Adam "Nolly" Getgood on bass strings
Producer & Bassist · Peripherypaid endorser · Reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team ·
Who Adam Getgood is
Adam "Nolly" Getgood is the bassist for Periphery (2010 to 2017, returned for select cycles afterward) and one of the most technically-detailed producers working in progressive metal. His production work spans Periphery's catalog plus mixing credits across the modern djent and prog-metal lane. He is also the co-founder of GetGood Drums (with Joey Sturgis), one of the most-used drum-sample plug-ins in current metal production.
His approach to bass, Dingwall Combustion, multi-scale fanned-fret construction, custom Circle K gauges sized by tuning, is the case study for why off-the-shelf bass-string answers don't work in modern low-tuned music. See his producer profile for the broader production context.
Why these quotes matter
Nolly's framing, parsed
- .160 low string for low tuning
- Most production bass sets cap at .130 to .135 on the low string. At Periphery's tuning (essentially Drop A on bass with the multi-scale Dingwall), a .130 still flaps under pick attack. .160 is the gauge that holds pitch under the rhythm-track downstroke.
- Custom-gauge as the standard
- Circle K is one of the few makers that will ship single strings up to .260 (Nolly mentions it specifically). The market for .160-and-up bass strings exists almost entirely because of djent and modern metal's tuning-down trajectory.
- Equal tension is the load-bearing piece
- Multi-scale instruments work because the longer scale on the low string offsets the pitch drop, keeping tension equal across all 4 (or 5, or 6) strings. Without equal tension, the low string still flaps even at .160. The equal-tension philosophy is what Circle K builds their sets around.
- Endorsement transparency
- Sponsored by Dingwall and Circle K at the time of the 2012 quote. Disclosed. Cited because the technical claim about equal tension is industry-standard math, not marketing.
The bottom-string flap problem Nolly describes, pitch definition smearing under pick attack on drop-tuned bass, isn't solvable with a heavier off-the-shelf set. Hitting a .130 harder doesn't add tension; it just makes the smear worse. The solution is a per-string gauge choice tuned to tension, with the multi-scale instrument geometry doing half the work. Circle K is the manufacturer most associated with that approach because they were among the first to publish per-string tension specs and sell single strings to match.
What this means for non-Periphery players
Most readers aren't tuning bass to Periphery's drop registers, but the framing transfers cleanly:
- If you're tuning bass below Drop D, an off-the-shelf .045–.105 set will start to feel slack on the low string. Step to .105–.135 (5-string set top-five), or move to a custom gauge.
- If you're playing a multi-scale or extended-range bass, equal-tension thinking is non-optional. The longer-scale low string at lower pitch is the design intent; the gauge has to match that intent.
- If you're playing a 4-string in standard tuning, the equal-tension principle still applies but the off-the-shelf sets are already close enough that you won't usually feel it.
Related
Related
Discussing how to get low-tuned bass to sound solid on Periphery records, particularly the problem of keeping the bottom string from flapping under pick attack.
I use Circle K strings, who make custom gauge strings. They make something up to a .260. I use a .160 for the tuning that I'm using on the bottom end.
Producer & Bassist
Explaining why Circle K's equal-tension approach, not just the gauges, is what makes the Dingwall Combustion work at Periphery's drop tunings.
They're kind of designed to be equal tension as well, even with the fanned frets in the tunings that I use. That end of things is extremely important, and without that I don't think the tone would be anything like it is.
Producer & Bassist