Forget all the talk about which strings are best-- what is the WORST string you have ever played?

[pepj]

Plenty I don't fancy but maybe some were on the bass when purchased and I never really knew what they were.
Can't say I'm keen on D'addario.
Liked Supersteps, some DR and recall Ken Smiths as good but not sure who actually wound and branded them.

 

[MrAB4003]

That’s gotta be annoying. Sure, there’ll be some extra brightness fresh out of the package that goes away once the strings break in, but after that flats are generally the same for a good while. So in the progression from new to dead for the 77s, did you experience a “new->broken in->dead” progression with good sound in the broken in stage for a while, or was it a straight downhill slope from new to dead?

Agree on the Chromes. Sometimes I want thumpy flats, and sometimes I want brighter. For brighter flats, Chromes or Fender 9050s are good for me.

The progression was slower than I thought. They were broken in at the 2 month mark (June) and I thought nothing of it. I was still optimistic about the 77s at that time. But they went completely dead after another 2 months (August). I will not be buying another pack of Rotosounds again.

I haven't tried the Fender 9050s except when I tried out an MIA fretless Fender Jazz Bass at a music store. I needed to spend more time with those strings to accurately review them. I was too busy paying attention to the bass itself than the strings. I know D'Addario makes them for Fender, but I don't know if they're too similar to Chromes.

 

[claudel]

First tapewounds I ever tried, long, long ago.

Fender? I forget, but the tape unraveled on two strings in less than a day.

 

[bholder]

My 1934 Regal BassOGuitar came with some really gross nasty real actual cat gut strings. I was going to use them as cat toys, but someone on here really coveted them, to the point of paying me to ship them!

 

[newwavefrank]

I tried some Dogal Hellborg strings sometime last year. I took them off within an hour.

 

[Kyle_S]

The progression was slower than I thought. They were broken in at the 2 month mark (June) and I thought nothing of it. I was still optimistic about the 77s at that time. But they went completely dead after another 2 months (August). I will not be buying another pack of Rotosounds again.

I haven't tried the Fender 9050s except when I tried out an MIA fretless Fender Jazz Bass at a music store. I needed to spend more time with those strings to accurately review them. I was too busy paying attention to the bass itself than the strings. I know D'Addario makes them for Fender, but I don't know if they're too similar to Chromes.

I haven't used either for more than a couple weeks (I am chronically impulsive when it comes to strings), but in my limited experience with both Fenders and Chromes the Fenders aren't quite as bright and zingy out of the package and their gauges feel more even across the set. You get used to it, but with the 100-45 set of Chromes the D strings feels noticeably tighter than the rest. The Fender 100-45 set has a .60 D string instead of a .65, and it seems like it should hardly matter, but it really feels a lot better.

I'm curious about the 105-50 set of Chromes and the 105-55 set of Fenders, but I don't want to waste money on the sets just to have them be too heavy for me to play. The 105-45 Roto's were definitely too hardcore for me (and almost for my bass, too - had to tighten the truss rod literally to the max for those).

 

[MrAB4003]

I haven't used either for more than a couple weeks (I am chronically impulsive when it comes to strings), but in my limited experience with both Fenders and Chromes the Fenders aren't quite as bright and zingy out of the package and their gauges feel more even across the set. You get used to it, but with the 100-45 set of Chromes the D strings feels noticeably tighter than the rest. The Fender 100-45 set has a .60 D string instead of a .65, and it seems like it should hardly matter, but it really feels a lot better.

I'm curious about the 105-50 set of Chromes and the 105-55 set of Fenders, but I don't want to waste money on the sets just to have them be too heavy for me to play. The 105-45 Roto's were definitely too hardcore for me (and almost for my bass, too - had to tighten the truss rod literally to the max for those).

My perception of medium gauge flats is a little different because I tune to D Standard. So the only gauge of Chromes that is tense enough for me in that tuning is the medium gauge (50-105). I tried the light gauge (45-100), but those are better suited for standard tuning. In all the sets, the D string (or C string for me) is tighter than the rest. That's a quirk about most D'Addario string sets in general. Some people prefer other brands because those strings are better balanced overall.

 

[SharpCat]

My perception of medium gauge flats is a little different because I tune to D Standard. So the only gauge of Chromes that is tense enough for me in that tuning is the medium gauge (50-105). I tried the light gauge (45-100), but those are better suited for standard tuning. In all the sets, the D string (or C string for me) is tighter than the rest. That's a quirk about most D'Addario string sets in general. Some people prefer other brands because those strings are better balanced overall.

In that case you should try the Fender 55s.

 

[J Wilson]

The first bass guitar I ever picked up, years before I actually bought my own and started in on it, was a Robitussin Red Gibson EB-something strung up . . . . . with dark red tapewounds.

Even knowing ZERO about bass guitar at that point, I instantly realized I had picked up something demonic, so evil, so not-of-this-Earth horrible, I recoiled from it and almost dropped it.

I STILL have nightmares about this all these years later, and SURELY those would have had to have been the worst strings EVER !!

 

[el jeffe bass]

First tapewounds I ever tried, long, long ago.

Fender? I forget, but the tape unraveled on two strings in less than a day.

The first tape wound strings that I tried. I absolutely hated them, the only strings that I ever tried that had no redeeming qualities. Many years later I reluctantly tried Rotosound tapes, they were everything that the Fenders weren’t.

 

[hbarcat]

I have the opposite experience. People talk about how long flats last; I couldn’t stand them for more than half an hour.

Flats need to be played for at least a few dozens of hours to mellow out their tone, otherwise they sound harsh and clanky. Then after they're broken in, you'll want to EQ them quite differently compared to rounds.

Failing to do these two things will necessarily lead to disappointment. But don't blame the strings unless you're willing to play them long enough to age them and make an effort to properly adjust your EQ settings.

 

[micguy]

Flats need to be played for at least a few dozens of hours to mellow out their tone, otherwise they sound harsh and clanky. Then after they're broken in, you'll want to EQ them quite differently compared to rounds.

Failing to do these two things will necessarily lead to disappointment. But don't blame the strings unless you're willing to play them long enough to age them and make an effort to properly adjust your EQ settings.

Thanks for the lecture. My experience with flats wasn't that they sounded harsh, it was thst they were dull - mellowing out would mean losing high end, and they already had too little of that.

You’re a flats guy. I’m not. That’s OK.

 

[hbarcat]

Thanks for the lecture. My experience with flats wasn't that they sounded harsh, it was thst they were dull - mellowing out would mean losing high end, and they already had too little of that.

You’re a flats guy. I’m not. That’s OK.

Hardly a lecture. Just pointing out to the forum an extremely useful fact that's well known to flats players but not well known among rounds players.

There are comments all the time from TB users who try out flats but then immediately hate them and think they sound terrible because they have no idea that they need time to age and be EQed differently.

Sorry if you assumed I was lecturing you. I suppose I should've put a disclaimer in my post but it just didn't occur to me.

Also, I'm not a flats player. I've kept a backup bass strung with flats for decades (still with the same set of LaBellas on it) and I'll dabble with it occasionally, but I'm a dedicated rounds player forever.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

For me it would have to be the Ernie Ball Cobalt Flatwound Strings. Fresh out of the box, they feel like they have something sticky on them, and my fingers move much slower. They sound fine, though.

I can’t say any strings I’ve played were the worst as I’m sure there are a lot bassists that like them. I can say the one I have the least preference for were/are LaBella tape wound.

 

[micguy]

Hardly a lecture. Just pointing out to the forum an extremely useful fact that's well known to flats players but not well known among rounds players.

Every string set (flats and rounds) starts out more zingy/harsh/clanky than what it sounds like when broken in. Every player - flats or rounds has this experience if they've ever put on a new set of strings.

 

[Makten]

Flats need to be played for at least a few dozens of hours to mellow out their tone, otherwise they sound harsh and clanky. Then after they're broken in, you'll want to EQ them quite differently compared to rounds.

Failing to do these two things will necessarily lead to disappointment. But don't blame the strings unless you're willing to play them long enough to age them and make an effort to properly adjust your EQ settings.

Nah, it depends. I have recently used two sets of LaBella DTF's and they sounded more or less the same right out of the package as they do after months of playing. OTOH I haven't been able to "break in" a set of DR Legends at all. They still sound like roundwounds after months.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

Flats in general. I also don't like Fender strings and I don't remember which ones they were. I like their basses.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

The worst strings that I every came upon were the Chinese made Hofner flats. I put a set on my German-made Hofner and was filled with guilt and remorse for having been so cheap as to try these abominations. I apologized to my bass, took the retched things off, threw them in the trash can, and put the old set of Pyramid Gold flats back on.