Changing from 45 to 105 - 50 to 110

hollywoodrox

I have a Harley Benton bass that came with 45 to 105 gauge strings 
  I have it tuned to D standard , it’s a bit slack .

if I change to 50 to 110  which I gather would be correct for D standard , would the nut need to be re cut?

I dont really want to mess with the nut as I’m a bit useless at stuff like that .

Funkfingers

Q1) How wide are the nut slots at present?
Q2) By how much do the open strings clear the first fret?

It might be desirable for the slots to be wider but definitely not deeper.

There is an argument for cutting a new nut, from superior material, in which the the string slots can be shallower. 

ICBM

They will probably fit, but it’s likely that the nut will need attention anyway, most cheaper instruments aren’t particularly accurately cut - and often cheap nasty hollow plastic mouldings. (Yes, they really do save the pitiful amount of money by not making them solid.) Although I don’t know for sure about this one.

The good news is that for a bass, you don’t need expensive professional nut files - a set of cheap needle files (model makers and other hobbyists use them) will work fine.

You could also try using rolled-wound or half-round strings - a set of 45s of those is a heavier gauge than roundwounds, because a larger string is compressed or ground to a smaller final diameter.

hollywoodrox

Wow thanks guys very interesting