Fat Beams vs Dragon Skins

Dragon Skin strings are literally Coated Hi-Beams

The biggest difference is going to be in the touch as the coated surface feels different from the non-coated Fat-Beams / Hi-Beams. DR's K3 coating is pretty transparent in tone, but they can sound a little tamer than the Hi-Beams.

 

I've pretty much converted all four of my 4 strings over to Dragon Skins, love the tension of them (of course I've always loved DR's round core strings). They are brighter than most nickels, but not quite as bright as most steels which is perfect for me. I kinda miss that smooth feel of nickels, but the sound and tension on these make up for that. If they offered something bigger than a .125, I'd use them on my 5 strings as well.

Been a while since I've had FatBeams, but I remember they were nice as well. I'd like to know which ones feel smoother.

 

I likened the texture to rubbing your fingers on denim. I didn't stick with them long enough to break in past that. Not sure how long that feeling lasts.

 

I've not used hi-beams, but I have used several other stainless strings and I'm currently trying a set of elixir stainless (I've also used several sets of elixir nickel). So I can compare those, to Dragon Skins.

You can both see and feel the coating of dragon skins. But, it doesn't "grab" or "slow" your hands down anymore than any other fresh string. They also don't feel slicker than usual, like elixirs. Feeling the coating may psyche you out, at first. But you will soon realize, the strings are very playable.

The coating does a good job of taming finger noise and fret noise. It does a GREAT job of taming fret clack. It also does a GREAT job of taming unpleasant overtones that can be present in other, none coated stainless strings. particularly on a bass that is inherently bright. Not all stainless strings have those overtones, but some do. and these coated dragon skins avoid it completely.

Fresh out of the pack, they are probably brighter than most would expect. However, in my experience, they do not keep that "new" or mostly new brightness as long as elixirs. They settle less bright than elixirs. But once they settle, they seem to stay at that brightness for a long time. 2 or 3 month old Dragon Skins are going to sound brighter than 2 or 3 month old uncoated strings.

They have a fat presence in the lows.

I suspect due to the overtone muting characteristics, the upper mid-range has a curious quality to it that I've never heard in any other string. It's not bad. But it is definitely a tonal signature unique to these strings.

Since they are round core, they are very good on basses that string up inherently tight/with little flex. As such, I love them on my Ibanez SRT. They also feel very balanced from string to string. More so than many sets of strings I've tried. Including Elixirs, which I find to be notably unbalanced.

A set I eventually put on my Ibanez SRT (not the first set of Dragon Skins I've had on the SRT) had trouble with the 105 E wrapping around the wide tuner posts on my Fender Jaguar (the first time/only time I tried Dragon Skins on my Jag). The fat part of the string was very much trying to go around the tuner post, as the taper was too far past the nut. It seems the coating was restricting the string somehow and it kinked into a square shape, instead of wrapping around the pole. The same string then wrapped nicely around the skinnier posts of my Ibanez, leaving the fat part just barely free to be straight, off the posts (The SRT's E string tuner peg is further past the nut than Fender). I didn't try any of the other strings on the Jaguar. Could have been a fluke. Other non coated strings not sized right for the Jaguar still wrap the fat part just fine. Currently LOVING Dean Markley HD Helix SS on my jag, even though the fat part of the E is a half turn around the post.

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Overall, I would say Dragon Skins are good strings. They very much give that special Stainless tone, albeit darker than some other stainless strings. They give a longer usable brightness than uncoated strings, though not as bright or as long as elixirs (I suspect this is because Dragons Skins wrap wire is coated before it is wound. Whereas Elixirs are coated after they are wound. So there are no gaps for crud and the wrap wire can vibrate against itself and the core wire.).

They are excellent for taming inherently bright basses and/or for basses that string up tight, where more flex is desired.

 

Interesting, The way you describe the tone of the Dragon Skins, it almost seems like they would sound like Lo Riders, but lower tension.

 

Dragon Skins feel like Hi Beams/Fat Beams with a mild coating, while the tone has a little more upper midrange bite and less sparkle.

The only reason I can't use them is the reason I can't play coated DR's:

Neck slides BURN. It hurts. Seriously I did a recording where I had to punch a few of those slides in and my fingers almost melted.

 

Dragonskins are stainless steel, not nickelplated.

 

Definitely. In fact I don't find nickel strings to have more bottom, they just have less top.

 

They have a fat presence in the lows.

I would not say their mid range is particularly special, but it is also not scooped. It's fairly even, like a nicely EQ'd sound. I've found the high mids have a curious grind quality to them. As I said before, it is not bad. Just unique.