From John Paul Jones to Flea and Kim Deal the sound of the bass guitarist has been the pumping heart of rock and jazz music for decades.
However, the full range of the instrument has always been limited by the thickness of the strings – until now.
In a breakthrough which could revolutionise bass playing, Dr Jonathan Kemp, of St Andrews University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, along with the university’s Music Centre, has developed bass string that can extend the useful range of the instrument.
“Normal bass strings can be played far up the neck but the lowest pitch strings sound bad and are poor at harmonising with higher notes,” Dr Kemp explained.
“My new strings allow for improved tone when playing high up the neck of the instrument. The lumped construction technique used has only been applied for piano strings before.”
In a paper published in the journal SN Applied Sciences, Dr Kemp found that bass guitar strings have significant inharmonicity when fretted higher up the neck and that strings with tapered designs have even more elevated inharmonicity.
Dr Kemp enlisted the help of Gus Stirrat, of the award winning band Fat Suit, to demonstrate the new design, as seen in this video.
Dr Kemp sells guitar and bass guitar strings online under the trademark Kemp Strings and his previous research includes developing electric guitar strings that equalise the sensitivity of strings to pitch bends and allow chord bends to be achieved that were not previously possible on standard guitars.
