Moving strings from one bass to another?

[OhDee]

Hey Bass community!
I have to change strings on my J, so I thought trying flats since it currently sounds really good with 3 year old completely dead rounds... Now the rust is becoming a bit too much and I feel she wants some new strings.

However I'm not sure if the flats will actually suit her, so I thought - If they don't, can I remove the relatively fresh rounds that are currently on my Pbass, put them on the J and vice versa (put the brand new flats on the P)? Because my P is kindof my second Bass and it will surely be good with flats for what I use it for....

I asked my guitar tech he said "Not recommended whatsoever". But it's hard to know with him cause he's an extremeeee pedantic guitar doctor type dude... So I wanted to see what other people think


Thanks :-D

 

[Nashrakh]

I've done it a few times. Be aware that the process will have the potential of wearing out the string's material in some places, but unless you have sharp spots on your bass anyway, I doubt there'd be much harm in it. This should only become a problem if you do it numerous times. Just once won't do much if anything.

 

[michael_t]

A couple of considerations...

Are the two basses you're talking about the same scale length and the same style of bridge and headstock?
Are they both top-loaded (vs. thru-body)?

If yes to both of the above, it can be done. You just need to be extremely careful not to mess around too much with the coiled ends (ie don't try to straighten them too much) when uninstalling and reinstalling the ones that are being moved.

This is something I avoid doing as much as possible, but have done it a few times in the past with no major issues.

 

[btmpancake]

Can you do your own set-ups properly? According to my luthier(which I see once a year) you can even swap out old strings for new strings in the same make,model, gauge, lengths, tensions and still you may have to re-tweak your set-up. Different string tensions requires adjustments. Going from flats to rounds or vice versa sounds like reset-ups. Again, according to him.

 

[Mktrat]

I've had the same set of flats on three different basses so far.....

With care, it's no big deal.

 

[Steve88]

I have a set of TI flats that have been on 4 different basses at this point. Ive done the same with several sets of rounds, to see what they sound like on multiple basses. Granted they have all been Fenders so the fit is basically identical.

I make sure to not uncoil the tuner ends more then necessary, and so far I haven't had any problems.

 

[hbabels]

Yeah I’ve swapped strings around a bunch. Never any issues , agree just try to not uncoil ends as much as possible.

 

[2saddleslab]

I've done it many times with flats [TI, Fender, etc] and have always been amazed how it doesn't adversely affect the string performance. And that's on string thru bridges which have sharper string angles and requires unwinding string ends when removing & installing.

 

[maple_machine]

Can be done, though it's better to do this with a quick release (aka quick load) bridge, since you don't have to uncoil the entire string to remove it.

 

[Lava]

As long as you have a enough winding left to thoroughly string on the new bass. I've done it a few times with flats with no problem. If your bridge is not top loading, just be careful to guide the string through the holes so as not to fray the winding threads too much.

 

[bassbrad]

ON guitar it is generally not a good idea to move strings from one guitar to another but for bass strings that have a longer lifespan (hopefully) it is a more common practice. I generally move strings down the food chain and have basses that have never had a "new' set of strings always a set of 'hand me downs'.

 

[socialleper]

It isn't recommended, but I have totally done it. You run a small risk of "killing" the a string. If the outer winding comes undone just a little the string becomes a rubber band.

 

[ThudThudThud]

Mid-Teens-Thud almost exclusively used strings donated by a friend. I was poor, he got them through his job as a musician. I'd take his old ones and boil them. Lucky for me he liked a zingy string, so I didn't get any really cruddy ones. We were scale for scale, and similar bridge so I wasn't dealing with odd break angles.
I also got a set of Mark King's strings once. I think he'd used them for a couple of hours. Boiled. Good to go.

 

[Altitude]

I do it all the time. I'd recommend clipping as little of the string as you can, in case there are scale differences across your instruments or differences in tuner arrangement.

 

[Double E]

If the scale, bridge and tuner configuration is a match, you are good to go. Assuming you have a Fender J & Fender P it should be quite a painless swap. Just top load or string-thru the body based on how the STRINGS were originally installed. Rule of thumb is you should always top-load flats as they don't like the sharp angle of most string-thru-body bridges. Rounds can go either way but if you move them from a string-thru bass, it's best they go back on string-thru.

Don't know why it wouldn't be recommended other than it's likely that you may need to tweak the truss rod as a result of differing string tension. If you can do that, you're covered. I have done this where there was no tweaking necessary so it's not always an issue.

Go for it!

 

[lermgalieu]

nbd, go for it. As others have said, if tension or gauge vary alot you might have to do some setup work. One issue I ran into was swapping some Chromes from my P to my Stingray. Due to the configuration of tuning pegs on the SR (E A D are all on one side), the D string from my P was too short since I had cut it to length.

 

[dkelley]

it'll only turn out well if the bass you're moving too is identical or shorter length of all the parts where strings get bends in them (Bridge, nut, tuners, saddles) than the one you're moving strings from.

It'll definitely shorten string life.

 

[eddododo]

Do it all the time

 

[Kukulkan61]

I do it all the time, I play Fender Ps and Js, just be careful with the winding that’s already there, don’t try to straighten them out just lay them on the tuning peg as naturally as they will go, prevents string twist too...

 

[DavC]

done so frequently ... never any issues ,, !??!