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Famous bassist strings and their gauges
- Thread starter FA108208usat2
- Start date
The Thomastik JF344's have a 100 E string not a 110, thought you might want to correct that.
Paul Mccartney
Strings 1: Rotosound Jazz77 short/medium (Hofner during Beatles days)
Gauge: 40-90
Strings 2: Rotosound TruBass88 short/medium (Hofner during Abbey Road/Let It Be sessions)
Gauge: 65-115
Strings 3: Pyramid Gold Flatwound (Hofner, today)
Gauge: 40-55-70-100
Strings 4: Maxima Flatwound (Rickenbacker, Beatles and Wings days)
Gauge: probably 40-95
Strings 5: Thomastik JF344 Flatwound (Rickenbacker, today)
Gauge: 43-56-70-110
Paul Mccartney
Strings 1: Rotosound Jazz77 short/medium (Hofner during Beatles days)
Gauge: 40-90
Strings 2: Rotosound TruBass88 short/medium (Hofner during Abbey Road/Let It Be sessions)
Gauge: 65-115
Strings 3: Pyramid Gold Flatwound (Hofner, today)
Gauge: 40-55-70-100
Strings 4: Maxima Flatwound (Rickenbacker, Beatles and Wings days)
Gauge: probably 40-95
Strings 5: Thomastik JF344 Flatwound (Rickenbacker, today)
Gauge: 43-56-70-110
I'm not positive about this but I started using them somewhere around 1971-72 and I think there were the regular gauge they are today: 45, 65, 85 and 105, again I'm not positive about that but I do remember only the 105's but not the 102's.
One hole in there, though...Paul started using Pyramids about 3 years ago but used to use LaBellas. Don't know when he started with them, though. Was it when he brought the Hofner out of retirement?
I never once saw a Rotosound Swing Bass set in any other gauges till the 80's. If they existed in a lighter gauge, I'd have probably got them, as that's what I started on. I'm not saying they didn't exist, but I sure don't remember anything else.
Really? I never heard of them and used them from the early 70's up until about the mid nineties. I found this online.
Martin Howe of Round Wound from The Bass Handbook:
"Jaco wanted a different colour silk wrap on the end of each string because he felt each string represented a different 'colour'. We did that for him and later adopted the same idea on our Spacer string set as a tribute to Jaco. The colours he went for were blue, red, yellow, and green, and he used our regular 66L sets:.045",.065",.080", and a .105" on the bottom E". "
Really? Well now I'm mad! That means the stores only carried the one gauge!
They could have changed their guage somewhere along the line, I was not exactly a discerning player back then, I was a kid of 20, I used to just grab them at the music store and put them on. I would like to think that i would have noticed the difference if they did change but who knows?
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
This is a great thread, I've been obsessed with this stuff for years now.
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
Someday I'm going to build a Lee Sklar style Franken Bass , with reverse dual P pickups and string it with GHS super steels because Lee Sklar.
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
I think it should be duly noted that many players throughout various interviews have given varying accounts of the types of strings that they were using at different times. The venerable Chuck Rainey for example, in one interview claimed to use at the time of Steely Dan's "Aja" recording ; LaBella Flatwounds gauges .110 , .085 , .065 and .045.
True. JPJ has contradicted himself multiple times in interviews on what was used on the classics (rounds or flats). I think sometimes these guys suit their answers to fit whatever company or type they happen to currently use, or at time of interview. Add to that the number of years between then and now and there's probably no definitive answer for most of it. Our vocalist told me a story the other day about how back in the 80's, he and his bass player at the time went to see some incarnation of Yes at a club. They had a chance encounter with Chris S who was smoking outside and he was apparently this bass players all time hero. The only words he could muster out of his star struck daze were "What kind of strings did you use on so and so?"
CS: "For Gods sake, read a F'n magazine, man!"
At which point CS flicked his cigarette and walked away, annoyed.
I was under the impression that he used SIT round wounds. I remember reading that in BP mag in 2001. I'll see if i can find it.
Man, I think you're right and I don't remember where I saw that he used ECB81 Chromes.
I would guess the same article, i remember he mentioned using flats on at least one bass (an Orlando, IIRC) for recording, but i think the SIT strings are used on his main basses.
Here's a link to a more current interview with Robert Deleo, at the end it states his gear, which says SIT rounds & flats:
Robert DeLeo & Stone Temple Pilots
Robert DeLeo & Stone Temple Pilots
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
David hungate had two early sixties Precision bases with Rosewood fretboards , one with strung with flat-wound strings ( I'm not sure which brand) and the other was strung with stainless steel Rotos. I believe you can hear both variations on Boz Scaggs album "silk degrees".
