Poll: How many different brands/styles of strings do you use?

[sotua]

Flats are now and forever TI flats. The search for the perfect flat has finished.

For rounds I was pretty happy with sunbeams, but the lack of the gauges I was looking for in 5 strings for my recently acquired fiver has led me down the rabbit hole again. Currently auditioning Ernie Balls, and have some Daddario XL nickels in the pipeline as well.

 

[Danny O Danny]

La Bella Low Tension Flats on my fretted basses.
GHS Pressurewounds on my fretless basses.

 

[JangoMike]

Normally just 1, but since the specific type from said brand I exclusively use are not being made i have been bouncing between different brands unsuccessfully trying to find a suitable substitute

 

[Giff]

Gauge is always 45-130 and rounds for me. I have been using D’Addario NYXL on my Grosbeak and Warmoth Gecko, but I put Ernie Ball Slinky on my L2500 when I first got it back from my friend - simply to try them. They are ok, but I will likely put NYXL on it when it’s time to change.

 

[Jay2U]

A few years ago I used Dunlop Nickels on my G&L. All of a sudden the newly acquired sets appeared to have lost some of their elasticity, so I now use D'addario light gauge strings instead.

 

[brianrost]

I've bought most of my basses used, so whatever strings were on were my starting point. I only replace them if they are already dead.

My Steinberger needs double ball strings, so that limits my choices. I had been using GHS rounds but they stopped making them. I have at least one unopened set left. Who knows what I will get when it's time for a new set. My NS Radius still wears the same as the factory set, D'addario EXL-something or other.

Flats stay on until they are too dead. Right now using Ernie Ball "Series" strings on my Ps and Thomastik Jazz Flats that came with my J5. My Silvertone has some kind of D'Addario strings that I bought 45 years ago so they have probably stopped making them by now

For my DB I keep changing brands it seems. I find strings that I like then something happens with QC and I get a defective set of strings that cost me $200 or more. I've been burned by sets of $300 strings that kept breaking, I tend that take that personally As you can guess, at those prices they don't get changed often...

Currently it's D'addario Helicore steel strings on my Juzek and Superior Bass Works "weed whacker" nylon strings on my no-name German. The SBW strings are very gut like in tone and feel. They only cost $70 so it's a cheap experiment, at least as DB strings go. They are still on probation, the next few gigs will decide if I keep them. If they don't work out, I expect to try D'addario Zyex next.

I doubt I will ever use true gut again, most guts go for $500-800 a set (that's not a typo).

 

[KevInDaBassment]

String swapping can get awful pricey, awful fast...

DRs for my rounds and GHS for my flats, hasn't failed me yet

 

[Sam Dingle]

I thought I was consistent when reading the title. I thought Yeah, DR rounds and Labella flats but thats not true:

66 p bass: Ernie Ball Slinky 45-105
63 reissue p bass: Labella Flat 43-104
58 Custom Shop: DR Pure Blues 45-105
58 AVRI: DR Pure Blues 45-105
09 Fender USA Jazz: Slinky 65-125
68 Guild Starfire: Thomastik Flatwounds
'70 Orlando: Daddario Tapewounds

 

[Manticore]

I can make round wound strings sound like flats, but can't make flats sound like round wounds, so every bass gets rounds. I change my strings often when gigging regularly. As such, I buy strings online by the case, or several cases at a time. Each of my basses seem to like the strings I fit them with, so none of my basses ever argue with my choice pf string. (Seriously: one needs to let the bass know whose in charge.)

 

[Medbo_BassBoy]

I want a different sound from each bass so I seek the best string match to get that sound. That being said, all of my basses are currently wearing roto66.

 

[May Cassidy]

I'd probably be best described as a Rotosound fangirl, but I tend to prefer LaBella flatwounds over Rotosound's RS77 set, the Rotos have a cool sound but the string tension and feel is just a little off for me.

 

[newwavefrank]

There isn't an option in the poll for me. It is somewhere between All the same and every bass different. All my fretted basses except the Dingwall use La bella Super Steps. Dingwall gets Kalium for the custom gauges and lengths. Fretless get nickel

 

[SoulReflection]

I had a recent conversation with a well-known bass builder. We were discussing strings. I asked him if his brand of strings were perfect for his basses. His response surprised me... "Not really. The bass chooses the string."

Hmmm... that response was a little more hippie than I expected... lol.

I've typically used the same strings on all my basses because I like the consistency of feel. However, in recent years I'm using NYXL nickels on my Lull, Sandberg steels on my Sandberg and Pure Blues on my Bluesman Vintage jazz. It wasn't necessarily intentional. It just sort of happened since, with the exception of the Lull, those are the strings that came with each bass and I liked them. So now I have 3 brands of strings on 3 basses.

Do you use the same brand on all your basses? Or does each bass 'choose' the string? lol

I choose the strings, which happens to be LB Flats. If my bass doesn't like it, it goes back. I dislike temperamental basses and their manufacturers .

 

[Koog]

For fretted basses, I use D'Addario Chromes. For fretless, I use D'Addario black tapewounds.

 

[Dominic D]

At the moment I’m mostly using Elixir NPS rounds and La Bella Flats on my most used basses. The few exceptions are:

-Hofner Verythin: La Bella Black Tapes
-Danelectro Longhorn: Slinky Bass VI strings (using 90-42 strings from set)
-Cheap Chinese P-bass (Davison?): Chromes
-Samick Corsair 25” scale p-bass: Ibanez Mikro 5-string set (using B-D strings tuned up to E-G)

 

[eriky4003]

Agree with Bass Builder's conclusion. In my case, 5 basses - 3 different sets of strings.

 

[Diminishedfilth]

4 basses with rounds, all around...

EB nickels on my Warwick fretless

DR Sunbeams on my Fender Jazz 5

D'Addario Nickel XL on my Precision

And whatever came on my Squier CV Precision.

The only brand I'd ever been loyal to was D'Addario. That was 10 years ago, and only because I could get them for near-cost through the company I worked for at the time.

 

[Isaac_James]

I've got three basses. One (Fender P bass) wears flats, another (Ibanez SR800) wears roundwounds, and the third (Yamaha BB735A, my #1 at the moment) uses pressurewound strings.

 

[woodyng2]

I have certain strings I like to use, but if a particular set doesn’t gel for me on a given bass, I will try something completely different. My faves are Kalium BT hybrid metal roundwounds, DR Pure Blues, Labella Copper White Tapewounds, Labella low tension flexible flats, and GHS Pressurewounds. A lot of times i just swap strings to hear and feel how a bass is with something different.

 

[GIBrat51]

I had a recent conversation with a well-known bass builder. We were discussing strings. I asked him if his brand of strings were perfect for his basses. His response surprised me... "Not really. The bass chooses the string."

Hmmm... that response was a little more hippie than I expected... lol.

I've typically used the same strings on all my basses because I like the consistency of feel. However, in recent years I'm using NYXL nickels on my Lull, Sandberg steels on my Sandberg and Pure Blues on my Bluesman Vintage jazz. It wasn't necessarily intentional. It just sort of happened since, with the exception of the Lull, those are the strings that came with each bass and I liked them. So now I have 3 brands of strings on 3 basses.

Do you use the same brand on all your basses? Or does each bass 'choose' the string? lol

Yeah; IME (50+ year's worth), the bass does choose the string. In fact, IME the instrument - regardless of type - chooses the string. Insofar as they work for what you want from that particular bass, guitar, or whatever. So, no, I don't have the same strings on all 23 of my basses - or guitars. I do have the same brand (Dogal) of strings on my 3 guitars, but one wears their "Jalapeno Hot" rounds, and the other 2 wear "Carbonsteel" flats in different gauges... The one banjo, obviously wears what it wears; John Hersey Long Scale Phosphor Bronze strings (it's a long scale '63 Type 3 ODE). Mainly because, AFAIK, nobody else makes long scale banjo strings... As for the basses? One wears "short scale" TI Jazz Rounds (pretty much out of necessity - although they do sound... adequately decent... on that bass. One - my Rogue VB-100 violin bass - wears medium scale Roto TruBass88 Tapes. Both for the sound, and for their ease of tuning/intonating on that bass; which can be a nightmare for this type of bass. All the other basses wear flats. All but a couple of them (the newest ones) don't have the flats they'll wear permanently - yet. But, the ones that do?
- La Bella DTFs, in various scales and gauges;
- Optimas, both the RB's and the "Chromes";
- Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats (long scale);
- Dogal, both "Jaco" Carbonsteels and R44s (long scale);
- GHS Precision Flats, long and short scale;
- Galli Jazz Flats (long scale);
- Fender 9050L's (long scale); and
- DR Legends (short scale).
In addition, I've used Roto RS77LDs - and liked them. I sold one bass ('18 Gibson T-Bird) that wore them, and replaced the ones on my '78 P-Bass with GHS Precision Flats for the more "vintage tone" they had on that bass. I've also used a rather old, well broken-in set of D'Addario Chromes on my G&L ASAT Bass. IMO, they were... adequate; but, when they died? I put a set of Fender 9050L's on it, which IMO sounded much better on that bass. So...
Yeah; IME the bass pretty much does choose the strings. In my case, I like the feel and tone of flats in general, and I've found that flats are different enough one from another, that there's almost always one brand/gauge that will give me exactly the sound I want from a particular bass...