Your help PLEASE I need some strings

[Matt-77]

All my years of bass playing I have never thought about strings, head in the sand or what. So the only strings I have bought are regular slinkys co's I use them on my guitar. When I buy a new bass I always get thrown in a couple of sets of which, are normally Warwicks or elite stadiums and just use them as spares. But now i'm thinking some basses I have still have stock strings on them which I want to replace but do not have a clue what I'm looking for. I like a bright sound with a lot of sustain, G.N.R / Megadeth / Alice in chains sort of sound. I have a

Rickenbacker 4003 Stock strings

Fender Jaguar Stock strings

Fender Jazz Special ( Duff McKagan ) Stock but should put rotosounds on that

Ibanez SR1500 Ernie Balls

P Bass copy with seymour duncan SP30 quarter pounder pickups. Elites and warwicks on that


I would really appreciate some help as I feel like Niki Sixx who used to just take his stings off and boil them instead of buying new ones.

All comments welcome, I know it's personal choice but at the end of the day if you say you use blah de blah and you think they are the dogs nuts then I will go and research them to see if that is the sound I'm after. They might not be what I'm looking for but at least I'll be getting a bit closer to what I want to put on my guitars. Cheers for the time guys It's my own fault I know :O)

[Meatrus]

Oh dear you haven't been paying attention at all to this section, , just joking, but strings can be IMO massively important. They have the power (sounds cheesy I know) to completely change your sound, and make it more comfortable to play.

I would recommend Rotosound 66 Stainless Steel from what you have said, and based on the fact you are in the UK, which means DR costs twice the price. But I will also let you know the downsides of Rotosounds. Neither of which are bad to me, but others hate them for these reasons.

1: is they are quite rough feeling, which means your fingers may find them hard at first, but they will toughen up. I don't find this a problem at all.

2: They lose there initial brightness quite quickly, you may have read they "die quickly", its not really true, just the first zing disappears. After that they do last a long time.

The pros out weigh the cons to me, as neither of the above bother me, and they are to me one of the best sounding strings out there (very popular too).

If I were you I would put them on the Ric and Jazz, and maybe the Ibanez too, for the P copy and the Jag I would go for flatwounds of a vintage sound, like Fenders, or Labellas.

Thats just what I would do, there is no wrong answer though (other than what you are doing at the moment )

[Matt-77]

Cheers for that, I like the sound of flats on the P bass it might just fit with the style of it as I have made it look like a 57 P Bass Like this.

http://www.oldenburger-music-station...57-Reissue.jpg

Cheers Mi Ol China

[Meatrus]

Mmmm vintagey, definitely flats for that . Labellas will be expensive here, Fenders can be bought cheaply on the internet. They both have fairly high tension, so if you dont like high tension get a lighter gauge. The Rotosound flats also have high tension, and are bright for flats.

Just thought I would warn you as I was a little dissapointed when I got my Roto flats in standard gauge a while ago, as the tension was painful! So I went for the Fender light gauge (which still isnt very light), there are of course many other options, D'addario Chromes are very popular, but they dont sound very vintagey to me.

[Matt-77]

I think I'm gonna give the old flats a go on my P bass I really appreciate the feedback on that, It's something I wouldn't have even thought about to be honest But I have had a quick search through youtube and read up a little bit and think it would be nice to experiment with the sound. I bloody love this site to throw a new mix into the bowl. Thanks Meatrus for the ideas I'll let you know how I get on.

[Meatrus]

Glad to help. It will be interesting to hear how you get on with them. Flats are normally a Marmite (love em or hate em) thing, I love them, both flats and Marmite that is . I think you will like them as they go great with P basses, and you will know roughly what to expect after the research.

[LDonnie]

I have had awesome experiences with Fat Beams by DR. Yes, they are expensive, but they last a very long time and stay new relatively long. When you feel you should get new strings with these you can just boil them in water and they are brand spanking clean sounding again. The same goes for most strings though, but DRs last longer IMO.

[Matt-77]

You know I'm gonna sound like a right tit here and I know it's gonna be one of those who wants to be a millionaire questions that everybody knows except the one real thick tw*t like me. I use a pick so would Flats have a bit more sustain than thump? Oh god throw rocks at me now I'm Sorry guys I should taken a more more technical interest like my guitarist in the band. No wonder guitarist's thinks bass players are slow It's my fault. lol. Too be fair you get two guitarist's in a room they just wan't to out do each other and then you get two bass players and they just wanna talk bass how cool is that.

[Meatrus]

Lol, I enjoyed that .

Flats will have more thump than sustain, in fact sustain will normally be much less than rounds, and you cant get rounds to thump like flats IMO. But really how long do you let a note ring out normally? In my case not that long.

You are right, us bass players are different than guitarists, you can actually spot bass players at guitar shops even when not holding a bass. They are normally talking openly and having fun.....

[Matt-77]

I'm a ringa, to be honest I like to have a bit of a klackie sound and then I ring a bit At the end. Then do a bit of a twiddly bit then thump the f**k out of it. I love a bit of slide and hammer on and most often I like to throw in a wrong note like les dawson playing the piano. But I don't do mine on purpose I'm the real deal and just like f**k up lol.

No really, great thread guys I'm really excited about these flats I can't wait to bang a set on my bass I have some of my own songs that I really think these could be the way forward.

Cheers

[JimmyM]

If Slinkies are working for you, go with them. They're great strings.