Just ordered my first Acoustic Bass!

[ghostjs]

... Of course it's the cheap $150 dean, but im excited!
as my first Acoustic Bass, are there any good tips on maintaining it? would it matter if i used my electric bass guitar strings on it?

I'm supposed to pick it up from my college mail room in a matter of hours so pics are probably soon to come

 

[B String]

Just a quick opinion here.

You can make a cheap ABG play and feel like a top of the line bass with a simple set up. Straighten the neck and maybe lower the nut and bridge a bit.
I much prefer a light gauge nickle roundwound to the thumpy Phosphor Bronze strings usually found on new ABG's. Just make sure its a low tension string, like a DR Sunbeam. I just played the newer Fender Pure Nickle light gauge rounds on a few of the new upper end Takamine ABG's. They felt and sounded great. Good luck.

 

[experimental bassist]

Yeah, the strings can make or break your love of your ABG.

I bought my inexpensive Hondo H1000 4 or 5 years ago, and the cheap phos-bronze strings that came on it, I swear they could double as band saw blades.

I ripped them off immediately and put on a set of Elixir ABG strings. Great typical ABG sound, the twang, and MUCH easier on my fingers. Ran it that way for a few years.

Then just simply got tired of that twang sound (by then I discovered flatwounds and had TI Jazz Flats on my Precision for a couple years), so I wanted to experiment with flatwounds on my ABG.

And that is only where I will disagree with B String regarding string tension, although I understand where (s)he is coming from, lighter tension is indeed less stress on the bridge and a safe bet overall.

But hey, my ABG is cheap, so to heck with being safe, I want volume and tone!

So I prefer the HIGHEST tension I can get away with on my ABG, without damaging the bass of course, because more tension = more volume (usually, IMO, YMMV, etc etc etc).

So I run straight up D'Addario Chromes.

Couldn't be happier!

Deep sounding, and just as loud as the phos-bronzes but a "better loud". No twang, instead it just sounds like...........A BASS!!!

Anway, congrats on the purchase! Looking forward to seing your pics.

Oh, and come on over and join us at the Acoustic Fetish Club!

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/acoustic-bass-fetish-club-part-2-a-665642/