Best strings to emulate an upright bass

[thebassguy86]

It is no bother at all.
I don't know what the G&L official name is, but it is referred to as the swirl or the bowling ball finish.
and to repeat myself
it plays and sounds as good as it looks.
Thanks for noticing.

I've seen other bowling ball finishes, never green though. I was unsure. Thank you for clarifying! Unlined board, 5er, G&L - an all around attractive bass.

 

[theduke1]

I've seen other bowling ball finishes, never green though. I was unsure. Thank you for clarifying! Unlined board, 5er, G&L - an all around attractive bass.

Thank you so much!

 

[ZenG]

OP:-

a piece of foam mute down by the bridge with flats might help you get that sound....

it does for me.....

Worked on D'addario Chromes and also Labella FL's........

 

[Hamish MacCleod]

Rotosound 88's will get you close.
Rondo

 

[000_Unknown]

Just make mine sound like this:

 

[Joebone]

Have had best results with Sadowsky flats. Part of it is the bass - a Lakland 54-76 prototype (5-string, 1 MM pickup, 34" scale, ebony board) and part of it is the touch I try to use - trying to have a lighter touch in both hands when walking, but able to dig in with each for expression. These strings seem real responsive to this approach - they convince me that a broad range of possibility is there, if I can get my S#i+ together to harness it! I can't tell you how cool it is when I hit hard with the right hand and can emulate that slap against the edge of fingerboard sound, or some of cool releases with varying degrees of vibrato. My favorite bass, and can't imagine cooler strings on it!

 

[basstinker]

On a fretless electric bass, I found the Rotosound 88s to sound somewhat more URB-ish than the LaBellas; not sure if that difference would carry over to a fretted bass or not. In any event, here's a test recording of the Rotosounds on a fretless Fender Jazz bass, neck pickup only:

Very nice warm but still detailed sound . Thank you for publishing this recording.

 

[johndough247]

I just got an Ibanez SRH500F. Got Sweetwater to adjust the nut to fit the Rotosound 88's (they're a little thicker than standard gauges). Other than a Marco Marcustico bass, this is the closest I've ever heard an upright-ish sound in a bass guitar.

The key I've found for that upright sound, besides having a fretless hollow or semi-hollow to start with, is to raise the action quite a bit, add a little foam by the bridge, pair it with a very short reverb that has a lot of ambience, and finally your playing technique has to take on an almost classical guitar-like right hand and play over the fingerboard, digging in quite a bit. Hear for yourself:

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Thomastic Infeld jazz flats.