Have they been on too long?

[DaveCustomMade]

I just realized that the strings on my fretless bass were first put on in June of 2003.

Just noticed that the A string seems to be a little dead sounding.

Maybe I need to buy another set of Elixers. Perhaps the Nanoweb version, this time?

[fourstringdrums]

Are they round wound? 3 years is a pretty long time for roundwounds and they obviously will lose their tone after a while. Flats retain their tone longer because they don't have the same type of grooves which can accumulate dirt, grime etc.. and dull the string.

Regardless of what string you have if they don't sound good anymore, change 'em

[DaveCustomMade]

Originally Posted by fourstringdrums

Are they round wound? 3 years is a pretty long time for roundwounds and they obviously will lose their tone after a while. Flats retain their tone longer because they don't have the same type of grooves which can accumulate dirt, grime etc.. and dull the string.

Regardless of what string you have if they don't sound good anymore, change 'em

Yes, round wound. Elixers

[Corona_Clyde]

I was told to change my strings every 6 months. I played with my old ones for a year before I got my DR Highbeams. I could be wrong!

[Synplicity]

clyde its upto you when you change your strings, there is no set duration, just when you dont like the tone they make.

[tplyons]

I change the strings on my main 2 about every month or two. My not so primary instruments get new strings every 6 or so. My flatwound strung basses, almost never.

[nad]

When I used Elixirs I changed my strings once a year at the very most. Now that I'm on DRs I go about every 2 to 3 months.