in Fig. 4 that the tension is even, this is accomplished by using heavier gauges for strings 2, 3, 4, 5 & 10, and lighter gauges for strings 6, 7 & 8; strings 1 & 9 remain exactly the same. The tuning is, of course, also the same, and the gauges are commercially available from D'Addario.

My goal is to put together a set (for myself) for DBM with 8 wound strings (2-9) and 2 plain strings (1 & 10) while keeping the overall tension of the strings around 150lbs (as my stick has no truss rod) and the tension of each string as close as 15lbs as possible. According to the numbers and current D'Addario string gauges, this should be possible and I will report back as soon as I do it and test it.

I'm very sorry about getting in too technical stuff and even more for the long post. I don't mean in any way to say that the strings sold by SE are not great, I'm just saying that if D'Addario went from unbalanced to balanced in some guitar and bass sets, maybe we can get a BT set from SE as well.

What do you think? Any other experimentalists that have attempted to do this or that have put a set with custom gauges for different or similar results? I'm not an expert on string theory, so Greg & Emmett (and any other guys that know more about this), please correct me if I'm wrong and help me to understand this better.

Cheers.
Walter

P.S. PM if you live in Zürich and you want to jam.

Walt, when I start seeing graphs, I change the channel.
Tension is what it is. Personally I’ve never given this aspect any thought. I never get strings from anyone but Emmett. My ear is not that discerning and I trust that he has perfected the string sets over 40 years. Any custom set you try to acquire will have a negligible impact on how you sound, particularly as a new player.
Have at it though...hopefully someone with more string savvy than me chimes in.

Cheers,
Kev

Hmmm, I never thought much about it - I just buy Emmett’s strings, I haven’t been dissatisfied yet...

I’m not trying to change or improve the sound of the stick, it is great as it is now. I’d just like to make the strings feel better on my hands by changing the gauge, BUT while keeping the tension low so I don’t damage the Stick.


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One of the things that's bugged me about 'balanced tension' strings (even on traditional instruments) is the premise that IDENTICAL tension across all strings is what 'balanced' means, and that this is inherently "better". This feels like a logical fallacy.

Case in point: what feels good for electric guitar pitched strings is NOT going to be the same for bass pitched strings. I totally get that if tension across immediately adjacent strings is inconsistent, it feels wrong, but that only requires smooth adjustments between strings, not a complete identical-ness across all strings. Anecdotally, as a bassist I prefer subtly different feels for low B and E strings vs high D and G strings. Even more so on a 10/12 string instrument like a Stick.

Also there are different practical problems to solve for different gauge strings. For example, string excursion during vibration. String excursion on thicker gauge strings that have the same tension as thinner strings is going to be way too wide. Get the tension right for those thicker strings, and the thinner ones will be too little.

I take your point (perhaps the point not discussed!), I wish there more widely available string sets for Stick and that it wasn't as unclear as light medium or heavy, but I'm not sure seeking identical string tension across all strings is the answer. But I could of course be wrong!

I fully understand what you are trying to do and I do the exact same thing. I've created my own custom string sets for every stringed instrument that I've ever owned. When I find that magic sound, I can play for hours. When something is out of whack, I can barely play for 10 minutes before becoming frustrated.

I've created my own digital string height gauge, in an effort to map the fretboard to achieve the lowest possible action. When the instrument goes out of whack from humidity or temperature, I can very quickly determine the problem by checking the height gauge map that I've created. LMI sold these gauges. My modified version, using a digital tire tread gauge and an adapter, is inexpensive and accurate to .0005 of an inch. https://www.amazon.com/Preciva-Tread-Depth-Gauge-Digital/dp/B074KD2D73


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-std0e02Sc[/youtube]

I believe you are correct. What is not being looked at is that your fingers are a complex network of simple machines. Depending on where you place your hand, the amount of effort needed to push any string of equal tension can require differing amounts of effort coming out of your hands. Some people like equal tension, but I’ve not had any luck with such strings on other instruments. In some cases the sound just didn’t appeal to me. I suspect with other instruments people going too deep on this subject need to find a different style / brand of guitar or bass that fits their playing better. Where this matters most applies typically to altered tunings. I recall an interview with Michael Manring many years ago where he used many different gages of strings on different basses. Typically the lighter gaged strings allowed him them most freedom, and that concept was applied in development of the Hyperbass. I used to own a Zon with no truss rod, I always used a light gage. I now own an NS Design bass that allows me to use much heavier strings with the same amount of ease the Zon gave me.

I’m glad to find that I’m not the only one that gives this some thought! I’d be very interested in the gauges and tuning that you have on your Stick(s). You can PM if you prefer, as I see that now many people have interest in this topic and prefer to just use what is already available.


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Great post. Just ordered the digital string gage from LMI. Could use something a bit more accurate than a 6" machinist scale. No issues with my Sticks, but I have worked on a couple of Sticks owned by a few other Stick players nearby. With 10-12 strings this gage should make string height easier to measure.

One note about setting up a Stick, make sure the nut flaps are somewhat level and not making an extreme angle. A few months ago I fixed someone else's Stick that had a good nut height, but the angle of it was huge, and made some odd noises and some strings seemed to have odd tension for their height. I reset it flatter and it worked perfectly.

I have an acoustic guitar that seems to have a string higher that my previous acoustic, but everything measured the same by the scale. Hoping this tool gives me something better to go by.

Walter - since you have an older Stick without a truss rod, I get why you are doing this as I basically did similar with my old bass that also did not have a truss. Going way back, I once had Rickenbacker 4001 that was very fragile to Michigan's weather, and I had ordered a custom gage set from GHS to balance the tension; the dual truss in that bass was never any help.

I use light gage on my Graphite Grand, so string tension has not been an issue for me. I'm thinking those who need heavy gage might be more inclined to want more choices. Another Stick player I know recently bought an old Stick used, I believe it also does not have a truss, but as far as i can tell the action seems OK. So I'm curious as to how your experiment turns out.

Being an an engineer in the auto industry, I've often wondered if Design of Experiment (DOE) techniques could create an optimal setup for a musical instrument. That would also factor in other variables outside of string tension.

We’re not so different, you and I. Making a DOE to see the effects of different gauges and tensions on the most used tunings sounds like a great plan.

I’ll mess around with the different strings that I already have from SE. After all, these are OEM and should work and sound good with my Stick.


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