GHS Boomers for boomers?

[CatchaCuda]

I love Boomers!

I've tried Millennials. Ridiculous amount of tension, inconsistent and noisy. They barely work. Yet, they expect to be put on a pedestal.

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

My tone preferences as a young guy and my tone preferences over the last 15 years or so have changed drastically. My perfect set of strings are GHS Pressurewounds. And I can easily get a year out of a set. Same goes for Bass Boomers, I can make a set of them last a year as well.

Which helps an old Boomer have a few extra bucks to buy a box of All Bran cereal and a few bottles of Prune Juice.

I’m pretty sure a few of my fellow Boomers can relate.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

“Boomer”. It seems lately it’s used as an insult

Let's not forget that boomers invented categorizing generations with a nickname. It would be like calling Tim Cook of Apple "Tim Apple". Boomers need rigid categories in order to properly judge and compare.

 

[dkelley]

I got hooked on Boomers after using double ball GHS rounds (not Boomers, however) on my Steinbergers. They are very reasonably priced, as Arthur wrote they are not too bright when fresh out of the pack and they break in quickly to a tone that lasts for months of gigs. They are also available pretty much anywhere in case I need a set in an emergency.

I suppose I could go out and experiment with strings to see if there really is something better out there, but when I like what I hear from a set of strings on a particular bass I just stick with it.

Same, those particular strings (again not boomers? not sure if actually different design) were what I used on the steinberger and on other headless steinberger systems (hohners).

 

[dkelley]

I love Boomers!

I've tried Millennials. Ridiculous amount of tension, inconsistent and noisy. They barely work. Yet, they expect to be put on a pedestal.

Vote for best TB post of 2020!

 

[staurosjohn]

let me tell you something sonny, back in my day we didnt have fancy matched tension strings, we had crappy strings on crappy basses cause thats all there was see, we didnt know no better so we just played the bejeezus out of 'em and hoped they didnt break and if they did we tied a knot in 'em and maybe caught our fingers on the frayed wire of the knot and that made our fingers bleed but we didnt care, cause thats just the way it was and we liked it. OK, now go away Matlocks startin in a few minutes

 

[Steadfast]

Ya git wat ya git and ya dont pitch a fit.

 

[bluesblaster]

But seriously, I've been using boomers for a long time and cant recall one of them ever breaking, couldnt say that about Roto's or Fender's . They can be snarly or mellow depending on how you play them, pretty versatile string in my book, tension wise they are just fine too....I'm not that picky when it comes to things like that

 

[oren]

I started using Boomers shortly after they first came out in the mid ‘70s, first on a Gibson Ripper and then on a P bass. I played them on hundreds of gigs in different bands I was in during those years.

I worked for Studio Instrument Rentals (SIR) in New York in 1979 and 1980, and I would put Boomers on the basses we had in the shop.

I moonlighted from my SIR gig working as a slightly glorified go-fer for Dire Straits while they were recording the Making Movies album at Power Station. One of my jobs was to keep the instruments in fresh strings, so I put Boomers on John Illsey’s P bass, so that’s what you hear on that record (their best, IMHO).

Making Movies was produced by Jimmy Iovine (before he became a hip hop mogul). Some months after I finished working on that I got a call at SIR from Iovine’s assistant in LA who said “Jimmy’s working on a new record with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and he told me to get a hold of you and find out what kind of bass strings you put on John Illsey’s bass.”

i hadn’t used Boomers in a long time, but I put a set on a PJ I built last fall, and they sound great! So now I’m a boomer with Boomers.

 

[Root 5]

GHS Boomers . . . invented by boomers for boomers . . . is this true?

Being a boomer myself I need to know

Okay, Boomer.
(Sorry... couldn’t resist)

 

[Geri O]

Okay, Boomer.
(Sorry... couldn’t resist)

It warrants repeating ...

 

[HearNoStevil]

I first installed Boomers on a few Precision and Jazz basses in 1999 (gauges 40-95) and those strings still haven't lost their life. They sound like month-old well-played strings but they aren't dead by any means! I can't kill them no matter how many gigs or how hard I sweat.

I always used Rotosounds prior but back around 1999 Musician's Friend was giving away 10 free sets of Boomers with any bass purchase. I bought alot of basses then, so I have strings for life. The only problem is that I installed the strings 21 years ago and they still sound great so I haven't had a reason to change them! I have boxes of NOS Boomers that are 21 years old! At this rate, I'll never have to change them. In another 21 years I doubt I'll be playing much bass. But, Boomers actually feel better and more slinky with age. Great, great, great strings.

 

[Steadfast]

I first installed Boomers on a few Precision and Jazz basses in 1999 (gauges 40-95) and those strings still haven't lost their life. They sound like month-old well-played strings but they aren't dead by any means! I can't kill them no matter how many gigs or how hard I sweat.

I always used Rotosounds prior but back around 1999 Musician's Friend was giving away 10 free sets of Boomers with any bass purchase. I bought alot of basses then, so I have strings for life. The only problem is that I installed the strings 21 years ago and they still sound great so I haven't had a reason to change them! I have boxes of NOS Boomers that are 21 years old! At this rate, I'll never have to change them. In another 21 years I doubt I'll be playing much bass. But, Boomers actually feel better and more slinky with age. Great, great, great strings.

send me some for my ugly bass!

 

[LBS-bass]

Back in the late 70's my guitarist friend that I worked with used the GHS Boomers on his electric guitars. We were just young'uns then but the term "baby boomer" was around and we all knew it was something used to describe our generation, the many kids born just after WWII. It inferred that there had been a large boom in babies being born, since all the young men (our dads) who had been overseas were home again.

Back then it wasn't the pejorative it is today, but rather as we moved into our teens and 20's it was a term used to describe young people who were defining a new generation. It's not inconceivable that there was some thought about the double-entendre there when naming them. But I always assumed that they were named for their sonic qualities and I believe they always had a picture of a firecracker or something like that on the earliest packaging. Can't find an image of that though.

 

[Vinny_G]

But I always assumed that they were named for their sonic qualities and I believe they always had a picture of a firecracker or something like that on the earliest packaging. Can't find an image of that though.

Here's one

 

[LBS-bass]

Here's one

View attachment 3964643

That's the one! Thank you

 

[JMV]

Okay, Boomer.
(Sorry... couldn’t resist)

Definitely deserved and expected this . . . in fact I was thinking of posting the same on several of the replies but thought best as an OP to hold back.

In all seriousness, I've learned a lot of positive things about Boomers (the strings), so thanks to all those who posted serious comments. I never did try these, simply because of assumptions and perceptions stemming from their name and the original firecracker imagery. Always thought they lacked any type of refinement or well defined tone so I happily stand corrected and am looking forward to trying some at earliest convenience!

Thanks all, and keep the comments coming - serious, or entertainging. As always, fun to read/see commentary on TB!

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

Here's one

View attachment 3964643

I know I still have a few sets with this logo stashed in a box somewhere in my basement. I’ll be doing some major cleaning in the upcoming months. When I find them, I put one of the sets on my Alembic.

 

[Vinny_G]

I know I still have a few sets with this logo stashed in a box somewhere in my basement. I’ll be doing some major cleaning in the upcoming months. When I find them, I put one of the sets on my Alembic.

This may be of interest to collectors.

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

.....I never did try these, simply because of assumptions and perceptions stemming from their name and the original firecracker imagery. Always thought they lacked any type of refinement or well defined tone....Thanks all, and keep the comments coming - serious, or entertainging. As always, fun to read/see commentary on TB!

Your post has got me thinking. Packaging and labeling has a big impact on the prospective consumer.

I kind of did the same thing with Ernie Ball’s strings. I always thought their package looked hokey.

I bought my first EBMM bass in the late 90’s. When it’s stock strings died, I tried my usual brands, but the instrument just seemed to be lacking something. I saw that it shipped with Hybrid Slinkys. So I bought a set, regardless of it’s hokey package, restrung the bass, and there it was. They bass sounded great. - Almost as if they were designed particularly for that bass!