Skjold Design Custom Strings - Stainless/Nickel Hybrid

[G]

These are the strings that come on the Bubinga Monster, straight from Pete, and let me tell you, they are quite spectacular.

Previoulsy, I have played D'Adarrios (slowounds) on my sixers, and I have found these to be fairly similar with a few key differences that tip the scales in the Skjold direction. I find them to be far superior to DR, LaBella and Erinie Ball as well - these are pretty much the only strings I can get locally for comparison. I used to order the slowounds by the dozen - from here on out, however, it will Skjold all the way. Here's why:

Feel - The guages (Pete help me out here?) are perfectly matched for a string set that feels very linear string-to-string. There is just the right amount of "give" to each string, all the way to the B. They are very responsive to technique and touch it is very strange feeling how changed they can feel when all you switch is your playing style. The nickel wrap over the steel core allows jsut the right amount of stiffness, again on every string, but is not hard on the fingers or frets like steel. My only issue here is that I would like a slightly larger C string (maybe).

Tone - I think that my bass would be a pretty good test maching for strings - not a lot of variables. Last night I played backup for an open mic thing, and before the gig I put some slowounds on the Skjold. During the dinner break I literally changed my strings back to the almost two week old Skjolds. Even after two weeks, they had a more natural sounding "zing" to them that made the slowounds sound kind of flat in comparison. I feel that these strings are not a compromise between nickel and steel, but the best of both worlds. However, the main reason for the switch was feel.

Longevity - After 2 weeks or so they are still in great shape. Strigns usually last a while for me, and I expect these to last me at least a month to 6 weeks. I have not noticed a drop off in tone (only 2 gis on them) and they still feel pretty darn new. THe B is solid and not at all dead sounding.

These are good strings. Very very very good strings. I am going to grab some other sets and try them out on some other instruments, but so far, after one set, I'm sold. I don't think I'll be putting anything else on my bubinga bass, that's for sure.