New Strings Day!: Rotosound Funkmasters

[davidjackson]

Just thought I would let you all know that I have put a set of Rotosound Funkmasters on my 2012 AmStd Jazz bass for the first time. They are stainless steel and a very light gauge (.30-.90). Given that I am currently using Steve Harris flatwounds on my P bass (.50-.110) I wanted something completely different.

First impressesons? Probably better than I had been led to believe. The strings are stainless steel so have that really bright piano style sound to them and obviously tune to pitch at quite low tension. The reason I put them on was because I am getting into slapping and had never used light gauge strings so wanted to see how light I could go. They certainly make it easier to slap. You can't exactly dig in when playing fingerstyle (I don't tend to use a pick) but I sort of expected that.

I haven't played through my 'big' setup yet (Ashdown Little Bastard 550w and GK 212MBE) so am keen to find out how they sound through that. Clearly it won't be the fullest sound you have ever heard but some of my amateurish attempts to sound like Marcus Miller might be a bit more convincing and easier for me to play. I am also interested to see how long they last before going off as I have heard that they have a short life.

The interersting thing is that I am already starting to think about the instrument and my playing in a slightly different way and that can only be a good thing.

PS: I wasn't sure with the long scale set (32"-34") that I would get away with through body stringing on my J bass but I did. Plenty of clearance at the machine head for that so no problems.

[Rockin Mike]

Hard to go wrong with Rotos.

[Root 5]

I've been intrigued of late to try an ultra-low gauge set of strings; something like 30-80! Just for fun.

If I recall correctly, I believe that Rotosound makes a 30 -85 set in the Swingbass series.

[JamieIsOnline]

I always use Rotosound, I swear by them, I use them on all my g**t*rs and all my basses. I've used the lighter gauge ones and for me personally, they were really good and they, by the sounds of it are good for what you want too (that's probably the way I'd go too) but I myself take a shine to the long hybrid Rotos (40-100)

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Originally Posted by davidjackson

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PS: I wasn't sure with the long scale set (32"-34") that I would get away with through body stringing on my J bass but I did. Plenty of clearance at the machine head for that so no problems.

Rotosound Long Scale strings have a 37" winding which is long enough for thru-body on J and P basses.

[4-string]

I used to use funkmasters back in the day, might have to give them a try again soon. They are certainly priced right compared to the Hi Beams I normally use.

On a side note, I finally got to try the Ken Smith strings I bought a year or so ago, very nice strings also (030-090 set).