Strings - new or old?

It depends on what type of new strings you buy. Stainless steel round wounds always sound too bright to me when they are new and sort of "scratchy".

I prefer nickel strings for this reason, which mellow out after a few days, but still retain growl and good definition on harmonics.

But if you really want a warmer softer sound over definition, then you should probably be looking at flatwounds or tapewounds. Personally, I like to use round wounds for versatility - so you can slap/pop and play artificial harmonics easily.

But it all depends on what you want to do and what sort of music you are playing - there are the "classic" stories about how people like James Jamerson and Bernard Edwards never changed their strings at all and the former particularly liked them better the older they were. Edwards play a MM Stingray as well and there is a famous interview where he was asked what strings he used and replied something like "what strings do MMs come with?"

 

Try Chromes.

 

Sure, if after 16 years he still plays bass.

 

Just curious... is this maybe a Zombie Thread record? And, I'm sure he must need new strings by now...

 

Shut Up Bevis