Frustrated with dead strings

[SiriusVI]

I have a Dingwall NG3 5 String Bass with Dingwall stainless steel strings and I love that instrument to death. I absolutely love the clean ad crisp DI Sound you can hear, e.g. in this Video:



However, I feel like my strings go dull super quickly. Recently, after 3 concerts in a row, the strings were just 100% dead, so I changed them yesterday and got that great crisp sound back. Awesome! I wanted to record some new bass lines today.

However, I discovered that today, just one day later, even without really playing the bass, the low B string has lost about 50% of its crisp tone already. It's not completely dull, yet, but compared to the other 4 strings, and compared to what it sounded like yesterday, it's just really disappointing. I don't want to record my bass lines like that and to be honest, I think I should restring it again, to get the tone that I love back.

I've had this happen to me a few times already with the B-String. At first I thought, I just got unlucky and got a few faulty strings, but it cannot be a coincidence anymore.

Does anyone else have the same issues with low B strings? It's so frustrating. I'm honestly thinking about just buying a Bass vst like Djinn Bass and stop using my real bass for recording anything. I don't REALLY want to do that, but I cannot restring my Bass every day.

I get that after a few weeks of extensive gigging the dirt and sweat will make bass strings go dull, but just ONE DAY after restringing it and not playing, I feel like the strings should retain their zingy, crisp quality, am I right?

So, yeah, the B string is half dead after one day and I'm frustrated.

Any advice?

 

[MonetBass]

Sounds like you body's pH is hard on steel wound strings. Mine kills SS strings dead in only hours. Try some nickel wound ones (Ernie Ball Slinkies are my favorite) and see if they retain their zing longer.

 

[michael_t]

I feel like the strings should retain their zingy, crisp quality, am I right?

All strings go through three main stages in their general aging process, ie "fresh out of the package", "nicely broken-in" and "worn-out and dead".

One's "dead" is another's "well broken-in"... Some of us expect a little too much by wanting a set of strings to "sound like new" for a long time, and as soon as they lose their initial zing and brightness, we declare them "dead", when in fact they're just settling into their "nicely broken-in" stage.

It's all about expectations. I personally don't expect a set of strings to sound like new for any significant length of time; in fact, the faster they get broken in and lose their initial zing, the better. That's why I always look for strings that quickly lose their newness and settle into their broken-in state and stay there for a long time.

 

[Razman]

My Dingwall strings never died that fast - must be a pH issue.

Kaliums last a long time for me.

 

[SiriusVI]

Oh wow, never thought that my body might be the issue, haha. Could be, I don't know. Strange though that it always seems to affect the low B string first / much faster than the other strings.

I'd love to try out Kaliums, but I live in Germany and they aren't readily available here.

I also really love the sound and feel of stainless steel strings, so I'm reluctant when it comes to switching to nickel wound strings. But I gues I have to try ...

 

[Slade N]

Maybe try Chromes and or Pressurewounds? Id think theyd decay slower than rounds for you, they did/and do for me

 

[Carl Hillman]

Any advice?

Other than, try some different strings to find the ones that last the longest for you, and keep your hands clean and dry, no.

Fender nickel rounds (do they even make them anymore?) used to be the ones that would stay bright the longest for me. But, I eventually stopped chasing that piano string zing sound.

Or, if you are wealthy, you could take the Anthony Jackson approach and change strings in between each take.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

- must be a pH issue.
.

I used to wipe strings down after a gig with a small drop of 3-1 oil, then wipe dry. Strings lasted a long time.

 

[FRoss6788]

Play with freshly washed hands, and wipe down your strings after playing with a clean rag.

Also, it's not surprising the B is the first to die.

 

[dax21]

Playing bass in what I imagine your context is (Nolly's tone and Dingwalls) comes down to a matter of compromise. The thing about compromise is that no one is completely happy.

You can either accept the slightly broken tone (especially if you stretch your strings for tuning/intonation stability prior to recording) and compensate with the EQ. I imagine that you are using some kind of Darkglass equivalent as the main chunk of your tone and that DI is there mostly for the lows in which case the slightly broken in tone won't affect things that much.

Alternatively, get two sets of strings. Record a song, take the strings off immediately, put the other brand new set on, record, take them off, bring back the first barely used set. Even when you take completely dead old strings and restring them back on, they bring back a bit of zing except it lasts a very short time. This is also a decent trick for live purposes if you have a string of shows in a row.

That being said it could be the strings that you are using being simply like that. Try a different brand.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

You’ll have to try another brand &/or type of string. I realize your choices might be limited due to the multi scale bass, but string makers have had about 70 years to work on getting strings optimized for single scale basses and only about 10 years to work on strings for multi-scale strings, so be prepared to have limited string choices for a whil yet.

 

[micguy]

All strings follow the same general pattern - zingy out of the package, the zing dies quickly, and then they are relatively stable for along time, until they eventually get to a point where they sound dead to you. The trick to long string life is to always buy strings that are too bright out of the package, so that the stable period is sonically about what you like in terms of brightness. If you love the sound out of the package, you'll always be complaining a bout strings "dying fast".

Now if you are buying stainless rounds, and they "die quickly", what it means in practical terms is that you need a brighter sounding bass and/or rig - you need to somehow turn up the treble so that, when the strings have broken in, you're happy with the sound. That's the only practical way out of the situation you're in, unless you're famous, you get free strings from a string company, and have a roadie to change them before every gig..

 

[Chrisk-K]

Just blame your DNA No other string types will give you the crispness and explosiveness of SS rounds. If you like that kind of tone, the only way to get that tone is to install new strings before each gig.

 

[mr80htz]

I have a Dingwall NG3 5 String Bass with Dingwall stainless steel strings and I love that instrument to death. I absolutely love the clean ad crisp DI Sound you can hear, e.g. in this Video:



However, I feel like my strings go dull super quickly. Recently, after 3 concerts in a row, the strings were just 100% dead, so I changed them yesterday and got that great crisp sound back. Awesome! I wanted to record some new bass lines today.

However, I discovered that today, just one day later, even without really playing the bass, the low B string has lost about 50% of its crisp tone already. It's not completely dull, yet, but compared to the other 4 strings, and compared to what it sounded like yesterday, it's just really disappointing. I don't want to record my bass lines like that and to be honest, I think I should restring it again, to get the tone that I love back.

I've had this happen to me a few times already with the B-String. At first I thought, I just got unlucky and got a few faulty strings, but it cannot be a coincidence anymore.

Does anyone else have the same issues with low B strings? It's so frustrating. I'm honestly thinking about just buying a Bass vst like Djinn Bass and stop using my real bass for recording anything. I don't REALLY want to do that, but I cannot restring my Bass every day.

I get that after a few weeks of extensive gigging the dirt and sweat will make bass strings go dull, but just ONE DAY after restringing it and not playing, I feel like the strings should retain their zingy, crisp quality, am I right?

So, yeah, the B string is half dead after one day and I'm frustrated.

Any advice?

Hoping and doubting it's the following idea...de-magnetized pole pieces below the B string on the pickup(s). It can happen. I had a problem just like you with a B string on my Fender Jazz 5 and was killing me for a long time. An old timer at the local music store said it might be that they are demagnetized under that string which can physically alter the strings tonal characteristics. I took out the pickups, sent them to a guy in San Fran who re-magnetized them. Got it home, played it and it was the same problem. Then I realized they were the old strings that got affected. New strings on, never had the problem again. Couldn't believe it.

 

[RGerhart]

What about boiling your strings?

 

[SiriusVI]

I appreciate all the answers. Here is some more clarification, since some of you got the wrong idea of my problem I think:

1. I wipe all my strings with Dunlop string cleaner everytime I play the bass.

2. I wash my hands with soap every time before I touch my bass.

3. In the most recent example, the low B lost its zing ONE DAY after restringing without even playing it. I added the new strings, tuned the bass, quickly tested it, tone awesome, wiped the strings. The next day, the B string lost 50% of its zing compared to the other 4 strings. This makes the tone of the Bass across the strings very inconsistent.

4. When the low string loses zing, the sound is just really weird. It's more quiet and the low end seems to be exaggerated. It sounds like an intransparent "WOOOOF" when I pluck it, instead of a clean "BRRRRRR". It's like all of the overtones are completely gone. It's especially noticeable wehn using a distortion pedal. Right after restringing, the low B distorts satisfyingly, but later there is almost no distortion, because, as I said, the low B loses all of the overtones.

5. The Dingwall is brand new and I use good stings. Stainless Steel by Dingwall. The strings are made for this bass.

Also, it's not surprising the B is the first to die.

Why is that?

 

[frankie5string]

Are you creating a proper break-angle over the bridge saddles when you install them, or do you just leave them to glide over the saddles? If you're just leaving them to glide over, their contact with the bridge will be relatively vague and it can cause the string to deaden quicker.

When installing new strings, you should generally push down on them on the "neck side" of the saddle after they are tuned up so they have a defined break angle over the saddle. Doing so will cause them to detune, but then once you have re-tuned back to pitch they should stay "fresh" sounding a bit longer.

Try that on your next string change... see if it helps.

 

[Razman]

Are you creating a proper break-angle over the bridge saddles when you install them, or do you just leave them to glide over the saddles? If you're just leaving them to glide over, their contact with the bridge will be relatively vague and it can cause the string to deaden quicker.

When installing new strings, you should generally push down on them on the "neck side" of the saddle after they are tuned up so they have a defined break angle over the saddle. Doing so will cause them to detune, but then once you have re-tuned back to pitch they should stay "fresh" sounding a bit longer.

Try that on your next string change... see if it helps.

I've had this affect intonation but not brightness; on a Dingwall, given the strings are tapered at the ball end and the increased tension from the longer scale length, I would think that this isn't an issue.

I appreciate all the answers. Here is some more clarification, since some of you got the wrong idea of my problem I think:

1. I wipe all my strings with Dunlop string cleaner everytime I play the bass.

2. I wash my hands with soap every time before I touch my bass.

3. In the most recent example, the low B lost its zing ONE DAY after restringing without even playing it. I added the new strings, tuned the bass, quickly tested it, tone awesome, wiped the strings. The next day, the B string lost 50% of its zing compared to the other 4 strings. This makes the tone of the Bass across the strings very inconsistent.

4. When the low string loses zing, the sound is just really weird. It's more quiet and the low end seems to be exaggerated. It sounds like an intransparent "WOOOOF" when I pluck it, instead of a clean "BRRRRRR". It's like all of the overtones are completely gone. It's especially noticeable wehn using a distortion pedal. Right after restringing, the low B distorts satisfyingly, but later there is almost no distortion, because, as I said, the low B loses all of the overtones.

5. The Dingwall is brand new and I use good stings. Stainless Steel by Dingwall. The strings are made for this bass.

Why is that?

OP, what other troubleshooting steps have you taken? I know you get the best sound initially so it wouldn't seem like setup would be an issue - to eliminate that as a cause, is your setup good? Intonation/action/distance from pickups?

Also, have you tried not using string cleaner? How have other basses/strings behaved in the past? I'm assuming it hasn't been a problem based on your post.

I agree that Dingwall strings are excellent - in fact, when I had mine and changed them out the first time, I didn't hear much of a difference in sound. They should, in theory, stay relatively bright for much longer than other "normal" strings on "standard" basses.

Personally, I've never used commercial products on my strings. I see my guitar player sometimes use FingerEase and it makes me cringe. Chemicals attract dirt - sorry Big Daddy, I couldn't imagine using 3-in-1 oil on them! If I clean them now, I get a rectangle-shaped Tupperware container, fill it up halfway with denatured alcohol, and run strings through that to remove any oils/contaminants. Dry with a towel, then air dry. Ongoing maintenance consists of wipe-downs with a rag and alcohol.

At some point the steel looses enough elasticity and gets dull sounding so to me boiling or alcohol at that point is moot. Anyway, what else have you tried?

Eric

 

[FRoss6788]

I appreciate all the answers. Here is some more clarification, since some of you got the wrong idea of my problem I think:

1. I wipe all my strings with Dunlop string cleaner everytime I play the bass.

2. I wash my hands with soap every time before I touch my bass.

3. In the most recent example, the low B lost its zing ONE DAY after restringing without even playing it. I added the new strings, tuned the bass, quickly tested it, tone awesome, wiped the strings. The next day, the B string lost 50% of its zing compared to the other 4 strings. This makes the tone of the Bass across the strings very inconsistent.

4. When the low string loses zing, the sound is just really weird. It's more quiet and the low end seems to be exaggerated. It sounds like an intransparent "WOOOOF" when I pluck it, instead of a clean "BRRRRRR". It's like all of the overtones are completely gone. It's especially noticeable wehn using a distortion pedal. Right after restringing, the low B distorts satisfyingly, but later there is almost no distortion, because, as I said, the low B loses all of the overtones.

5. The Dingwall is brand new and I use good stings. Stainless Steel by Dingwall. The strings are made for this bass.



Why is that?

Because I think that the thicker the string the more fundamental it has, the less zingy and trebley it's going to be.
In a 4 string set, I find the E string invariably dies first, at least, for me.
In fact, I don't find many B strings that I would really call zingy out of the package. I've a Lakland 5, and try as I may, I have yet to really did any B I put on that thing.
...but, I'm veering off topic...

 

[frankie5string]

When you wind on your strings, do you slot them first in the bridge and then wind them up, or do you wind them until the ball end gets right behind the catch and then latch them down? It could be that the string is "spinning" while winding up and if you already have the ball end locked down, it could be torquing the core beneath the wrap a bit - that can kill a string.