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Please recommend old roundwound strings for 60s type P-Bass?
- Thread starter Ralferator
- Start date
Well, not much beyond the looks IMO. Woods, electronics, neck profiles... almost everything is different. As I said, decent instruments, but to compare them to vintage Fenders is stretching it way too far. If you want to get a touch closer, you should at least install some proper VR pickups, like CS 62 Vintage, but these cost about 30 % of the price of the whole bass.
I never said that it has to sound like an original 60s p bass. I am talking about 60s style p basses. A little more mellow than 70s style - that's all.
In fact the Classic Vibe pickups are not THAT much different fom the CS62:
But I am thinking about swapping them for CS62, Lollars or Geezer Butler. Just not sure if it's worth it
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By changing the pickup, pots and cap, tuners and bridge and giving it a thorough setup, you can get quite a nice instrument actually. One that can give any MIM Fender a run for its money.
Is it worth it? Yes, in terms of sound and playing experience. In terms of resale value-no.
Is it worth it? Yes, in terms of sound and playing experience. In terms of resale value-no.
Worth to try. Most of us spend money on pickups and bass string to experience and find the tone we looking for . Even effect/preamp pedal and different bass amp/cab.
No body can give you the answer what the tone in your head.
YouTube compare just a recording sound for reference. In Real world , you can notable hear the difference between two bass when play through the bass rig.
I agree. Although they sound similar, the moment you place them in a mix context the differences become obvious. I even did some spectrum analysis of sound samples I recorded, and could see a big difference in harmonic content and structure.
If two metals of dissimilar hardness are pressed together repeatedly, the softer of the two will encounter more wear than the harder of the two. Metallurgy 101, physics 101, common sense 101.
Stainless wound strings will wear nickel alloy frets more than nickel wound strings will wear nickel alloy frets. Playing style, bass setup, frequency of playing, etc. all affect how much wear.
Stainless frets will wear less than nickel alloy frets under stainless wound strings, but many luthiers aren’t too fond of working with stainless frets because they wear out luthier tools much faster than nickel alloy frets….
Stainless wound strings will wear nickel alloy frets more than nickel wound strings will wear nickel alloy frets. Playing style, bass setup, frequency of playing, etc. all affect how much wear.
Stainless frets will wear less than nickel alloy frets under stainless wound strings, but many luthiers aren’t too fond of working with stainless frets because they wear out luthier tools much faster than nickel alloy frets….
Bummer, now I don't even want to try them out.
I gave the NPS a shot and they came off after a couple of days, not a fan.
I bought these out of curiosity as I'm a fan of DR strings and have been using them almost exclusively for years and thought, what the hell, I'll give them a shot.
Good thing they were cheap.
Agreed; that's a very good point!
But I didn't call them "BEST ROUNDWOUNDS EVER" - only the "BEST FEELING ROUNDWOUNDS EVER". They are orders of magnitude smoother than any other roundwound currently on the market!
And for me the personally, the light gauges played with a light touch - makes for the heaviest sounds. I actually wish they made an 'extra-light' version....
Dude… seriously?? Step away from TB and Go talk to your friends and family more.
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By all means try them!!! You might love them even if I hated them. The stiffness was the dealbreaker for me and my playing style (fingerstyle, typically between pickup and fretboard to bring out my idea of a lively/fat/organic tone). If you prefer plucking the strings closer to the bridge for a slimmer tone and less "bouncy" dynamics or if you use a pick (which I rarely do) or slap (which I never do) or if you generally like a more mid-focused tone (some would say more growl, I would say more nasal sounding...
)... maybe you will like them more than I did. But the stiffness (particularly the G-string) was something I've never seen except with heavy gauge "old school" flats. The stiffness is absolutely insane for a 45-105 set of roundwounds.If you DO try them (and I really hope you will) I would love to hear your opinion. It's always interesting to hear other's opinions and ESPECIALLY with stuff I find utterly useless myself. Like, is it just me or are these strings really THAT bad?
BTW, I don't dislike the Fender NPS 7250s nearly as much. To me the 7250s are perfectly fine strings, very middle of the road roundwounds. They're not terribly exciting and they don't inspire me as much as some other strings but I could easily use them for pretty much anything. Not so with the 7150 pure nickels. These fall into a VERY small list of strings I personally wouldn't use for ANYTHING.
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Yeah, they are definitely "close enough". The P-basses sound like P-basses and the J-basses sound like J-basses. Whether the CV60s sound like 60s P-basses or the CV70s sound like 70s P-basses is a completely different matter. Especially because actual 60s vintage Fender basses can be all over the place tonally.
BTW, I'm surprised at how light poplar is. Every poplar body instrument I've played has been extremely heavy so I just assumed it would be harder but I never bothered looking it up. Interesting! It's a bit unusual to see such a low janka hardness rating for such a heavy wood. I'm trying out some new woods for bodies/necks at the moment and poplar has been on my list for bodies as I can get it really cheap. Looks like it could be really easy to work with.
It's generally true, as a first approximation. It's when you dig a bit deeper, that you realize how different they can be in terms of harmonic content, sustain, tone definition... All these things that make you sound good in a mix.
You don't even have to compare them against vintage Fenders, just pick any MIA instrument.
Since actual 60s vintage P Basses can be all over the place tonally it should be even easier to get close to them soundwise. I still believe that older wood sounds better though, so it might be a new Classic Vibe P Bass might sound more like the P Basses sounded back then and will sound more like they sound now when it had time to age.
I guess that poplar also is all over the place weight wise then. Might be even different kinds of poplar.
I can surely say that I digged deeper when it's about P Basses. I had about 70-80 different P Basses over time (I bought and sold them to finance University) and I have to say that I always liked older ones better, especially 80s P Basses made in Japan from Greco, Tokai, Fernandes, Aria Pro II or Squier JV or the Fender E-Series (had 2 of those too). They seem to have more character and mojo. On the other hand I played two great Road Worn P Basses that clearly didn't have old wood and sounded great too. In fact one of them was just good (but much too fat neck for my liking), the other one was awesome (surprisingly much slimmer neck)!
I didn't swap pickups much in the past so I can't really say how much of it was the pickups. But I also played 2-3 Classic Vibe Precision Basses that where almost as good as those old ones and might be even better if they age a bit. Maybe they just need to get played for some years. I do like American Standards too (never played American Pros) even though I don't think all of the ones I played were better than the Classic Vibes I played. But nothing came close to one very light Sen-Ash, Maple Fingerboard Greco, that I should not have sold. That one sounded just awesome - it had very bright sounding pickups with bigger polepieces that might have been part of the sound. Also a Road Worn Precision Bass Mexico that I also shouldn't have sold, that was very different from the Greco, but just as awesome.
Each of those bases felt and sounded different - and it's all a matter of taste at the end. I loved most of them and it was hard to let them go. But I have to say: You can buy a cheap SX P Bass, mod it a bit and get a great P Bass. I think the more you play it, the better it gets. And a good player will make any P Bass sound great!
To show you that it's possible to sound great with a cheap bass, here a great example. It's Jazz Basses, not P Basses, but you get the idea. In a mix, you wouldn't be able to tell which is which. Change pickups on the Squier and they are even closer
Also listen to Michael Schmitt playing a Squier. He is an awesome player and loves his Classic Vibe 60s P bass. If it's good enough for him, it should be good enough for me
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+1 on the GHS Balanced Nickels. In addition to all the other attributes, after they seat in they acquire some of that organic woodiness that absolutely makes P-bass tone.
I’m one of those Only New Rotos guys.
The few sets I went through definitely had one or two strings turned to fast-decaying thudders at ~40 hours of play-time. Their fresh sound was a super interesting woody bark that I haven’t heard in any other string. That was almost a decade ago now.
I wonder how my now flatwounds-favoring ears would think they are after all four strings make the transition.
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Absolutely, I agree 100% but it can be rather subtle differences. Changing the strings to a completely different type will change the tone&dynamics of the instrument a LOT more than the difference between a vintage Fender 1960s bass (or any MIA) and a brand new Squier CV60.
I understand. In the mid-2000's I played Roto Swingbass in custom gauges 45-60-80-105 on my custom fanned fret P-style bass. A Different Custom P-style Bass | TalkBass.com I played the last Lawrence Welk Special, Precious Memories, with these strings The Lawrence Welk Show - Precious Memories - 03-2005 (youtube.com). In rehearsals, the E strings were dying. I could hardly get through an all-day rehearsal without them going thunk. I contacted the Rotosound rep, who said they were aware and were re-formulating the windings. He sent me a half-dozen to get me through the show. They were better. They recorded very well, indeed. After that show, I wanted a little softer feel, so I changed to GHS SuperSteels in 44-98.
But in the end it is all in the fingers, whatever strings are on the bass. When I was playing the Rotos, on one occasion I played with a blues band at a festival. Afterwards, one guy came up to me and asked what flats I was playing, because I was getting such a big tone. He was amazed that I was playing the Rotos.
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