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D'Addario Chromes User Group- Chromeys Speak Out!

#861
My 45-65-85-105 Chromes have now been on my LB-100 for 10 months, and I think they've finally finished the breaking-in period.

Which is to say, I'm about to change them, as they no longer have the particular quality I like in them, that nervy vibrant character we expect in rounds and usually don't find with flats.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with them - I'll be sending them on to a friend - but I did notice that I was having to play them a little harder than before. I prefer to play with a very soft touch, relying on the natural vibrancy of relatively fresh strings.
 
#862
Ricky Rioli said:
My 45-65-85-105 Chromes have now been on my LB-100 for 10 months, and I think they've finally finished the breaking-in period.

Which is to say, I'm about to change them, as they no longer have the particular quality I like in them, that nervy vibrant character we expect in rounds and usually don't find with flats.
Click to expand...

Just took off the 10 month old set and put on a 2 month old set. As I strung it up, the real immediate difference was a metallic character rather than the woody one that had developed. Plugged in, that kinda continued, and what was also immediately clear was a much responsive touch.
 
#863
Ricky Rioli said:
Just took off the 10 month old set and put on a 2 month old set. As I strung it up, the real immediate difference was a metallic character rather than the woody one that had developed. Plugged in, that kinda continued, and what was also immediately clear was a much responsive touch.
Click to expand...
I don't think I have a set of Chromes newer than 5 years on any of my basses ... :woot:
 
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#864
Ricky Rioli said:
My 45-65-85-105 Chromes have now been on my LB-100 for 10 months, and I think they've finally finished the breaking-in period.

Which is to say, I'm about to change them, as they no longer have the particular quality I like in them, that nervy vibrant character we expect in rounds and usually don't find with flats.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with them - I'll be sending them on to a friend - but I did notice that I was having to play them a little harder than before. I prefer to play with a very soft touch, relying on the natural vibrancy of relatively fresh strings.
Click to expand...

This…
 
#865
You should always focus on string tension first before the thickness then the design of your bass (top-load or string-through-body mount, inline, 2+2 or 3+1 tuners / tuning machine heads), it will add length and tension...

Pay attention to the scale and string-through-body mount, you might need super long scale strings !

Flatwound strings are often more fragile than roundwound strings. They are more rigid and have less capacity to bend / fold. Favor a top-load bridge mount and big tuners (1/2" string post fits) to better wrap / roll the strings around !

D'ADDARIO ECB80 40-95 (total set tension 163.09 LBs) :
40-95 Super Light, Long Scale, XL Chromes Flat Wound Bass Guitar Strings | ECB80 | D'Addario
CB040 G 0.040 in 17.16 kgs
CB060 D 0.060 in 21.09 kgs
CB075 A 0.075 in 19.32 kgs
CB095 E 0.095 in 16.42 kgs

D'ADDARIO ECB84 40-100 (total set tension 172.13 LBs) :
40-100 Custom Light, Long Scale, XL Chromes Flat Wound Bass Guitar Strings | ECB84 | D'Addario
CB040 G 0.040 in 17.16 kgs
CB060 D 0.060 in 21.09 kgs
CB080 A 0.080 in 21.56 kgs
CB100 E 0.100 in 18.28 kgs

D'ADDARIO ECB81 45-100 (total set tension 199.75 LBs) :
45-100 Regular Light, Long Scale, XL Chromes Flat Wound Bass Guitar Strings | ECB81 | D'Addario
CB045 G 0.045 in 21.32 kgs
CB065 D 0.065 in 24.47 kgs
CB080 A 0.080 in 21.56 kgs
CB100 E 0.100 in 18.28 kgs

D'ADDARIO ECB82 50-105 (total set tension 224.00 LBs) :
50-105 Medium, Long Scale, XL Chromes Flat Wound Bass Guitar Strings | ECB82 | D'Addario
CB050 G 0.050 in 29.08 kgs
CB070 D 0.070 in 29.52 kgs
CB085 A 0.085 in 23.44 kgs
CB105 E 0.105 in 19.57 kgs

+ CB132 B 0.132 in 17.56 kgs

May the Groove be with you.
 
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#866
GIBrat51 said:
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that, although I do have a set of D' Addario Chromes (as opposed to Optima's "Chromes" - which I also use) on one of my 24 basses, I'm hardly what you'd call a "Chromey". They're on one of my basses - pretty much by chance. Why are they there? Well...
As a general rule, I never use D' Addario strings. They aren't bad strings - by any means; but, something they use in their polishing/finishing process irritates the bejeezus out of my hands. The only way I can make them useable is a long, intense cleaning process - using various nasty, pretty dangerous chemicals that I'd rather not use. Since I can take any other company's strings out of the pack; put them on a bass/guitar; and just... play them, D' Addario strings would have to be really special to make all that worth while. And, TBH, they simply haven't been worth the effort. However...
10-12 years ago, I bought an '80s Kramer Forum III bass - a pretty nasty, beat up one - as a project, and it had a well broken-in but decent set of Chromes on it. Since they were old and broken-in enough that they didn't bother my hands, I took them off, wiped them down, and stashed them away. Moving forward to December 2019, I got my hands on a G&L Custom Shop (Lefty) Tom Hamilton ASAT bass. The EXL 170s that it came with had to go, naturally; so... what to put on it?? I thought "Well, it's an active bass, and God knows I've got enough basses with Old School, thumpy flats already; so... why not try those old Chromes? Assuming they'll fit, of course..." Well, they did fit, and tuned up/intonated just fine. How are they? Well, they're still on the bass, and I'm in no hurry to replace them. Which means that I'm happy with them, I guess. Although, I do have another set of those Optima Chromes...:whistle:
Click to expand...
Well, about 2 years after I put that used set of Chromes on my ASAT bass, they just... died. Wouldn't stay in tune, and finally wouldn't intonate - at all. And, although I did have a set of new D'Addario Chromes in my Big Box O' Strings - don't remember buying them, and can't think of why I would, anyway - I decided to skip the biohazardous task of cleaning them, and just put a set of Fender 9050L's on it, instead. Which, although they are made by D'Addario, have never bothered my hands. Go figure... However;
I ordered a Birdsong lined fretless Fusion bass a while ago, and was going to have them put a set of La Bella 750-N tapes on it. But, recent experience with grounding buzz with another thru-body bass - with tapes - made me reconsider. Talking with the Birdsong company's owner, I found out that, unless other strings are requested, he ships all his basses with... D'Addario Chromes. So, I said "Oh well; what the Hell..." and that's what my new bass will be strung with. Will they irritate my hands? Will they be too bright for a short scale bass? Will they work with a short scale fretless bass? Guess I'll find out pretty soon... If not? Lots of other strings in that box...:whistle:
 
#867
GIBrat51 said:
Well, about 2 years after I put that used set of Chromes on my ASAT bass, they just... died. Wouldn't stay in tune, and finally wouldn't intonate - at all. And, although I did have a set of new D'Addario Chromes in my Big Box O' Strings - don't remember buying them, and can't think of why I would, anyway - I decided to skip the biohazardous task of cleaning them, and just put a set of Fender 9050L's on it, instead. Which, although they are made by D'Addario, have never bothered my hands. Go figure... However;
I ordered a Birdsong lined fretless Fusion bass a while ago, and was going to have them put a set of La Bella 750-N tapes on it. But, recent experience with grounding buzz with another thru-body bass - with tapes - made me reconsider. Talking with the Birdsong company's owner, I found out that, unless other strings are requested, he ships all his basses with... D'Addario Chromes. So, I said "Oh well; what the Hell..." and that's what my new bass will be strung with. Will they irritate my hands? Will they be too bright for a short scale bass? Will they work with a short scale fretless bass? Guess I'll find out pretty soon... If not? Lots of other strings in that box...:whistle:
Click to expand...
I used Chromes on a Mikro. At one time I also used a Chromes jazz flat 050 guitar string for G at one time. I used some Chromes on it when I made it fretless too. Anyway you slice it, I thought they sounded pretty good. Once they age, I like em. I'm using a few on a long scale. I say few because I'm messing about with mixing Chromes and La Bella 54's. You wouldnt think a 128T and 095 la bella for B and A and a Chromes 110 and 075 for E and D would hit it off. But seems ok to me
 
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#868
Just installed Chromes (ECB81M) on my Guild Starfire I Lefty bass.

G string length combined with Guild's use of their RH-biased tailpiece on this factory lefty instrument meant I had to trim back 1/4-1/2" of silk at the nut end, and then secure it with clear craft glue, to get the silk behind the nut, but this let all 4 tapers NOT be on the posts. So all is well.

All sounding fine if a bit bright while new, and a lot more comfortable/playable for me than the D'Addario rounds that came from the factory.

Which were standard length... and had the E string taper point wound on the post.

Not easy bein' sinister. :cool:

Now I just need the longer strap I ordered to get things down low.
 
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#870
Been playing the new Birdsong Fusion fretless bass, off and on, for a couple of weeks now. Yes, I did give the short scale Chromes a serious cleaning. No itchy hands so far... How do they sound - and work - on a fretless bass?
Well, they aren't quite broken in yet (I have 3 other basses at the moment, with flats that I'm trying to break in), but so far? I'm not hearing - or feeling - any reason to take them off. The bass has a very dense, heartwood Walnut body, with an Ebony fingerboard. Walnut, according to Warmoth's wood guide, is on the brighter side; I'm not sure if I'll like bright flats on a bright bass. We'll just have to see how things work out; but, so far? No complaints...
I did discover a weird thing though. When I was cleaning these strings, I looked through my "Big Box O' Strings" for the 2 sets of Chromes I've had for... oh, roughly forever, to get the actual "model" number for my records - and to order a "spare" set, like I have for all my basses. I'd always thought they were the long scale ECB81's, but... turns out, one set are the short scale ECB81S's, and the other set are the medium scale ECB81M's. I didn't buy them, and can't think where they came from. But, there they are. Which solves the spare set problem - assuming they stay on the bass...
However... So far, I'm liking them. They do sound and feel good on the Birdsong, and I think they work well on a fretless bass, too. As for the set of medium scale Chromes? I'm liking the GHS 3120MS Precision Flats on my Guild Starfire I waay too much to replace them. No problem with the tuner end silk, either (I'm a lefty, too). The medium scale Chromes would fit on my 32" scale Fury Anthem fretless, but that bass was built to emulate an upright bass; the handwound pickups sound like a tortured cat with anything but tape wound strings. The Roto TruBass88 Tapes it's wearing now, are not coming off. In any case, I guess I am a "Chromey" now - even if it's by default...:whistle:
 
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#871
The Chromes on my ‘75 jazz bass don’t have colored ballends. Does anyone know what year they switched ballends to individual color per string?

Trying to determine their age.
 
#872
DB66 said:
The Chromes on my ‘75 jazz bass don’t have colored ballends. Does anyone know what year they switched ballends to individual color per string?

Trying to determine their age.
Click to expand...
From early TB posts I've gathered that D'Addario experimented with multicoloured ball-ends in the late '90s with the Slowounds (which originally had had "solid balls"), but then changed that in favour of multicoloured silks, for those.
Roundwounds and flatwounds
Then, in 2004 (but with some earlier potential examples) clear mentions start appearing, about D'Addario being back at colour-coding - this time their entire line:
Different Colored Ball Ends
 
#873
@HaphAsSard, thanks. That’s what I saw in a search as well! These strings are at least 20 years old but probably older. Well they still sound great, but not for every style of music. Another reason to have several basses - some dark some bright - whatever needed for the job.
 
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#877
I just replaced my light gauge (45-100) Chromes on my Ric with medium gauge (50-105) Chromes and the difference is real! I tune to D Standard on all my basses, so my analysis of the gauges is a little different.

The medium gauge Chromes are more tense, but they aren’t bridge cable stiff. I didn’t think I would be able to bend the strings based on reviews of the medium Chromes. But I was wrong. They’re quite pliable in D Standard. As for the reviews that I read, they assumed that the bass would be tuned to standard tuning. I don't think I would tune my bass up to standard with the medium gauge.

After 6 months, the light gauge Chromes felt almost toy-like in D Standard. I was getting lots of fret buzz that’s now gone. They’re better suited for standard or Eb Standard tuning.
 
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#878
MrAB4003 said:
I just replaced my light gauge (45-100) Chromes on my Ric with medium gauge (50-105) Chromes and the difference is real! I tune to D Standard on all my basses, so my analysis of the gauges is a little different.

The medium gauge Chromes are more tense, but they aren’t bridge cable stiff. I didn’t think I would be able to bend the strings based on reviews of the medium Chromes. But I was wrong. They’re quite pliable in D Standard. As for the reviews that I read, they assumed that the bass would be tuned to standard tuning. I don't think I would tune my bass up to standard with the medium gauge.

After 6 months, the light gauge Chromes felt almost toy-like in D Standard. I was getting lots of fret buzz that’s now gone. They’re better suited for standard or Eb Standard tuning.
Click to expand...
Funny enough, I just did the exact same thing on my Rick! I absolutely love the medium gauge in D standard.
 
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#879
I asked my favorite dealer of things bassy, Greg at Rocket Music, for an order of 4 sets of my preferred set of 45-65-85-105 Chromes, which has to be ordered as single strings. He decided to take the opportunity to stock the full range of single Chromes. Here's the link: Daddario Chromes Single Strings, Long Scale.

I'm very impressed by how Daddario price the single strings. A custom set of 45-60-80-105 would come to $45.10, all of 11 cents more than their 45-100 and 50-105 sets.

Greg and Rocket Music are TalkBass sponsors, with their own subforum: Rocket Music. Greg is friendly, conscientious, and always keen to find ways of being helpful. And it's always worth asking Greg if he's got discount code for orders, so do reach out to him either on the website or on the forum messaging. I realise I've now lost track of how many sets of strings I've ordered from him 😬
 
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