coated/wrapped strings?

mattbass6945 · #1 07-26-2011, 07:34 PM

ok, so i'm a noob to tb. forgive me if there is already a thread for this. are coated and/or coated strings worth the price difference? do they really last longer? i can never talk myself ino paying the difference. how different is the tone?

darkstorm · #2 07-26-2011, 10:11 PM

The dr neons for bass have proven themself to me for lifespan of 5 or more months. Had them on a bass for allmost 6 months before I decided to change them. Could have left them on a little bit longer, but thats ok. Normally Id change strings about every 3 and half to 4 months. So I'm getting about one and half times lifespan from them. At $29 a set compared to $20 a set for rotosound swing66 I'm getting my moneys worth and prob would have little bit less cost for yearly string maintance with the neons. Dr neons are coated sunbeams btw.

I dont like elexirs sound wise and they tend to go fuzzy after awhile esp if you use a pick. Rotosound nexus coated strings sound good but also show wear from pick use soon enough that they wouldnt last 4 months on my bass looks wise. Havent tried ghs or ernie ball coated strings.

cybersnyder · #3 07-27-2011, 05:53 AM

In general, I don't like coated strings. I have Black Beauties on one bass mostly just because they're black. They do sound pretty good for coated strings. Overall, Cleartones were my favorite but they've had bad reviews from most on the board.

mattbass6945 · #4 07-27-2011, 04:52 PM

cool, thanks. will take that into consideration as i have gotten extremely lazy and needed to change strings a couple weeks ago.....where are my priorities?!?!?!?

Caca de Kick · #5 07-27-2011, 05:32 PM

I tried em once, did care for them (DR's) they just didn't have the same top-end brilliance as the Highbeams I was using. I generally got a year from each set of DR highbeams, so by the end of a year they were the same as where the coateds started out of the pack. I couldn't see the benefit.

fjadams · #6 07-27-2011, 07:05 PM

I've been using the GHS Tapewounds on my basses since '68. For me, the tone is what I want, "All thump, no twang". Currently have them on my Gretsch, Rogue short scale and my boy's Gibson Les Paul 5 string. It was mine, but I didn't like it so I gave it to him.

They last forever and stay in tune better than anything else I've ever played.

From Juststrings.com they are $23 for the 4 strings and $31 for the 5 strings.

73jbass · #7 07-27-2011, 07:18 PM

Been using Elixirs since 2006,and haven't looked back.