Love dead Fender 8250 Rndwnd, now what?

[avid]

I have been playing my Fender MIA Dlx for 10 months with the stock 8250s roundwounds. I practice for and hour a day and expect that superstardom is at least a couple more years away. Currently I am working my way through Ed Friedland's stellar (thanks Ed) Complete Bass Course.

I love the sound of the stock strings but I know they won't last indefinitely and I am wanting to take my bass in for a setup with the local tech who also is the local Fender service center. I would like to have new strings put on at the same time. My musical thang is blues and jazz.

I am inclined to go with flats, either Fender or Labella, but I am concerned that I will lose the sound that I am really digging. Since I am still phobic about working on my bass, especially since I only have one, I need to make a good decision about strings. The other factor is that the local tech, an excellent one people say, is on the very high side of what I see people pay for work. There is no other choice within 100 miles. I don't have a teacher to help advise me because there isn't one available. At least not that I have found. The bassist for David Jacobs-Strain (http://www.davidjacobs-strain.com/), who went to college in my town, was sure he could find me a local teacher and failed.

My question: if I dig the sound of dead roundwounds what new string is going to give me something similar.

p.s. I realize from studying the TB string forum for the last year that whatever string I use will require a break-in period.

Thanks,

David

[Captain_joe6]

From my experience, Fender flats are pretty close to what you're looking for, but maybe a little too deep and un-roundwoundy. Your next best option would probably be a set of TI Jazz Flats. Many flatwound people (myself included) consider them to be the perfect blend of flat and roundwound tone. Juststrings.com always seems to have the best price on them, but somewhere local my be competatively priced. Don't worryyourself about setups and breaking things. Rule of thumb on doing any work on, well, really anything mechanical, is that if something feels wrong, stop trying to make it feel right. In other words, if you're tightening something and it starts to feel like its binding or something, stop tightening it. Mostly this applies to truss rod adjustments. Read up on the basics in the setup and repair thread and you'll be good to go. Honestly, unless there was something seriously wrong with my bass, I wouldn't pay to have someone fix it. But then again, I'm a do-it-yourself kinda guy.

Good luck!

[Trevorus]

Get some D'Addario half rounds. Those are in the middle, kind of. Using your tone control will allow you to get that thump, or bring out some snap, too./

[73jbass]

If you dig the sound of the dead roundwounds,then don't change them. If it ain't broke,don't fix it.

[Philbiker]

Originally Posted by 73jbass

If you dig the sound of the dead roundwounds,then don't change them. If it ain't broke,don't fix it.

+++++++1000000!!!!

Why do you have to change them?

My advice: Leave the strings on there until they will no longer hold tune. This could be a year, it could be a decade, it could be longer. I've been known to go into double digit year ages with strings myself. I've had (cheap, crappy) strings that no longer would tune or just died on me in less than a year. Your tech may shudder at not replacing strings when doing a setup, but exaplain your situation that you love the sound and feel of the old strings.

If and when you need to replace them, my recommendation is to use the same Fender strings all over again. Personally, this is just me, but I LOVE Fender branded strings. Every set I've ever tried from the OEMs on my MIM Jazz to the nylon tapewounds currently on my frankenbass. They make some of the best strings in the business.

My personal favorite is the Super Bass 7250s set which is the non-taperwound version of your strings. The 5 string set I have on my USA Jazz V is at least 5 years old and still holds tune and sounds fantastic.

[avid]

Thanks for the constructive suggestions.

At this point my strings are still tunable. It just is required on a daily basis. While still younger they would stay in tune, weather dependant, sometimes for days at a time. Staying tuned through an entire practice session that occasionally runs upwards of two hours isn't a problem.

As far as working on my bass, that day will definitely come as I am a do it yourselfer as well. For some reason a bass intimidates me more than usual. I have been to Gary Willis's site about set-up and have several books that describe the process. It still would be handy to have someone look over my shoulder for the first time.

TI flats are certainly on my list and I really don't recall anyone saying anything bad about Fender strings at TB and the local GC even stocks the 7250s. I knew people played flats for years but had no idea roundwounds could have that kind of longevity. Half rounds, that hadn't crossed my mind.

Thanks,

David

[chilliwilli]

keep the strings on till you cant intonate them or go for a mellower fender string

you might like the fender 7150 pure nickel strings