If Factory Strings Suck.....

[line6man]

Coming from a guitar background, the idea of not just immediately putting new strings on any instrument I acquire has never really occurred to me. The strings that were strung up at the factory serve only to do rough initial setup, and verify that the instrument plays/sounds good. After sitting under tension for months/years, they won't sound any good. With that being said, I suppose it would be a different story with basses, because the longevity of a set of strings is much better. Still, it would be a rare occurrence that an instrument comes from the factory with my preferred strings installed. Plus, it's easier to just put fresh strings on when I set the action and such to my liking.

 

[Emanuel Apascaritei]

If they sound good I´ll use them till I have to change and than buy my choise of strings. But with my Adamovic, the truth is no matter what strings I trough at it it will sound good. But my preference goes to NPS with round cores.

 

[togril]

I remember reading an interview with Bernard Edwards in International Musician and Recording World (I think) back in the day, at the hieght of their fame. He was asked what his strings were and he replied "whatever it came with". The interviewer realised that he had owned that bass for about 4 years.
I now play double bass, in order to not have to deal with the reality of that statement.

 

[gjohnson441496]

I really wanted to like the strings that came on my American Deluxe Dimension and kept them on as long as I could stand it but eventually broke down and replaced them with TI rounds.

 

[Double E]

as it seems they do.....post after post about replacing the factory strings as soon as possible on a new bass.......

then....

why would a manufacturer put these kind of strings on a bass that they are trying to get the public to buy?

If you make a bass, you want it to sound good when the person plays it in the store.

If it sounds like crap they're not going to buy it....

Or are they?

Guy goes into store----tries out bass with crappy factory strings------says it sounds great and plays nice--------buys it and takes it home......then posts that the factory strings are coming off right away.....

But wasn't it the factory strings that contributed to the purchase of the bass?

How would you know in the store what it's going to sound like with a different brand of strings on it?

Bobby Vega just talked about this in his latest article for Bass Player... He told a story of how he got his hands on a G&L L-1000 and just fell in love with the tone but after changing the strings, he could never get back the magic.

Down the road a piece, he happened to bump into Leo Fender (wouldn't that be cool) they discussed this and Leo told him that he designed the bass with a particular string in mind and when Bobby put a fresh set of the OEM strings on the bass...BOOM! There is was, the magical tone he was diggin' on in the first place!

 

[JimmyM]

Bobby Vega just talked about this in his latest article for Bass Player... He told a story of how he got his hands on a G&L L-1000 and just fell in love with the tone but after changing the strings, he could never get back the magic.

Down the road a piece, he happened to bump into Leo Fender (wouldn't that be cool) they discussed this and Leo told him that he designed the bass with a particular string in mind and when Bobby put a fresh set of the OEM strings on the bass...BOOM! There is was, the magical tone he was diggin' on in the first place!

Interesting, but man, I'd sure hate to be locked into a type of strings on my basses like that. Hopefully, those weren't the only type of strings that worked, but if they are, I consider that a deal-breaker.

 

[bassrich]

I prefer flats. but leave whatever is on untill time to change then it is blue steels as my roundwound choice

 

[Double E]

Interesting, but man, I'd sure hate to be locked into a type of strings on my basses like that. Hopefully, those weren't the only type of strings that worked, but if they are, I consider that a deal-breaker.

I get that... the real thrust to Bobby's article is that you gotta find what speaks to you. On that G&L, Bobby was diggin' on the tone he was getting with the factory strings. Another dude may prefer the same bass with a different string.

In the end, I've never seen anyone strongly refute that, for all of our suffering in search of our tone, most audiences won't appreciate the difference between this string, pickup, amp, whatever... or that string, pickup, amp, whatever... but for us to make it enjoyable for everyone, we have to find the tone that satisfies our bass playing soul!

 

[NeckPickup]

Generalizations such as "factory strings suck" are not always true.

Sadowsky basses come with Sadowsky Blue Steels, which are a very high-quality string. Whether they are your preference is another issue, but they are premium strings.

My Lakland USA 5 comes with GHS Super (?) Steels that are custom built to work with a 35" scale string-through body arrangement and with a taper-core B. Not that many other choices that give you all those things. So they don't suck based alone on the fact that they fit the bass properly. They also happen to sound great on that bass.

Other high-end basses are the same way. So no, all factory strings do not suck.

 

[joebar]

I didnt like the stock strings on my musicman. Im not a slinky string fan. I switched to dr lo riders and the tone came out.

i don't like the slinkies either, but they did work best on EBMM basses.

 

[bassrich]

Does anyone know what strings come on fenders? I'd like to buy them but I have no idea.

They are listed on the site in specs

 

[JimmyM]

Generalizations such as "factory strings suck" are not always true.

Sadowsky basses come with Sadowsky Blue Steels, which are a very high-quality string. Whether they are your preference is another issue, but they are premium strings.

My Lakland USA 5 comes with GHS Super (?) Steels that are custom built to work with a 35" scale string-through body arrangement and with a taper-core B. Not that many other choices that give you all those things. So they don't suck based alone on the fact that they fit the bass properly. They also happen to sound great on that bass.

Other high-end basses are the same way. So no, all factory strings do not suck.

Well duh! You're talking > $3000 basses. They darn sure better come with a better set than the bulk factory strings you get with a $200 Rogue!

 

[corsa]

A couple years ago, I bought an American Deluxe Jazz from Sweetwater. I'm confident that it had never been in the showroom or really touched except to photograph for their gallery. When I unpacked it and plugged it in, I honestly thought something was broken. It sounded terrible. After an hour or so, I was getting ready to call Sweetwater about returning it when I decided to restring it with some Rotosounds I had lying around. Viola! It was a completely different instrument. I later moved to DR Sunbeams and couldn't be happier.

I know this wasn't a Custom Shop or boutique build but I was hoping for a little better from a "Deluxe".

 

[OOD]

They are listed on the site in specs

Thanks, I found them yesterday. The website calls them "Fender USA NPS". I'm not sure why they put that instead of 7250 or Nickel plated steel. I guess we live in a world of acronyms now.

Edit: I just went for another look and apparently my model is the only one that doesn't say "7250M".

 

[MegaSwing]

I take off the original strings and save them until it comes time to sell a bass. Then, guess what?

 

[steelbed45]

For the low, low price of only $4760, you can get a free set of TI flats with the purchase of a Pino Palladino signature bass.

Ha, that's right. Meanwhile, this month's Bass Player has a full-page ad stating that Pino plays Ernie Ball flatwounds. So...to get the full Palladino experience, one would have to switch out the factory strings.

It's all just too much. /towel

 

[JimmyM]

It's not possible to like two different type of strings?

 

[Medicine Man]

There's no point in putting good strings on a new bass, because we're all a bunch of primadonnas who think the brand we play FAR surpasses every other string in the universe. (In a related note, Smith rounds surpass every other string in the universe) how could a manufacturer possibly guess which one you want?

 

[RoadRanger]

A few of mine I've just swapped that "E" for a 105 or 107 as I prefer a more progressive tension set (and most shortscales come with lights or extra lights ). Feel free to have your head explode over my usage of "mismatched" "sets" .

 

[trothwell]

There's no point in putting good strings on a new bass, because we're all a bunch of primadonnas who think the brand we play FAR surpasses every other string in the universe. (In a related note, Smith rounds surpass every other string in the universe) how could a manufacturer possibly guess which one you want?

With the exception of demo models in a store, new basses shouldn't even come with strings. Maybe include a Bass Strings Online coupon instead.