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Different Colored Ball Ends

Bard2dbone

Bard2dbone

Aug 4, 2002
6,760
846
62
Arlington TX
#1
This is a little odd. But i keep seeing basses in Bass Player reviews with different colored ball ends on the strings. Every time I notice a pic from the bridge end, it has the multi-colored ball ends. Who makes these? Are they any good, or just photogenic?

I used GHS pressurewounds as my main strings for, about a decade and never noticed this before.

What happened while I was a Pressurewound guy?
 
#6
I wouldn't have guessed that was a D'Addario thing. I played their strings waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when. Mostly for g**tar, some for bass. I think the last D'Addario products I bout were probably around 1982 or so.

So how are they now? Have they improved a lot? Enough to pick over my current choices of DR's for my fretted and Rotosoound flats for my fretless?

Or are they just being used in the pictures because the different colors look all cool?
 
#7
I just recently switched over to D'addario's 1/2 round strings about a month ago, and I am nothing but happy with them. I had been using warwick black labels for a while now on my thumb 5 and on my music man 4 and was happy with them untill I tried the newer 1/2 rounds. The other bonus is that the low B is tapered! Yeah!!

By the way, they are color coded ends also. I think mostly a packaging gimmick, but comes in handy when on a gig and a quick string change is needed.(darker room, in a hurry, a frothy beverage or two later, it's easy to pick out what you need.)
 
#8
I like their sound, but I'm a nickel man myself don't know if you use stainless steel.

Fresh XL's have the perfect amount of zing for me, any brighter and I'd be looking for a new brand. The fresh zing lasts 2-3 weeks for me, but I never had a pair that turned to junk when they got old, the sound was always great considering the age of some of my strings. I bought some stainless brand before I believe Rotosound, those were so bright that I had to change them.

The balls help with identification. They are packaged in the cardboard then all the strings are in the same plastic wrap. For a noob/somebody in a hurry it probably helps for quicker string changes.
 

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