Rotosounds dead in one day?!?!?

[GabeN]

Hey, I decided to pick up a pack of rotosound RS66ld's yesterday to replace my aging slinky's. After getting them on the bass and set up they sounded absolutely wonderful and the tension was perfect. Basically they are the greatest string I have tried so far. The only problem is that now they are stone dead after one jam session.

Yeah, I dig hard and slap a good bit but I've had slinky's stay good for months and I almost never really wear out DR's. I would really really like to keep using roto's but if they go dead so quick it's not going to work out.

Did I get a bad pack of roto's or do they have a tendency to die super-quickly?

[fretlessman71]

They DO have a tendency to die super-quickly. It's the nature of the beast. I heard they're coming out with a coated variety that doesn't die so fast though.

[GeneralElectric]

If you like Rotos, boil them a few times.

When I used rounds I used Rotos and I replaced them before every show.

[GabeN]

I boiled them and they're okay but ***? I don't have the cash to slap a new set on every week. I wish that DR could make a string that came close to the Roto's. I miss being able to swap strings two or three times a year.

[Ampeg SVT]

Lo-Riders are the closest thing to Rotos that DR makes.

However Rotos are pretty unique and I think you are probably out of luck.

[opivy3056]

Originally Posted by GabeN

I boiled them and they're okay but ***? I don't have the cash to slap a new set on every week. I wish that DR could make a string that came close to the Roto's. I miss being able to swap strings two or three times a year.

low riders pull off a similar vibe. AFAIK

[PBass101]

When I used Rotosounds, I washed my hands before I picked the bass up and would wipe the strings down every fifteen minutes or so, and would sometimes rinse my hands off again if they started getting sweaty. A bit obsessive but it kept the strings clean and they'd stay good for a few weeks with several hours of play almost everyday.

With new strings comes adjustments to your bass setup as well as your playing style. If you want to keep the Rotosounds but don't want to replace them everytime you have a jam, then you're going to have to compromise and soften up your technique. There's no way around it. You just can't beat the daylights out of Roto's and expect them to stick around for long.

Roto Swing Bass are a fantastic string, and I plan on returning to them after several months of the long-lasting Thomastik Power Bass strings which just aren't for me. You just gotta know where to get 'em cheap. Where did you get your set from?

P.S. I've heard that denatured alcohol is the best way to clean strings.

[BullHorn]

I've began washing my hands over 10 times a day in order to keep my strings fresh.

I also use Dr. Duck's AxWax and a clean cloth at least once a day on the bass.

[stewart8980]

personally i love the thumpy dead sound of rotosounds. It's not quite the roundwound sound, but it certainly sounds groovy

[P-BASSLOVER]

They don't make them like they used to! The tensile steel contained in them is not as high like it was in the 60's and 70's.

[GabeN]

Okay, I'll try some Lo-riders again. I remember liking them when I tried them a while ago but I ended up liking nickel's better. Maybe I will have to try to get some sunbeams or nickel lo-riders and see how they do.

[Johnny Crab]

Originally Posted by PBass101

When I used Rotosounds, I washed my hands before I picked the bass up and would wipe the strings down every fifteen minutes or so, and would sometimes rinse my hands off again if they started getting sweaty. A bit obsessive but it kept the strings clean and they'd stay good for a few weeks with several hours of play almost everyday.

With new strings comes adjustments to your bass setup as well as your playing style. If you want to keep the Rotosounds but don't want to replace them everytime you have a jam, then you're going to have to compromise and soften up your technique. There's no way around it. You just can't beat the daylights out of Roto's and expect them to stick around for long.

Roto Swing Bass are a fantastic string, and I plan on returning to them after several months of the long-lasting Thomastik Power Bass strings which just aren't for me. You just gotta know where to get 'em cheap. Where did you get your set from?

P.S. I've heard that denatured alcohol is the best way to clean strings.

The above is spot on.

I've 3 primary basses that get rotated with ONE of them having the newest set of strings. The newest set-one gets used later in the gig and/or if the room is really dead-sounding.
Play about 40~60 shows/year plus practice time. Last year each bass was fed about 4 sets(about every 3 months) as I write the date on the box and put the old strings in it in case I pop one...which has only happened twice in 34+ years.

The FASTEST way to kill a Roto string is to detune and retune it a few times. I learned this in the late 70's when a handfull of tunes we played used drop-D(thanks Martin Turner/Wishbone Ash). I imagine Rotos on a bass with a whammy bar would rock for about 1 set or until you used the whammy bar a few times.

Boiling helps, alcohol is best for removing the oils & grime, using both methods back-to-back works best.

If you HAVE TO have the "Rotos fresh out of the box" sound, you're going to have to use brand new ones OR ones that have been well-taken care of.

TO THE OP ABOUT BAD SET:
I run across more "bad single string" issues than I do "bad sets"(never had). This did NOT happen in the 70's and 80's. Single string problems I've had in the past 2-1/2 years are about two: E string that was much louder than the set I just took off...more iron in the magnetic field or what? G-string that was dead out of the box. So out of about 120 strings(4 sets/year x 3 basses x 2.5 years x 4 strings/pack) I've run into 2 bad ones. That's about 1.7% bad and 98.3% good.

[EthanTheHeathen]

Hmmm, maybe I'm on my own here, but when I've used Rotosound strings they seem to stay fresh and bright for a LONG time. I had a set of Fender strings that died right away, but when I posted to complain about that here nobody seemed to agree with me. Could it be variation in our sweat chemistry? Weird . . .

[The Golden Boy]

Originally Posted by GabeN

I've had slinky's stay good for months and I almost never really wear out DR's.

Did I get a bad pack of roto's or do they have a tendency to die super-quickly?

The worst "dead out of the package" strings I've ever had were DRs.

I've been happy with D'Addario bass strings since the mid 90s.

[PBass101]

Originally Posted by EthanTheHeathen

Could it be variation in our sweat chemistry? Weird . . .

I absolutely think it could be. Look at Rory Gallagher's Stratocaster - it's terribly worn looking, and I've read several places that this is because of his blood type's rare acid qualities which caused his sweat to react with the finish in a way that few if anybody else ever experienced.

I think the general consensus is that if you take care of Rotosounds, you're going to get a good string that can last a while. It is a compromise, and there are several places to find Roto's very cheap. (PM me and I'll let you know where I got 'em) I've never done the denatured alcohol or boiling trick, mostly because I live in a college apartment with two roommates and don't need a canaster of pure grain spirits sitting around and don't know how to work a stove...but hey, whatever works.

[mrkreuzschlitz]

Originally Posted by The Golden Boy

The worst "dead out of the package" strings I've ever had were DRs.

I've been happy with D'Addario bass strings since the mid 90s.

I haven't had success at ALL with D'Addario's, they're dead SO fast.

Idk about DR's but my Elixirs sound great at 3 months, ideal really.

[Qvist]

Originally Posted by GabeN

I boiled them and they're okay but ***? I don't have the cash to slap a new set on every week. I wish that DR could make a string that came close to the Roto's. I miss being able to swap strings two or three times a year.

They do, DR Lo-Riders and RS swingbass strings sounds pretty alike. And the Lo-Riders of course lasts longer! waaay longer!

[mimaz]

Originally Posted by mrkreuzschlitz

I haven't had success at ALL with D'Addario's, they're dead SO fast.

I use Dean Markley Blue Steels on everything, they sound great, last a long time, and the sound tapers gracefully, rather than just going dead all of a sudden.

I had to put on a set of D'Addario's in a pinch a few months ago......they sounded dead from the moment I started playing........I know a lot of folks like them, but they're just not for me.

I used to use Roto's a LONG time ago.....(back in the '80's??), but haven't tried them since. Do they make Swingbass 5 string sets these days?

[lindseyp]

Originally Posted by Johnny Crab

...

TO THE OP ABOUT BAD SET:
I run across more "bad single string" issues than I do "bad sets"(never had). This did NOT happen in the 70's and 80's. Single string problems I've had in the past 2-1/2 years are about two: E string that was much louder than the set I just took off...more iron in the magnetic field or what? G-string that was dead out of the box. ...

This happens with guitar strings, too.

[mimaz]

Still thinking about the Rotosound days...........I seem to remember that they were very "rough" feeling strings.........am I remembering correctly, and is that still the case?