When are strings considered dead?

[JacoLesFlea]

Curently I am playing Fender Flats, Which I was told by some bass shreddr that sound dead out of the package.....I also play Rotosound roundwounds....how do I know when they go dead?...do they lose that snap? or ping? can any one help me with this...I have had the rotos on my bass sinse last summer...am I due for a new set? If I dont need them I would like to know how to tell when and when not to replace strings. my Fender jbass has the flats and my neices taraus has the rounds. Thans

[Tony G]

I like a nice bright roundwound string, like DR Hi-beams. When they start sounding dull and thuddy, I change them. That is what I consider "dead".

[theLimeyBrit]

It's all up to you. If you like the brightness of new strings, you'll want to replace them as soon as they stop sounding like new strings. There are people out there who change strings after every gig.

Then again, some people *like* how dead (or at least, deader) strings sound. Me, I'm lazy (and broke) and haven't changed the strings on my bass since I got it a few months ago. I'm pretty sure the previous owner was just as lazy, so there's no telling how old those strings are. Still love how they sound though

[ldiezman]

I change strings on my Main basses about once a week... i've I only play 2 or 3 shows in a week, i'll stretch it out for 2 weeks. I'll keep strings on my fretless much longer because i'm not looking for a bright snappy sound on it. Some people go for awhile before they change, its personal preference for sure, but I like to keep my strings fresh...

[Philbiker]

When they won't hold tune any more, that's when they are dead IMO. The strings on my Fender Jazz V are at least 7 years old and I love 'em more every time I play it. I've gone 10 years and longer on strings before. Sometimes when they have big bright fretmarks on the strings from playing them for years and years that's kind of a bummer.

[Phalex]

Dead can mean so many things!

I like a nice bright string on my Ric, so I'll change strings about every 4 gigs. The deader the strings on a P-bass the better IMHO, and there comes a time when a string get's so very dead that it will not tune properly anymore.

[saxnbass]

It all depends on the user. When you don't like the tone anymore, that's dead.

[brianrost]

Dead is in the ear of the beholder. I find fresh roundwounds too zingy and like them only after about a month of playing. Some folks would call their rounds dead after that much time.

Strings are really dead if they will no longer stay in tune or they play out of tune despite the bass being properly intonated.

[Booneman]

I like to change my round wounds evey 2-3 weeks. I like the bright slap pop sound. I would say it's almost impossible to get a good slap tone with strings older than a month or two.

I would bet that you won't catch slappers like flea or a tapper like claypool playing on a two month old set of strings.

Flat wounds on say a fretless are a different story. They don't seem to sound much different after several months. I'm sure some of the avid fretless players would dissagree though.
If you're trying to get a flea type sound, flatwounds just aren't going to sound right.

I have seen guys spend thousands on bass guitars that when I pick them up they have old dead round wound strings. To me they might as well have a $99.00 Squire and spend the extra money on regular string changes they would probably get a better tone (in my opinion).

[Shoewreck]

Strings are dead when they're broken .
If the sound gets too dull just change or wash. My favourite sound is after several hours of playing or just after washing.