DR strings: crimp before cutting?

[Wolfhound32]

DR Strings are among the best available. Been playing them on bass and guitar for 15 - 20 years, no problems.

Just follow the instructions & rock on!

 

[stubborne]

DR Hi/FatBeams are the shizznit! I use the post to crimp/bend the string and never had a problem. I'll cut by eyeballing the length to get at least three turns on the post. I'll manually wrap two and stuff the end into the post hole. With tight thumb pressure there and using the tuner peg, complete the turns to gain tension. As the string tightens, the post will create the crimp where I keep pressure. Never had a string slip (regardless of brand) and, more pertinent to this thread, never had a bad set of DRs.

 

[Element Zero]

I have played bass for 25 years, and do all my string changes myself. The ONLY string model I have had issues with, is DR Sunbeams. In spite of following the instructions perfectly, I quickly had a string go completely dead shortly after. Happened twice, different basses, different batches of Sunbeams. I will not buy Sunbeams again.

OTOH, my go-to SS rounds since many years are the DR LowRiders, and I have no problems with them, quality and life span has been great!

SS Lowriders are incredible strings on my old Ibanez ATK. Perfection.

 

[BOOG]

Saw a post about DR strings going bad if you don’t crimp them properly: but I did not follow.

Is the idea to but a bend in the string where you are going to cut it, and cut it a few mm past the bend?

I have some DR Nickel Sunbeams I want to put on, but only to have higher gauge strings, not for more zing. After reading here that DRs had major issues though, I am hesitant.

6 min into this video describes what I mean:

BTW, I do want to keep round-wounds on this bass. It is just that if DRs are as bad as recent posts suggest, I might stick with the D'Addario EXL170 / 0.045-0.100 that it has now, for the moment.

DR strings bad?!
No understand
It’s common to crimp/bend 90° just a bit before the cut.
If you do it and avoid twisting the strings they’ll do what what they were manufactured to do. DR strings are great!

 

[landrybass]

For the first time in my life last night, I opened a set of DR strings to find 2 of the same string. They are cool though, sending me the right one.

 

[micguy]

For the first time in my life last night, I opened a set of DR strings to find 2 of the same string. They are cool though, sending me the right one.

That's the new set for alternate GDDE tuning. You're not doing that yet? All the cool kids are.

 

[AboutSweetSue]

Gibson sent me a short scale D string in my long scale set. That is the progressive cool.

 

[bdplaid]

What major issues does DR have? They make some of the most beloved rounds.

It's because most of their strings have round cores. When cut, the windings on round cores can slip, causing bad things to happen. This is not so much an issue on strings with hex cores.

 

[landrybass]

That's the new set for alternate GDDE tuning. You're not doing that yet? All the cool kids are.

Haha oh man I should try that. It would be EAGG!

 

[Leonid Nidis]

I never done that and haven't had a problem yet,will start anyway.

 

[logdrum]

Now you guys are reminding me what was taught to me by a guy in Missouri 33 years ago. Luckily I have not have strings unravel on me

 

[micguy]

Haha oh man I should try that. It would be EAGG!

That might be a union violation - 2 strings in the guitar range. Hmmmm.

 

[Sid Fang]

Yet another moment where I thank Ned Steinberger for inventing double-ball strings (most of my basses are headless, though I *do* have Hi-Beams on a Squier Jazz V).

 

[hasbeen]

If they are the only string manufacturer suggesting this, it can’t be that important. I only do it as means to mark where I need to cut the string.

DR is one of the only manufacturers making round core strings. That's why others don't mention it.

 

[FirewalZ]

As plenty have likely already posted...any round core string that you have to cut for length, should be cut after a 90 degree crimp. This keep the outer wrap from slipping on a smooth round core. Hex core strings "bite" into the winding more, so slippage is less likely to occur. That said, i use DR Sunbeams on most of my bass's, buy at least 1-2 sets a month and love them...Ive had zero issues.

 

[Ellery]

Every pack of DR's I've bought has instructions to crimp. I've always done that and never had an issue, in fact these are the longest lasting strings I've used.

 

[TOOL460002]

Never understood the point of cutting them. Just push in, bend, and turn.

 

[michael_t]

Never understood the point of cutting them. Just push in, bend, and turn.

Most strings do need to be cut down to proper size so you don't end up with something like this:

 

[maplebar]

DR Strings - Proper String Installation

 

[fretlessman71]

I generally ignore posted videos.

But, yes, put a right angle bend in the string, the leave a little bit past the bend, and cut the string. On a Fender for example, l go two tuning machines past the post I'm stringing to, bend the string with a pair of needle nose pliers, then cut the string enough past the bend so that short end goes all the way into the hole in the tuning machine post.

But this has nothing to do with DR strings. It's how every string should be handled. I learned to do it this way back in 1971, decades before DR was making strings (I think Mark Dronge was still at Guild, but not sure).

I learned this trick from a Scott Devine video. Haven't had a dead string out of the package since, save for that weird SIT string I posted about 2 weeks ago, and that has been replaced with a perfectly good string. At least I know that it wasn't my doing...