Looking for suggestions/recommendations

[bassinplace]

Hi,

I just got a used Stingray HH bass. It used to live right next to the ocean and some of that ocean air was starting to have it's way with her. Luckily, I saved her in time. That erosion did wear on the strings a bit, and I swapped out the strings from my old bass temporarily.

I was just wondering if anyone has any good suggestions on what strings to use. I'm thinking flatwounds because I like the feel of them. I also like a deep, fat, round tone so I'm thinking flats would be the way to go? I don't know the difference between brands, though. Thanks in advance for your answers.

[zacwbass]

Consider halfwounds before going the full blown flatwound road, especially on a bass with such a distinct tonal character . If your used to the feel and tension of roundwounds these are a good transition as they retain some of the qualities of rounds but tonally are closer to flats. GHS and D'addario both make good halfwound sets.

[bassinplace]

Originally Posted by zacwbass

Consider halfwounds before going the full blown flatwound road, especially on a bass with such a distinct tonal character . If your used to the feel and tension of roundwounds these are a good transition as they retain some of the qualities of rounds but tonally are closer to flats. GHS and D'addario both make good halfwound sets.

Yeah, all I've played are roundwounds so far. I'm not afraid of the flatwounds, though. I figure they'll have a real fat sound to 'em. A good feel, too. I like a fat low end to my tone. The transitioning sounds like it might be a good idea, but I'm on a pretty tight budget, so I'll only be getting one set of strings for awhile. Something I'll have to think about. If I were to go the flat route, are there any you would recommend?

[dwm74]

I had a Ray34, which supposedly is very similar to 'real' Stingray in every way. I installed a set of flatwounds (Chromes 45-100's), and was surprised that the zingy-ness was still there. It really didn't seem to affect the overall Stingray tone much at all, just eliminated finger noise. So, if you're looking for flats that won't lose all of that higher end, I'd suggest Chromes. Not cheap, but they last for years.

Check out this video (and others by this same guy):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho42fxFsE6M

[bassinplace]

Cool, thanks for the link!

[GreenApollo]

DR strings literally make a huge difference. Put it this way. Before I put DR's on my Ibanez I was going to sell the bass. Now I play it with a huge grin on my face.