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Seriously, are TI strings really worth the high price?

FJBass82

FJBass82

Feb 5, 2013
310
324
St. Charles County, Mo.
#1
I'm not familiar with TI strings but have read plenty of posts mentioning this brand, but not if they're really worth the expensive price. One site lists them at $143.00 a pack but the sales price is $76.00.

I'm happy enough with my GHS Bass Boomers round wound mediums for $16.00 per pack. Would I REALLY notice a difference with TI round wounds? Enough that I'd be willing to shell out $143 or $76 for a pack???:confused:
 
#4
They're a very unique (and to my ear extremely pleasing) sounding string and they last a long time. If you get say 6 months out of them at [DEL]$46[/DEL] $79 a pack that's around [DEL]$0.25[/DEL] $0.43 a day. Compare that to an $800 amp head that you get ten years out of at around $0.22 a day. Life's way too short to be worrying about what in the big picture amounts literally to nickels and dimes.

And YES you'll notice a MASSIVE difference between the TI's and Boomers. Besides the obvious difference in sound you'd probably have to loosen your truss rod and re-intonate. They're the most flexible metal core string I've played and one of the mellowest sounding rounds. Nothing else I know of really comes close to what these things do.
 
#7
mmbongo said:
$46 a pack at www.bassstringsonline.com and that's before the TB user discount!

Are they worth it? That's up to you.
Click to expand...

So what am I doing wrong? When I go to bassstringsonline the price I see is 79 bucks. How do you get them for 46? That's for the flats. Are you talking about the super alloys? That's all I see for that price. Maybe I'm over looking something though. I'd be happy to be wrong!
Edit: just re-read, I see he/she was looking for rounds. I'm a dummy.
 
#8
Even though it's a Youtube video, at least someone took the time to do it to get a slight idea of string differences:


I just went with Carvin Flatwounds because the store is nearby. While they are "Made for Carvin by LaBella," they're apparently not the true "Deep Talkin'" strings. I wouldn't really know.

Fortunately, being new to flatwounds on a fretless, they seem good enough for me. And definitely better than the factory-strings my bass was shipped with. Although anything would've sounded better.

If I ever break a string, I'll check out something else.
 
#9
Strings and Beyond is the website where I found them.

I have no desire to spend that kind of money, not even $46 before a TB discount, for strings. I'm content with the sound that the Boomers give me, and for a lot more money I don't think it's worth it to change. If I were a professional musician, maybe, but for a basement player, no, I don't think so.

By no means is this a dig on those who do use TI's. If you ARE using TI strings and love 'em, by all means use 'em! Enjoy! I just don't want to spend big bucks on strings.

Lately I've been buying the Boomers at Best Buy, of all places. They're about $4 or $5 cheaper per pack than GC.
 
#12
I don't know of another round wound string like T-I Jazz round wounds. They are unique, having a "silk" inner wrap. They have a very low tension, very fine outer windings and play and sound like nothing else. If that's what you're after, they may be worth the money, for you. They are for me. I put their short scale version on my Hofner.
 
#13
The question of are they worth it is obviously subjective, but I think they are.

I just wish they made them in heavier gauges. If they made TI jazz rounds in 45-105ish gauges, they'd be pretty spectacular.

I wonder how much the silk under the winding really adds to what makes them special.
 
#15
Depends what you are after. If you want creamy sounding, smooth playing, articulated strings and you are used to low tension roundwounds (40's) than probably yes. They are unique.

If you want that full vintage thump, or you are used to stiffer roundwounds, than no. You will find them floppy and thin sounding.
 
#17
If they happen to work for the given bass you are using them on, they're more than worth it and pay for themselves in longevity, feel and tone. TI's and flats in general, are somewhat of a long term investment. That said, some basses just don't like certain strings. I've bought TI's for several basses that they just didn't work out on, but the same goes for most strings.

For the record, TI's are one of the few electric bass guitar strings I know of that you can sell used (if in good shape) for more than half of what you pay for them. I think they are 100% worth trying.

Edit: after using them for over 8 years on assorted basses, I never once had them "die" on me after extended use and the single time (out of probably 5 sets) I had a bad string, they went out of their way to quickly replace it.
 
#19
I use TI Acousticores on my Turner Renaissance bass, expensive but worth it for that particular instrument. Rick gave me a set of the TI Jazz Round Wound strings to try and after trying them on various basses I realized that for electric bass the tension is way too low for the way I like to play. I do like the feel of the windings and the tone of the strings but the light tension really bugs me. The Acousticore strings are also very low tension but I can hang with that when playing the types of music I tend to use my Renaissance bass for.

So for me the price isn't the determining factor if the strings have a sound and feel I like but I must admit that I am reluctant to throw down a lot of cash trying new brands of strings.
 

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