Rotosounds........what a Dissapointment

[heath_the_great]

well, i bought a set of rotosound swingbass 66's about 3 weeks ago now and i gotta say, i was bitterly dissapointed, first week they were good, i liked them but they died after a week....so ive had to boil them twice so far, basically cos i cant afford to buy new strings that regulary ...for $50 i would of thought that they would of lasted a bit longer.....i spose next time ill spend twice as much money and buy a set of DR's

[Bassic83]

Heath, have you tried the Elixirs yet? I was very skeptical, but finally bit and tried a set, and was very pleasantly surprised at both the tone and the longevity of the strings. I'm playing 3-4 nites a week right now, and have had my first set on for over a month. Normally, I would have been changing my strings ater about a week and a half, with the schedule we're keeping now, but my strings still sound and feel fresh and bright. I have a set of nanowebs on my 5. I was previously a die-hard DR Hi-Beams user.

[heath_the_great]

i cant have elixers on mine, i have a kubicki, 36"scale E/D string and my GDA are 32"...

long scale rotosouds, the E was only just long enough...and DR's are like $20 cheaper than elixers as well but im most likely gonna buy DR's cos i know they'll fit on my bass, the only others i wanna try are Dean Markleys, i had a set of bass blasters on my ATL and they were awesome, i wanna see if Blue Steel's are long enough though

[Figjam]

(dont forget he's in Australia)

I use Elixirs, mmp, love em.

[heath_the_great]

thats why things are more expensive ...

[Whafrodamus]

I love my Rotos. I have two packs of FM66ers (one sitting around, and one on my warwick), and some Regular stainless 66ers on my Ric.. Still sounds great.

[heath_the_great]

still, when a $20 set of austin city strings last longer...it makes me wonder

[slugworth]

You must have gotten a stale pack. It's a long way from
the UK to Australia, who knows what the shipment was exposed to before you bought them. I use Rotos almost
exclusively, and with proper care, they'll last a couple of
months or longer of VERY hard playing. Every once in a while
I might get 1 bad string out of a new pack (It's been about
2 years since this happened, and I have 8 basses, that's a lot of strings) I call the US distributor, and he sends a replacement out the next day, no questions asked. Are there
no domestic Australian string manufacturers? You might want
to check out D'Addario, their strings are packaged in hermetically sealed bags; they may survive the long journey
Down Under a bit better.

Slug

[heath_the_great]

there is a string/pickup manufacturer down here, puretone, but they dont make strings long enough to fit the kubicki, thats the problem, i can buy all these strings, they just wont fit

www.puretone.com.au

Originally Posted by slugworth

You must have gotten a stale pack.

how unlucky, first pack i buy, but i dunno if they were duds or whatever, they sounded fresh and bright the first week

[Arthur U. Poon]

I'd recommend D'Addario's too. They make an 'Extra Long Scale' set. On some of my basses I use GHS Boomers, and they also make an extra long set, but I see many TBer's have mixed feelings about them.
I've personally had great results with the lifespan of D'Addario's and GHS' strings. The stateside prices on both are pretty cheap, hopefully they're also cheap in Australia.
In my region of the U.S., DR's are one of the most expensive brands, I haven't broke down a tried a set.

I used Roto's for many years. My only complaint was fret wear. As I recall, their lifespan was great. I switched to nickel roundwounds for a bit more warmth.

Best of luck, A.P.

[heath_the_great]

ghs are the same price as roto's, only the scale wasnt long enough, im more keen to try the DR Bootzilla's and Marcus Miller sets, even though ill have to order them in...but ill most likely try lo-riders next

[bassmonkeee]

Originally Posted by heath_the_great

ghs are the same price as roto's, only the scale wasnt long enough, im more keen to try the DR Bootzilla's and Marcus Miller sets, even though ill have to order them in...but ill most likely try lo-riders next

Stu Hamm has been a GHS Boomer user since at least the mid 80s, so I would imagine there is a GHS set that fits on the Kubickis just fine.

Why don't you email Kubicki and ask what strings he recommends for his basses? He has to know by now what sets work, and what don't.

[Joe Nerve]

The more I read about string preference, the more I'm sure it's a completely personal thing and there's no such thing as a string that's better than, or that'll last longer than another. I'm quite sure also that what's considered "dead" to one person, is "perfectly worn in" to another. Soooooo many variables go into what strings will work, last, and sound best for someone. The bass, the amp, body chemistry, the way someone's fingers hit them, the sound they're after, how much they play and under what circumstances (on a 110 degree stage 3 hrs a nite, or an air conditioned bedroom)... I could go on and on.

That being said, I've the same experience as you with rotosounds. They're dead pretty much after the first gig. I've gone through a barrage of different strings and keep coming back to 2. D'addarrio nickel plated, and Smith strings. The DaDarrios seem slightly warmer to me and better suited for my active basses. Smith are a slightly growlier - or at least I think they are and the power of suggestions gets the best of me. Both the above last the longest for my tastes thus far.

[zombywoof5050]

I used to use the Roto RS66's (for the better part of 20 years), and I thought they were just getting broken in at about the one year mark, and just about perfect at 1.5 years.
Goes to show everyone's different.