Hammeron
Hiya guys.
Our Bass guitarist plays a Warwick Rock Bass and wants to change strings.
Not sure what guage he has on the ax at the mo, but they have been on it for at least 3 years.
What would you bangers recommend?
FruitarGeek
Average gauge is probably 45/50 - 105.
And you can never go wrong with Ernie Ball, but of course, if he is feeling lucky, Elixer is great
If you guys gig often, he really should change his strings more often. At the very least, once a year.
VellaJ
Our bassist uses Fender. Knowing Fender, they're probably more expensive than Ernie Balls, but those new strings made a big difference to her playing comfort...
Bob-Dubery
Are they round wound? Flat wound? Half round?
It seems to me that three years is a looooooooong time for a set of strings. With round wound strings there is likely a significant build up of grime between the windings, which may have caused some fret wear and also tuning problems (as the grime will not accumulate evenly and so the string weight and thus the way it vibrates will not be consistent along the length of the string). So he should be prepared for things to feel and sound different even if you match the current gauage, string makeup, brand and so on.
Gearhead
-1 completely disagree when talking about bass strings.
What you do is buy new strings of a completely different type and brand and put them on as an experiment. The ones you take off, you first clean with an old toothbrush, wipe off with methylated spirits and then cook in water for half an hour. Dry off very thoroughly and put as a set into your bass case; if you don't like the new strings you can always go back. After three or four sets you know exactly what you want, you put those on and only change them to clean them or when you turn pro.
Jayhell
I've had wonderful results by just soaking the strings in Spirits for about 24 hours, dry, good as new. But, three years is a long time. If buying new strings, I'm very impressed with the Hartke range, I think the Medium Light ones. Not to hard on the fingers,not to sloppy on the sound.
FruitarGeek
Gearhead wrote:
-1 completely disagree when talking about bass strings.
What you do is buy new strings of a completely different type and brand and put them on as an experiment. The ones you take off, you first clean with an old toothbrush, wipe off with methylated spirits and then cook in water for half an hour. Dry off very thoroughly and put as a set into your bass case; if you don't like the new strings you can always go back. After three or four sets you know exactly what you want, you put those on and only change them to clean them or when you turn pro.
I don't think that is appropriate after 3 years of sweat/grime build up. I'd rather the bassist just experiment with whatever strings, but don't put on the old ones
V8
As a (very) part time bass player, I only change strings when forced to and with a decent active bass that might only be every other year (heish) - I usually turn up the treble to compensate for the loss of 'zing'.
I've used :
GHS Boomers (On the bass at the moment - not as easy on the fingers as the rotosound's, stainless ones are super bright and last forever, imho)
Ernie Ball (Used a set a long time ago, prefered the GHS boomers)
D'Addario (Which the bass tech found inconsistent on the low E, tried three different sets, sent all of them back... ended up cleaning and re-using old GHS strings!)
Rotosound (I liked them, felt easy on the fingers and sounded bright)
Locally GHS, Ernie Ball and D'Addario are all usually stocked by music stores.
Slightly OT : I've also got GHS Boomers on my 'metal' guitar and I think they work well for the harder stuff.
AlanRatcliffe
For roundwound strings:
I love Rotosounds, hate D'Addario (wolf tone/intonation problems) and Ernie Ball's are OK. I get three months from a set if I'm playing a lot, up to a year if I'm not. After a year, even if the bass has been unplayed I find the tension, tone and intonation will be off. Boiling bass strings is a temporary measure at best - they get some life back, but they always go dead very quickly after that.
Flatwounds are a different thing entirely - play 'em 'til they break.
Jack-Flash-Jr
+1 on Rotosounds, prefer the nickel myself.
Edit: look around, I've seen R200 difference in prices for the same set of strings sometimes.
charleshaupt
I,ve been using Rotosound,GHS boomers and D,adarrio xl on all my fretted basses with good results..and Ernie ball flatwounds on the fretless.... but that,s my subjective opinion...... test the waters and see for yourself......
Big-G
Personally, I've used Elixirs for the past 10 years, purely because anything else I've tried just didn't sound as good, or lasted a VERY short time before dulling....
I've used Ernie balls (just about every type they offer for bass) and found them to actually have the best tone overall, but at best this lasted 3 months before sounding very lifeless and dull.
Warwicks Red label strings were also quite nice, but dulled within a month or so?
Have to be honest and say that I never tried Rotosounds (knowingly), and only used D'dario Acoustic bass strings, which were reasonable.
Again, Elixir strings have remained the best I've used, and gave me the tone I wanted, and retained it for upto a year of fairly heavy playing. I generally replace them once the coating starts to significantly fray. This will be far sooner for a bass player who regularly uses a plec, or potentially longer for finger style (which I tend to use the majority of the time).
My problem has just begun though, as Elixir in their wisdom seem to have changed their string material, and have started using stainless steel. The coating remains the same. Unfortunately for me, I have not been as impressed with the stainless steel, and find them brighter, but lacking in the mid range. The best way of describing it would be slightly thin and yet muddy sounding? Unless I can get the older strings (nickel based?) I doubt I'll use Elixir strings any longer, which is a shame after 10 years of using them? I'm still trying to determine whether both types will be available, or whether Stainless is going to be their only option now?
Think I'll try out the rotosound Nexus strings next, and see how they sound? I did try the Ernie Ball enamel coated strings, and found them to sound quite nice, but very rough under the fingers. Not so good for long playing stints.
Hope that helps?
Regards
G!
D-tox
taking my P-bass in tomorrow for a setup and new strings... rosewood fretboard, currently looking at Ernie Ball flats stage 3 size 45-100, just hope this wont be to bright, still in 2 minds on flats and rounds...
Damn expensive @480 ...
AlanRatcliffe
Flats won't be too bright and they basically last until they break as they have no high end to lose. ?
D-tox
Great! Thanks, flats it is then, my other p bass has rounds but with a maple board, will compare afterwards and report back!
D-tox
Update*
So I went with ernie ball flats..... @ first I did not like the sticky feel of them, so I was disapointed, they are on a P-bass with rosewood fretboard.. but after setting the action & intonation and played it through 2 rehearsals it started to feel good..very Jazzy sound compared to my other p-bass with maple fretboard and rounds..
so last night I handed it to the vocalist to play "summertime" and I moved around in the venue to hear what my P-bass an Casino sounds like... I was amazed.. all and all very happy with the sound as it adds warmth to the music..
The maple and rounds worked well with the previous Rock band though..
