Strings for Pino Fretless - looking for more low end

[JazznFunk]

A little stiffer will be okay, and a little 'bigger' sounds perfect! I won't have the new strings in time for this weekend's free improv session, but that's alright.

I was pleasantly surprised with them. Very 'Sunbeam-like', but with a little extra heft which I feel has made my fretless sing better. I am going to try a set on my 5-string Lakland at some point. It still wears a fairly fresh set of Sunbeams.

 

[RandomKaren]

These days I have Deep Talkin' Flats on everything, either FL or FX.

 

[Ggaa]

After a little more research I'm going to give the Pure Blues a shot. Fatbeams are stainless, and while I have pretty good technique and utilize violin vibrato when I wiggle, I'm going to stick with nickel.

PBs are a little less stiff than Fats.

 

[Sam Dingle]

I use the light pino strings on my fretless and dig them

 

[SunByrne]

I have Pressurewounds on all my fretless basses. Not sure if that qualifies as "similar feel" but I don't care for flats and they feel enough like rounds that I'm happy with them.

 

[WG Plum]

I have Pressurewounds on all my fretless basses. Not sure if that qualifies as "similar feel" but I don't care for flats and they feel enough like rounds that I'm happy with them.

I have a set on my Sabre right now, I think. They're okay, but not exactly what I'm looking for.

 

[JazznFunk]

I have Pressurewounds on all my fretless basses. Not sure if that qualifies as "similar feel" but I don't care for flats and they feel enough like rounds that I'm happy with them.

I played Pressurewounds for a LONG time 20+ years ago. Their tone and general feel/sound kind of dies off quickly compared with DR's. Kind of a 'meh' string in general, but a good choice if you're worried about fingerboard wear I guess.

 

[Snake101st]

+1 to pure blues, they're great!

 

[five7]

Have you tried the Cobalt rounds, worked well on a 5 string jazz for me.

 

[SunByrne]

I played Pressurewounds for a LONG time 20+ years ago. Their tone and general feel/sound kind of dies off quickly compared with DR's. Kind of a 'meh' string in general, but a good choice if you're worried about fingerboard wear I guess.

For me, there's no string that's universally good, and just because a string is good or bad on one bass doesn't mean much when moving to another bass. I agree that Pressurewounds are terrible on some basses. I tried them on a fretted jazz and hated them immediately, just seemed kinda dull and lifeless (<cough>like flats<cough>); "meh" isn't a bad description at all. That bass wears stainless steel rounds now, it wants that bright zing.

But I find other rounds kind of overbearing on fretless—too much zing—so Pressurewounds are my go-to there. (Two of my fretlesses came from the factory with flats, and both times I left them on for as long as I could stand them, but ultimately switched to Pressurewounds.) Might try tapes someday on one of them.

 

[WG Plum]

For me, there's no string that's universally good, and just because a string is good or bad on one bass doesn't mean much when moving to another bass. I agree that Pressurewounds are terrible on some basses. I tried them on a fretted jazz and hated them immediately, just seemed kinda dull and lifeless (<cough>like flats<cough>); "meh" isn't a bad description at all. That bass wears stainless steel rounds now, it wants that bright zing.

But I find other rounds kind of overbearing on fretless—too much zing—so Pressurewounds are my go-to there. (Two of my fretlesses came from the factory with flats, and both times I left them on for as long as I could stand them, but ultimately switched to Pressurewounds.) Might try tapes someday on one of them.

Very true. I hated TI Jazz flats on Jazz basses, and while I haven't tried it yet, I hear they are the bee's knees on P basses. I have a three pack of Pure Blues coming, so I'm going to try them on the Pino, my Sabre, and my P bass. I still need to try TI flats on my P.

 

[JazznFunk]

For me, there's no string that's universally good, and just because a string is good or bad on one bass doesn't mean much when moving to another bass. I agree that Pressurewounds are terrible on some basses. I tried them on a fretted jazz and hated them immediately, just seemed kinda dull and lifeless (<cough>like flats<cough>); "meh" isn't a bad description at all. That bass wears stainless steel rounds now, it wants that bright zing.

But I find other rounds kind of overbearing on fretless—too much zing—so Pressurewounds are my go-to there. (Two of my fretlesses came from the factory with flats, and both times I left them on for as long as I could stand them, but ultimately switched to Pressurewounds.) Might try tapes someday on one of them.

Yep... I played Pressurewounds on my fretless basses for a long time. They served a purpose to prevent fret wear, but I always felt their tone - even new - was pretty anemic. I've seen the same amount of wear on my fretless basses using nickel rounds as I did using Pressurewounds, and the tone is far better, with generally longer string life and more consistent tone over the string's lifetime. Pressurewounds always sounded like broken-in rounds from the get-go for me.... which kind of defeated the purpose of putting new ones on. YMMV.

 

[Twice19]

Sadowsky Blue Label have good low end, are medium low tension and sound great overall. Also the

idk. it's a signature bass. I'd just use the strings it's designed with.

 

[Swamp_Ronin]

@JazznFunk im a Dr sunbeam/pure blues fan, big time, especially on a SR. I have those labella white gold tapes on my fretless. I like them pretty good, but I’m thinking about putting DRs back on

 

[WG Plum]

The Pure Blues sound great, though they're definitely stiffer than the stock custom Slinkys. That will take some getting used to and I may need to lower the action a little.

 

[MrAB4003]

The first strings I thought of are the La Bella 1954 Originals. He played these tuned to D Standard starting with D'Angelo's "Voodoo" album. But you can get them in a thinner gauge for standard tuning.

 

[BoulderBassist]

I dig the stock rounds on my Pino fretless Stingray, but I'd like to find a string with a similar feel but with more low end. Any suggestions?

Stockers are custom gauge EB Slinkys for reference.

Thanks!

Just switched out all of my basses to Thomastik Infelds after decades of rounds. Love them even on my 77 Ric 4001.

 

[WG Plum]

I'm finding the .105 Pure Blues a little stiffer than I prefer. Might try the Victor Wooten signature set.

Then again, I have been meaning to try a set of TIs again.... hated them on my Jazz basses, but they might work on the MM.

 

[Lo-E]

For years I had my fretless ‘ray strung with Ken Smith Compressors (same strings as GHS Pressure Wound) and I liked the tone very much but I eventually found that I didn’t like the stiffness so much.

For the last couple of years I’ve used Sunbeams instead and I think they sound great.

 

[WG Plum]

Well, learned something. I put a set of Roto 66s on my P bass. Turns out I really like steel rounds on that bass.

Wootens and TIJFs arrive tomorrow. Will try the Wootens on the Pino first as they’re significantly less expensive.

Oh…. are TIJFs okay for string-through-body?