i have been using ernie ball hybrid slinkies for the past 3 years on my fender mexican p bass and never really had any problems.. sometimes they would die a little quicker or last a little longer but hey they cant all be exactly the same. recently i just bought a brand new fender american standard p bass and it sounded great in the store i bought it from however i tried putting my EB's on there and for some reason the E string always dies within a half hour of playing. i thought it was a fluke and i bought a new set and the same thing happened again. and its weird because it sounds ok at first. i have messed with the pick-ups and it really is just a dead string. i even put the dead string on my mexi bass and it sounds like crap. i know i could boil it or soak in in denatured alcohol but a brand new string??? is i possible i just got 2 bad sets in a row? bad bass? bad pickup?? or should i just switch strings? any help from u experienced players would be appreciated! thanks.
Go out and buy a different type of strings, maybe the store got a bad batch, make sure it isn't your new bass. It may have sounded great in the store but your amp may be hearing something that the amps in the store didn't. May I suggest Knucklehead strings? They are bright with killer sustain!
i have been using ernie ball hybrid slinkies for the past 3 years on my fender mexican p bass and never really had any problems.. sometimes they would die a little quicker or last a little longer but hey they cant all be exactly the same. recently i just bought a brand new fender american standard p bass and it sounded great in the store i bought it from however i tried putting my EB's on there and for some reason the E string always dies within a half hour of playing. i thought it was a fluke and i bought a new set and the same thing happened again. and its weird because it sounds ok at first. i have messed with the pick-ups and it really is just a dead string. i even put the dead string on my mexi bass and it sounds like crap. i know i could boil it or soak in in denatured alcohol but a brand new string??? is i possible i just got 2 bad sets in a row? bad bass? bad pickup?? or should i just switch strings? any help from u experienced players would be appreciated! thanks.
How are you winding them onto the tuners when you install them?
I had that problem with EB strings in the past.That's why I stopped using them. I had a 6 string and a 5 string set that both had a dead string in the set.I switched to DR's,and haven't looked back.
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Music Man Sterling 5HS/Tobias Killer B 6/ Thunderfunk 550 /Ampeg Heritage 810.
brand new ernie balls dead?? 
