changing bass strings

[wjharyou]

Hey anyone,
Is it true that strings should be changed regularly? If so, how often?

[SirGrotius]

This a big debate. A lot of gigging musicians change their bass strings in between every show or every couple weeks. This is to keep their brightness and so that you can cut through the mix.

There's another group who don't change their strings as much because they like the more natural, "oiled" sound.

I fall in between. I'm not a fan of keeping strings on for more than six months, but more than every few months seems excessive to me.

Surprisingly, changing your strings probably does more to change your tone than changing your bass. hahaha.

[Ric Fish]

I don't change my strings too often, maybe every 6 months or so. As far as people changing their strings between gigs, I can't see that as being a good idea because new strings don't stay in tune as long until they've been used a bit as far as I know from my experiences.

[T-MOST]

I gig weekly and like my strings just beyond "new". So I change strings every 3 months which (for me) is just before they start to sound "dead'.

[RustyAxe]

I use flatwounds. The older the better. My next change will be sometime in the next millennium.

[Tracebassplayer]

Part of keeping strings sounding good for a while longer is KEEPING THEM CLEAN.
Dirty hands/fingers are your enemy -
unless you like that flat, dead, toneless, cow dying in the driveway sound!

Clean strings last longer.

[Jeff K]

Originally Posted by RustyAxe

I use flatwounds. The older the better. My next change will be sometime in the next millennium.

Same here. I guess I subscribe to the Paul McCartney school of string-changing. When asked how often he changes his strings, he shrugged and replied, "When they break". But like RustyAxe said, we flats users can get away with that...

[BassCentral]

Ooofa, loaded question there...

There's no right or wrong answer to this, just whatever sounds/feels good to you.
Just as an example of 2 extremes, I like to keep a set of DR Sunbeams on a bass for a few months (home use) while our in-house string-killer, Mike, likes a fresh set of Roto BS66's put on before every (daily/weekly gig). I think he'd change before every set if financially feasible. Obviously the worn in nickels are meant to capture the 'warm' sound of broken in strings while the 'zingy' fresh steels are meant to accentuate harmonics and accents/details on a bass with HOT output. None of the above helps with a definitve answer one way or another but it just goes to show that there's no 'correct' time to swap 'em out... I believe the intrawebs term is YMMV.

[Aussie Player]

Round Wound - Every 6 months with the battery if Active Bass
Half Wound - Every year (or so)
Flats - Every, What was the question again?

[Ian Perge]

Originally Posted by Tracebassplayer

Part of keeping strings sounding good for a while longer is KEEPING THEM CLEAN.

Very true. Another part of us Stainless Steel users keeping The Mighty "ZING!" of those particular strings as long as possible (which I consider a major part of my personal "tone", as I use them on every bass except my 5-string Precision-esque Spector Euro Bolt-On with the P/DC pickup setup of the pre-2010 Fender American Deluxe Precisions (Nickels), my Spector Euro Bolt-On fretless (Coated Nickels) & my Taylor AB-2 acoustic bass guitar (Coated Phosphor-Bronze "Acoustic" bass strings) as well as Nickel-coated strings also is the Player's individual body chemistry. Some people sweat, some don't, and some have sweat with such a high acidic pH that they can "kill" a new set of strings in a matter of hours of playing (A great Professional example would be former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, who stated in a "Bass Player" interview that his sweat was so acidic that it would strip the black Powder Coating off of the top of black pickguard & pickup screws from *New* Basses in the inside of a week - I believe the solution he & his Tech came up with for his Sadowskys with Black Hardware was to coat them with clear Nail Polish, which slowed but didn't solve his problem. As for strings, I believe he's used Rotosound Swing Bass & Dean Markley Blue Steels, which are both known for their brightness and high resistance to humid and acidic sweat).

I've known both Bassists as well as Guitarists who have to deal with this, and they quite literally had to simply try and EQ the "missing frequencies" from their dead strings until Elixir came out with the first "coated string" in the mid-'90s. While the First Generation of them had their own issues such as slightly muffled tone and frequency response they were a VAST improvement over what they had to deal with and the various barely workable solutions which came up (spray-or-rub-on "topical products" such as "Fast Fret" or "String Savers") or simply living with mostly-dead strings. In the last decade or so Coated Strings have improved greatly - one main reason is the switch from coating the completed string wraps and core together to coating the wrap wire first before winding it onto the core, which greatly reduces the amount of coating material on the string as well as the "flaking" that tended to happen with "all-coated" strings. Pretty much every major string manufacture offers coated strings, with various color-tints and UV-reactive being one of the latest additions to the "look" and ability to match or contrast against an instruments' finish.

From my ears POV comparing my various types of materials in the various sets of string I use, coated strings are nearly indistinguishable from Nickel-Plated sets tonally, with only a slight "slipperiness" from the coating the change in touch. And while they generally are more expensive than your typical non-coated string, the life gained can make it more than worthwhile for "specialized" usage, such as in my case on my fretless and ABG basses. I'm luckily enough to not only not have overly acidic hands but to have almost no reaction to strings at all, and can keep the "Zing!" of Steel strings in all but the most humid of Summer months. But if I didn't I certainly wouldn't be devastated to use modern coated strings and add a touch of high-end EQ (6-8K) to replace that almost fret noise that I find helps my sound cut through a mix.

[matt_hyp]

It depends on which bass I'm using, on my Yamaha 5 string, I generally change it about once every 3 months. While with my aria 4 string I'll change that once a month or so.
Personally I don't like them when they sound too bright, and if there's a big gig coming up I'll make sure that I've had at least one practice with the new strings so they've been worn in slightly

[iriegnome]

I usually start thinking about changing my strings after about a year. They get good and thumpy, dark and dirty! At about a year and a half, fret dips start to show up in the strings and then I change them!

[rhino333]

I change strings when I first get a new bass. Beyond that, I change mine when, to me, they start sounding 'dull' or 'muffled' and can't hold tune. Usually, every 3-6 months depending how much I'm playing the bass.

[LennyPenny]

On guitar, I could go with one set of strings for one to two years. Just got my first bass three months ago and already feel the need to change strings, they get grimy and rough on the first five frets.
I'd say go with what you think, change them when you feel it's necessary, when they sound (too) dead to your ears.

[funk generator]

fodera recommends every one month

[JxBass]

Originally Posted by rhino333

I change strings when I first get a new bass. Beyond that, I change mine when, to me, they start sounding 'dull' or 'muffled' and can't hold tune.

Same here.