How often do you change your strings?

[Clark Westfield]

Taking a vote on how often people change their strings.

I change mine about every 6-8 weeks.

And always one rehearsal before a show.

your thoughts?

 

[DrSteve]

You’re supposed to change them?

I suppose if they’re rusty or grimy. But it takes a few years to reach peak tonal quality. (TI Jazz Flats)

 

[5StringBlues]

much less than back before transparent amps. going to restring main jazz for the 1st time since 2016. old days,every 6 months.

 

[MonetBass]

No 'Carrots' option? Because for me, it depends. When they start to sound dead, I change them. That can be months to years.

 

[Jazzdogg]

TI Jazz Flats on almost all of my electric basses; some have been unchanged for more than two decades. Nuff said.

 

[JRA]

i change them when it's needed or when i realize i messed up (particular string sets paired with particular axes/electronics --- win vs. fail.

if i'm not disappointed (i'm easy to please!), i'd probably be in the "yearly" group, on average, between 6 months and 18 months (to two years, just depends*).

TI jazz rounds last the longest for me. roto 66s the shortest, maybe, depending on the instrument and how much i'm playing it at the time that it hits me: "i should change these strings."


* i've been casually playing around with the string thing (rounds). they're all good. some seem to be better for some instruments, IDK. just having some fun with new-to-me string sets now and then.

 

[johnh89]

Flats fan here . Never . Also Roto 88s on a few . Also never . Have you seen the price of a set of TI jazz flats for a fiver ?

 

[Chris Laarman]

I voted "only when they break", but this is yet another case of "otherwise, namely".

First of all, I'm a mere amateur. Participating in a bluegrass session last month marked my first public appearance on bass in over thirty years.

As always, I tend to be verbose. Yes, I take the poll to be about "consumption" of strings, and instead I illustrate my considerations for [not] replacing factory strings.

I bought my first basses in 1981. I mainly used them at trad. jazz sessions, and was heavily influenced by the tone of upright basses and the staccato plopping of brass basses.
I replaced the factory round-wound strings of my Ibanez MV-924 with flat-wounds (Ernie Ball 2802). I think that these are still on.
I replaced the tape-wound strings on my acoustic Eko Chetro with the same EB2802, in order to have a magnetic sound-hole pick-up add low to the sound of an acoustic stick-on transducer. I have recently restored the factory situation.

The last couple of years have had me add five basses. First came an acoustic Fender CB-60SCE (featuring a piëzo bridge pick-up). I equipped this with flat-wounds, as it happens Dunlop DBFS45105. I have bought a spare set of these, too.
Then an electric Harley Benton MJ-4EB. I have promised myself to retain round-wounds on this one. It still features the factory ones (D'Addario, maybe NYXL), and I have spare NYXL45105 for it. I circumvened my promise by buying an MJ-5EB and fitting it with flat-wound Thomastik JF345.
Time for an acoustic 5-string (with piëzo bridge pick-up): Harley Benton B-35. I mounted round-wound Thomastik AB345, only after pointing to the flat-wounds on that Fender and the JF345 on the MJ-5EB.
Last in is a cheap short-scale P-type: Harley Benton PB-Shorty. It may have D'Addario EXL220S round-wounds, and that's what I have as spares. (Already I've been checking short-scale acoustics, and I might buy a second PB-Shorty for flat-wounds.)

The Dunlops mark the end of buying strings as incidental disposables for a given instrument, "chosen" to the instrument vendor's suggestion. Since then, it has been a matter of buying "pairs" of instruments and sets of strings.

 

[40Hz]

Rounds? As needed depending on the brand of strings and the bass.

Flats? When the intonation goes off. Hard to explain, but when they need to be changed - you’ll know. Individual notes will just start sounding off and can’t be corrected even if your bass is set up properly.

 

[Killing Floor]

Flats stay on a long time. But bright rounds like I use on a MM, about every month and used to be about 2 weeks.

 

[Clark Westfield]

I’m strictly a rounds guy, so I Get the lifetime flats schedule.

DR Pure Blues and Sadowsky Blue nickels, I get about 2 months before the E feels it needs a change out.

 

[Rib 13]

I prefer new Roundwounds and Piano string tone (with options to warm up PRN)

For each bass its 20-25 hours of play ( about 4 to 5 gigs) or when they start losing brightness. What a lot of players call the "broken in" stage is too old for me and off they go. Yes, I spend a lot of money on strings

 

[Smooth_bass88]

lotta factors here. I gig like crazy, but I also use at least 5-6 different basses depending on the gig. Probably get away with every 6-8 weeks if I'm not doing a gig with alot of thumb and pluck or requiring a bright tone. On my Lakland US 4460 I like half-dead rounds.

 

[in tune]

about 60-100 hours (with ''ELIXIR'')..

 

[Cleezmo]

For rounds, usually every couple of months, and at least once every 6 months as I tend to have each bass get a setup and look-over by my tech every 6-8 months. But the DRs I use (FatBeams and SunBeams) last a LONG time for me; sure new ones sound better but they don't just 'die' on me one day, they remain stable for a long time.

 

[G On Bass]

Flats I change only to get tones from other sets I already own. I never throw them away, just re-use them. Some are at least 9-10 years old.

Stainless have to break in for at least a month before I gig or rehearse with them, then I'll change them every 12-18 months, or as needed, or whenever I wanna try something new.

 

[StereoPlayer]

Probably every 3-6 months depending on amount of playtime. I’m ready for that “new” sound right now…but…nah, one more gig or two.

 

[Bushrod Johnson]

Every time I acquire a new bass with rounds on it I change them to flats.

 

[themickster]

Taking a vote on how often people change their strings.

I change mine about every 6-8 weeks.

And always one rehearsal before a show.

your thoughts?

I need to cut through heavy guitar, fit my gigging bass with new strings six-monthly and like the metallic sparkle. Daily practice is on another bass, which gets the cast-offs.

 

[DaveDeVille]

Thomastik JF344 flats on my basses ...
i change whenever i buy a new bass / sell a bass .
some sets have been for well over 5 years , and still sound great !!

i voted "never " , but that's not entirely true ...