Questions regarding Sadowsky B strings

[mbrancalion]

Last week i read dozens of pages, here in Talkbass, about Sadowsky strings.

I discovered that a bassist friend of mine has been using Sadowsky Blue Label strings since several months ....
He had an unopened set of SS Blue Labels and he gave it to me. And other than that, he loaned me one of his handmade basses which has a broken in SS Blues set.

Now, both the low B strings in his bass, and the one in my own bass (where i have mounted the set he gave me, tonight), in my opinion sounds o bit "hollow" in comparison with the other strings in the set. And they seem to have a strange overtone series. They tend to play worse when i dig it more aggressively. I believe you understood what i mean: that sort of "clang", where (expecially in the first frets) the note is less discernible (because of slightly out of tune harmonics).

And, as said, i hear this both with my combo (Markbass: it is performing well), and with earphones (Akg 141 monitor). Both live and recorded to pc.
And with both basses (both have 34" scale).


My question is: anyone noticed something similar ? As far as i found here, only Groberts in the thread about differences between blacks and blues seemed to mention some "hollowness" in the B string ........

Is this something that goes away after a period of time, after the strings broke in?


Other question: this friend of mine tried Blue nickels too... and said that in this opinion the nickel B dies quickly than the steel B.
Again: anyone experienced it?

This because my tastes are more towards nickel.......



Thanks, greetings.

[DavePlaysBass]

I have read a lot of good things about Sadowsky B strings. My experience on my Sadowsky RV5 is that the Black Sadowsky Steel at 130 was great, but I was not into the grindy tone and rough feel of the set. I did not like the 130 Blue Nickel or 125 Black Nickel. They were thuddy and in distinct. I may be in the minority saying that because I have read about a lot of other guys liking them. I have not tried the Sawdosky Blue Steel yet.

The only B strings that I love are from the La Bella camp. These include the Pedulla Nickels and Steels (128T) , Carvins (130T), and Hard Rockin' Steels (128T). I believe the Slappers will be the same as the Pedullas. The one draw back to the Carvins is they are made for 35" scale instruments and I have to put a 1/2" spacer at the bridge to get them to fit. If I wrap the fat part of the B string around the post, the string comes unraveled. Carvin was good about sending me replacements as I worked thru the issue. And at $16 a set, I keep coming back to them. They have a nice bright sound when new with what I would describe as nice rich nickel mids. They lose their initial high end sheen pretty quick, but sound descent for a few more weeks. I think I get more miles out of the steels but I like the fatness of the La Bella nickels and the reduce wear on frets and fingers. And at $16 a set, I can change them twice as often.