In Praise Of Old Strings

[okabass]

Labella DTF 760FL

Thank you. Must try sometime. I have used and liked La Bella "Jamerson", Thomastik 344 and 7ender 9050. Jamerson set are quite stiff, so FL may be nicer.
Is the sound as thick as Jamerson-set?

 

[Fender_Bender]

I would encourage people to quickly rinse (2-3 seconds) their hands in water, followed by immediate drying, before starting a session. This gets a lot of sweat and grime off you hands without absorbing water and getting sticky. This actually helps a little at this time of year with stickiness. My newest set of strings are probably 4-5 years old. My Thomastik flats 10 years old. Like many, I dislike the metallic zing of new strings and prefer the sound of broken in rounds.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Just installed a fresh pack of Labella 760FL flats on my JB.
Now I’ve to wait for their settling.
My choice for flats has been find a while ago; from there on I’ve spent money in searching for the best tone and I found it in the Labella strings, which I’m now gradually installing on all my basses.

 

[dpaul]

In my book, Denatured Alcohol is a bass players’s best friend. After my roundwound strings loss their tone, I will take them off the bass, wrap them up just as they came in the packaging, and drop them in a shallow container of denatured alcohol for at least 24 hours. Afterwards, I take them out, wipe them down with a clean rag, and restring the bass. They sound 98% new again. I will get maybe 2 soaks out of a pair of strings. Great way to stretch your dollar. I’ve been doing it for years

 

[basslicks]

I don't care what supposed experts or "recording engineers" say, I just prefer the sound of well worn in rounds. There does come a point where I change them but for me a set of Rotos lasts about 3 years before I swap them for new. For me, Rotos lose that zing really fast (a good thing imo) and sit at that "60% dead" sound forever, which I love.

 

[SirMjac28]

I don't change strings unless they break I also don't change the wiring in my basses for the same reason.

 

[Sam Dingle]

When strings die they effect my ability to play confidently and easily so I change them at least every 6 months and don’t think about it

 

[Ewo]

I like roundwounds broken in (clang begone) but still having good upper harmonics. I use the alcohol soak tube method to bring them back to life. It's good for three passes out of a set: new, soaked once, soaked a second time.

The Bass String Cleaning Tube | StudyBass

 

[TFunkadelic]

I've been playing bass for over four decades and have conservatively spent thousands of dollars on new sets of bass strings. Most strings were purchased when I traveled and played bass full time. These days, I play a few jobs every month and try to practice every day.
Although I love the sound and feel of a great set of brand new round wound strings, (I can't stand flatwounds), it's hard to justify the expense. Especially since I perform on five, and sometimes six string basses. It has also begun to strike me as environmentally wasteful to change strings very often.
Consequently, I leave strings on as long as I can get by with it. I've tried boiling strings a few times to revive them but for me, boiled strings are weird, uneven, and unpredictable. I've learned to compensate for normal, gradual string decay with tone controls, various effects, right-hand technique, playing styles, setup, and sometimes my note choices. It actually provides another interesting challenge and level of enjoyment for me. To top it off, I often receive compliments on my tone from bandmates and people in the audience.
Eventually, I treat myself and order a couple new sets starting the whole process over again.
I'm interested to hear other players views on the subject.

Old strings start to go out of tune at different frets over time, thats when its time to change for me.

 

[Engle]

I've been playing bass for over four decades and have conservatively spent thousands of dollars on new sets of bass strings. Most strings were purchased when I traveled and played bass full time. These days, I play a few jobs every month and try to practice every day.
Although I love the sound and feel of a great set of brand new round wound strings, (I can't stand flatwounds), it's hard to justify the expense. Especially since I perform on five, and sometimes six string basses. It has also begun to strike me as environmentally wasteful to change strings very often.
Consequently, I leave strings on as long as I can get by with it. I've tried boiling strings a few times to revive them but for me, boiled strings are weird, uneven, and unpredictable. I've learned to compensate for normal, gradual string decay with tone controls, various effects, right-hand technique, playing styles, setup, and sometimes my note choices. It actually provides another interesting challenge and level of enjoyment for me. To top it off, I often receive compliments on my tone from bandmates and people in the audience.
Eventually, I treat myself and order a couple new sets starting the whole process over again.
I'm interested to hear other players views on the subject.

Boiling affects the metal in a bad way (and it’s gross!).
Get a piece of 2” ABS pipe, glue a cap on one end, fill with Methyl Hydrate (Methyl alcohol) and soak the strings in it for a few hours. Let them fully dry. They will come out clean and zingy.

 

[Stewie]

Both of my fretless Fenders have new GHS Precision flats. One because it came in a trade with (yuck) round wounds, and the other because when I changed the neck from my old Jazz to my new(er) P body, the G string went pop. They should be good in 6 months or so. The one that popped was from about 1990.
My tone is basically thump.

 

[BOOG]

My first few years of playing, I did A LOT of experimentation with different strings on different instruments. Yeah, it was a little pricey but, what it taught my ears was priceless.
Long story short, I now know what strings I like to pair with which types of pickups to achieve the tone/feel I’m after.
The other thing I learned is that I DO NOT like any strings that are new. In fact, broken-in and aged works best for me. Also, it gives more predictability with relief adjustments for seasonal temperature/humidity changes.
Unless something breaks (knock-knock-knock on wood) or frays, Im not changing them.

 

[BlueTalon]

New roundwound strings have a zing to them. When they lose that zing, it's time to replace them -- or live with the reduced zing for a while before replacing them.

Part of how you can know how worn roundwound strings are is to look at the underside of them, the part that contacts the frets. There will be wear marks that directly correspond to how much life there is left in the strings. Boiling does nothing except clean the strings, and there are other ways of doing that.

 

[Neil Pye]

Well, it depends. In all the session work I've done in LA, for the most part no producer wants to hear new string "zing" or clank. They all preferred broken in flats or rounds. Obviously it all depends on the genre/style of music. Of course, the bass has to be set up and intonated properly before a session even with those old strings you've had on forever. Some folks forget to do that!

I'm not suggesting putting on new strings in the studio lounge before a session! Maybe the week before would be ideal! I also think - from experience - that old strings are harder to intonate consistently, and can also sound uneven, but you do you, as they say! Just my opinion. I hate dead strings on my basses.

 

[Selim]

I think the middle period of a set of strings -- the period in between spanky/zingy new (short) and all the way dead (done) -- is the period where most of us live.

 

[slam dunk]

I massively prefer the tone of old, broken in strings, both with flats and rounds. Sadly there's always a point where strings become truly useless due to mechanical wear that will cause buzzing and/or intonation issues. Most strings will last YEARS (and in some cases even decades) before this happens though.

Brand new strings? Even old school flats and pure nickel roundwounds are too metallic sounding out of the box for my taste. I can't strand that metallic new string "clank". I like to dig in hard close to the neck (typically on a passive P) and with brand new strings it just gets too clanky. I play bass, not cutlery.

Not all strings age gracefully though. Some just go dead in a bad way. After years of trial and failure I've found my own personaly favourites and the number one criteria is that they must get BETTER with age (for MY taste of course). Most flats do but with roundwounds the results can vary a lot.

You make excellent points. I’ve experienced much different aging results from various strings also.

 

[slam dunk]

In my book, Denatured Alcohol is a bass players’s best friend. After my roundwound strings loss their tone, I will take them off the bass, wrap them up just as they came in the packaging, and drop them in a shallow container of denatured alcohol for at least 24 hours. Afterwards, I take them out, wipe them down with a clean rag, and restring the bass. They sound 98% new again. I will get maybe 2 soaks out of a pair of strings. Great way to stretch your dollar. I’ve been doing it for years

I’m definitely going to try this. Thanks for the tip.

 

[pbass2]

Thank you. Must try sometime. I have used and liked La Bella "Jamerson", Thomastik 344 and 7ender 9050. Jamerson set are quite stiff, so FL may be nicer.
Is the sound as thick as Jamerson-set?

I currently use the FS set. I like the 45-105 gauge. I have used the Jamersons (too heavy/stiff for me for the long term) and also the FM (still fairly stiff though I'm OK with them). To me they all sound like Labellas and deliver that classic sound.

 

[seanm]

I have a MIJ '62 reissue P bass with Labella 760FLs on it. Yes, of course, it is sunburst with tort... did you have to ask

I bought the strings in 2004. They haven't gotten much love in the last 12 years since I mainly used my MIM P bass in the rock band with either chromes or Dunlap flats on it.

But "post" pandemic I am playing in an unplugged band and am really enjoying the 760FLs again. They just have that thump that I love. To me, this is the sound of a bass.

I can tune them on Monday and on Friday they are still in tune. Doesn't work for gigs since the tuners seem to get bonked in the gig bag.

 

[ElectricBass72]

Unless the strings are flats... I despise old strings.