A+D+G stainless steel and low E/D nickel?

[Lebowsky]

tl;dr : nickel for lowest string and stainless steel for the others to have a lower/deeper lowest string vs brighter more aggressive highest strings?

for the whole story:

I play with a pick, and do a lot of chords on the D/G strings, sometimes A as well. I use ProSteels, and love those strings for this, they are bright and aggressive. (in 45-65-85)

My low "E" is a .110 which I play mostly in drop D. (105 is too floppy for me)

I play super long scale strings as my bass needs 38" winding.

Now, I already wrote about it, but D'addario is unfortunately discontinuing most super long scale prosteels... and that blows. They only have a 45-65-80-100 set. 80 I can probably get by, 100 is impossible.

Recently I tried Pyramid strings as they offer all possible gauges in super long scale, and what happened was that the A string I received was DOA (didn't know it at the time). I brought my bass to my luthier because it needed a setup and asked to have a look (I thought the A string was too close to the neck). He saw the string was dead and replaced it with a nickel Dunlop.

It's slightly different to play and probably not adequate for playing chords on the A/D/G strings, but it's interesting on its own - less bright, but maybe "lower"/"deeper" sounding? So my thought was to try a 110 nickel d'addario for my low E/drop-D and keep Prosteels on the other 3.

Thoughts, opinions on this idea? For example, is it possible the lowest string my sound less loud or something?

(and before you ask, I already tried several other brands (Pyramid, DR Lo-rider, La Bella, Ken Smith), none comes close to what I like about the prosteels except the La Bella which were discontinued).

 

[TomB]

I recently picked up a set of Dunlop stainless 45-125’s. Granted, they are short scale, but I’m very impressed with the sound. Aggressive enough, but also with the thump of nickel strings - similar to my Labella RX (nickel) experience, but way brighter.

 

[ChristoMephisto]

Have you thought about using a 60 D string instead of the 65? Being a bit tighter than the rest, it'll be a bit brighter

 

[Lebowsky]

I might have formulated my first post poorly it seems my question really was about using a nickel string as the lowest one while keep stainless steel for the three others edited first post accordingly...

 

[michael_t]

my question really was about using a nickel string as the lowest one while keep stainless steel for the three others

That's exactly how I read your original post. I haven't responded only because I've never done what you're trying to do.

If you're concerned about the tonal difference between the SS A-D-G and NPS E, why not try the SS Lo-Rider .110 with ProSteels A-G? I know you said you've already tried the Lo-Riders before, but we're talking just the E here. What's nice about the DR is their "long scale" is longer than most at 37.75" in winding length. I think they would match better tonally than combining SS and NPS.

 

[michael_t]

By the way, do you need "extra long" (38" winding) for all four, or just the E because of the multi-scale?

 

[Lebowsky]

If you're concerned about the tonal difference between the SS A-D-G and NPS E, why not try the SS Lo-Rider .110 with ProSteels A-G? I know you said you've already tried the Lo-Riders before, but we're talking just the E here. What's nice about the DR is their "long scale" is longer than most at 37.75" in winding length. I think they would match better tonally than combining SS and NPS.

I need 38" for all four strings (well 37.75" works as well to be exact, but not 37.5"), but I was able to secure enough of the higher three strings to last me a good while

That's actually a smart idea about DR, I had kind of discarded them because I didn't like them much and DR singles in 110 never showed up in my searches (no online shop seems to carry it), but I guess they should be able to special order them.

Now I think the reason I didn't like the Lo-Rider was because they have smaller diameter (Fretnation dude told me) than most other string brands, so they felt lighter/floppier, even in 110 gauge. So I'm wondering if a 110 DDT might be a good solution for the lowest string. Or even in 115? There seems to be a DDT 115 but not a LR 115. But that might be too heavy when tuned in E... I couldn't find the info whether the DDT have a larger diameter than the Lo-Riders

I value your opinion a lot so please let me know what you think

 

[iiipopes]

I might have formulated my first post poorly it seems my question really was about using a nickel string as the lowest one while keep stainless steel for the three others edited first post accordingly...

Nickel, of course, does not have the top end zing of stainless steel. I think you will be disappointed that you lose the definition where you need it most: on the lowest string.

 

[Microbass]

I used to do this often due to snapping strings all the time...
The only issue I had was the variance in volume between mixed strings - now I was just replacing whatever string broke with an old set or buying a random new string to replace. Might be easier to deal with this variance when it's the E string and you can adjust the pickups to suit that much better than if its an A or D.

Only thing I can perhaps suggest would be to perhaps try and the brand the same (eg DR Steels and a DR nickel).

 

[michael_t]

Now I think the reason I didn't like the Lo-Rider was because they have smaller diameter (Fretnation dude told me) than most other string brands, so they felt lighter/floppier, even in 110 gauge. So I'm wondering if a 110 DDT might be a good solution for the lowest string. Or even in 115? There seems to be a DDT 115 but not a LR 115. But that might be too heavy when tuned in E... I couldn't find the info whether the DDT have a larger diameter than the Lo-Riders.

"Smaller diameter" as in the core thickness? The hex core used for the Lo-Riders would be considered "average"; it would be at least as stiff as the ProSteels. I've tried the Nickel Lo-Riders in 40-60-75-95, and they felt just as firm as any other hex-core strings of similar gauges, including the GHS Boomers 40-95 and Pressurewound 40-96.

That said, the DDT is definitely a viable option as their core wire is thicker than the Lo-Riders, designed for tuning stability when down-tuned. I would suggest the .110 for E/D tuning.

 

[Lebowsky]

I mixed things up acutally, it's something I found here in this article: DR Bass Strings comparison from Bass Strings Online
"DR Lo-Rider are a Stainless Steel Round Wound string over a Hex Core. These have a more traditional string construction however DR uses a smaller diameter winding so the surface is smoother compared to other brands."

What he had actually told me was that the old discontinued La Bella I had once tried had larger diameter outer winding wrap than other brands and that's probably why I had like them back then (but they're discontinued anyway so no need bothering about them)

I think I'll give 3 Prosteels + 1 DDT a try and see what gives. Thanks!

 

[michael_t]

"DR Lo-Rider are a Stainless Steel Round Wound string over a Hex Core. These have a more traditional string construction however DR uses a smaller diameter winding so the surface is smoother compared to other brands."

This makes more sense. One of the reasons why I like DR strings, Nickel Lo-Riders in particular, is the smoother texture due to the thinner outer winding.

 

[michael_t]

I think I'll give 3 Prosteels + 1 DDT a try and see what gives.

I'd be interested in the outcome of your experiment. So, please report back.

One nice thing about mix-and-matching DR E string with D'A A-D-G is you wont' have to worry about mismatched silk colors. Even the brass ball end on the E string matches the D'A's color scheme, gold-red-black-green (E-G)... unless you got those ProSteels as singles, in which case the ball ends on them should all be brass.