D'Addario EXL156 (.024–.084): the strings built for a Fender Bass VI

Nothing else quite fits a Fender Bass VI. The instrument is a six-string tuned E-A-D-G-B-E, a full octave below standard guitar tuning, per Wikipedia's own spec box, on a 30 inch scale, shorter than a four-string bass's 34 inch scale but longer than a guitar's. That combination needs a purpose-built string: too thin like a guitar set and the low strings flop, too thick like a bass set and the ball ends will not fit the Bass VI's own bridge.

D'Addario's EXL156 threads that needle. It is nickel-plated steel wound on the company's hex-shaped high-carbon steel core, gauged .024 to .084, built with guitar-sized ball ends for the Bass VI's tailpiece. D'Addario's own product page does not hedge about the family this set comes from: "XL Nickel Wound electric guitar strings are the standard against which all other strings are measured... revered by players everywhere since 1974." This specific 24-84 set, per that same page, is simply "custom made for the Fender Bass VI."

EXL156 reads heavy on paper next to a guitar set, but it is actually the lowest-tension string family CYS has covered in this size range. D'Addario's own tension chart for this set totals about 161 lbs across all six strings, an average of roughly 27 lbs per string. Compare that with D'Addario's EXL170, the company's standard four-string bass gauge (.045-.100), which totals about 165.7 lbs across only four strings, an average of over 41 lbs per string.

That lower per-string tension is a big part of why Wikipedia's own account of the instrument, quoting Placebo's Brian Molko, describes it less like a bass and more like a hybrid: "Playing the Fender VI is like playing two instruments in one, it can be treated as a guitar and as a bass." A six-string Bass VI at this gauge bends and fingers more like a loose, low guitar than a stiff four-string bass, even though the low string is physically thicker than anything on a standard guitar set.

EXL156 is built to the Bass VI's modern standard scale, so it drops onto any Bass VI ever sold: 1960s and 1970s originals, Fender Japan's 1990s reissue, the Fender Custom Shop's 2006-2008 run, Squier's Vintage Modified and Classic Vibe versions, and Fender's current Vintera II 60s Bass VI. It is also the standard aftermarket answer for Fender's brand-new 2026 Custom Shop Limited Edition George Harrison 1967 Bass VI, which ships from the factory with its own different stainless steel .025-.095 set, not this one.

It is worth being precise about what it does not replicate. Fender's original Bass VI, built from 1961 to 1975, shipped with nickel wound strings gauged .024, .034, .044, .065, .080, and .100, under Fender's own part number 073-5350-000, per Wikipedia's sourced spec box for the instrument. EXL156 matches that original .024 high string exactly, but its low string is a lighter .084 against the vintage .100. A player chasing an exact period-correct restoration on an original 1960s Bass VI will feel looser tension on the low strings with EXL156 than the instrument had from the factory. For everyone else, buying a Bass VI today, in any era, EXL156 is the practical, widely-stocked answer, not a compromise.

The Bass VI's fan base skews toward guitarists who want a lower, hybrid voice rather than dedicated bassists. Per Wikipedia's Fender Bass VI page, documented players include George Harrison and John Lennon of The Beatles, who both reached for one on tracks where Paul McCartney switched to piano or guitar across The White Album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be. Jack Bruce of Cream, John Entwistle of The Who, and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin all used one too, and Aerosmith's Joe Perry famously tracked "Back in the Saddle" on the Rocks album with a Bass VI in hand.

John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robert Smith of The Cure, Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac (audible on the live version of "The Green Manalishi"), and Noel Redding of The Jimi Hendrix Experience round out the classic-rock side of the list.

Molko and Placebo bandmate Stefan Olsdal both play Bass VIs, per that same Wikipedia entry. The instrument's reach extends beyond rock entirely: composer Gustavo Santaolalla used a Bass VI to score the protagonist Joel's themes in the 2013 video game The Last of Us, according to a 2024 Guardian piece on the score.

• Anyone who owns or is buying a Fender Bass VI, vintage, Squier, or Fender Vintera II, and wants the one set actually built for it rather than a guitar or bass set pressed into service
• Studio texture, the guitar-that-sounds-like-a-bass trick that shows up across six decades of the records above
• Restringing a vintage Bass VI with a modern, easy-to-find nickel set instead of sourcing Fender's long-discontinued original part number

• True low-end four-string bass fundamentals. EXL156 is lighter and higher-pitched than any real bass gauge; reach for EXL170 or another standard bass set for actual low-end duty in a band mix.
• Exact 1960s factory restoration. The vintage .100 low string ran noticeably heavier than EXL156's .084; nobody currently packages the original discontinued gauge as an off-the-shelf set.
• Players who do not already have a Bass VI. This set only fits the Bass VI's specific bridge and scale; it is not a general-purpose baritone or down-tuning solution for a regular guitar.

If you own or are buying a Fender Bass VI in any era, from a 1960s original to a current Vintera II, EXL156 is D'Addario's dedicated answer, not a workaround. It is the one widely-stocked set built to the instrument's actual scale, taper, and ball-end size, and its lower-than-it-looks tension is exactly why the Bass VI plays more like a low, loose guitar than a stiff four-string bass. Just do not expect it to match a vintage original's heavier low string, and do not reach for it if what you actually need is a real bass's low end.