Suggestions for Black Coated Strings

[Guilherme Goula]

Hi All,

me please!

I am a long time DR Black Beauties user. I play a Fender Geddy Lee and I am all about "da lookz" of the "black on black", besides enjoying the extended life of the strings. However, since I've moved to Chile (I'm a Brazilian, by the way...) 3 out of 5 packages contained dead strings.



So I am searching for another brand of black coated strings, similar in duration and tone to the DR’s, but hopefully, more reliable.

I will probably be ordering the strings from the US, so I shouldn’t have any problem in getting the brands that you recommend. And yet I would definitely love to try them all, given the shipping time (can take more than 40 days!) I better find “my strings” with 1 or 2 attempts.

Hope to hear from you!
Obrigado/Gracias.

 

[Pacman]

DR will replace dead strings. Contact them, I'd recommend.

 

[mmbongo]

Sounds like you need to buy them from another dealer, having dead strings out of the package is definitely not normal for DR. Did you get K3 strings?

 

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Rounds?

Rotosound nexus are black

And also are these k3 strings or older version which are years old by now. Shouldn't have this problem with Dr. also possible strings not cut properly and windings came away from the core.

 

[fuzzy beard]

Rotosound trubass strings.

 

[Guilherme Goula]

First of all, thank you so much for all the answers.

I have a personal habit of never contacting the companies. While I am aware that it is definitely not a good "behavior", living in South America really make things harder.

We’re not used to good customer service here. When you add that to the large shipping times…
IME, of course.

Back to the topic, now that you have said, I really noticed that I was only having problems with the older line. The only package of the k3 that I owned had perfect strings.

I guess I could try another set or two of the K3 ... The DR's have served me well for a long time, and it was a huge dissapoitment

Nevertheless, these Rotosounds really caught my attention. Are they bright or mellow, considering the type of strings we’re talking about? Maybe I could also order one of those sometime...

Again, thank you to all for the advices. If you are ever coming to Chile, drop me a PM and I will happily show you some of the awesome places they have down here…

 

[iCONICA]

I don't want to hijack the OP's tread, but what are "dead" strings?

 

[Rob22315]

That many bad strings sounds like bad installation technique. Crimp or bend the strings before you cut them. There was a big warning about this on the sleeve of the last set of DR BBs I bought.

 

[Guilherme Goula]

@Rob22315

That was my first thought also, especially because the first time it happened, the problem was with the E string, where I have a Hipshot D-Tuner. But the second and the third time it happened, and with different strings, I gave up on that idea...
Of course I may have fu**ed up while installing...


But as I am quite used to the installation process, I find it more possible to be the "old string" problem pointed above.

@iCONICA,

Somebody else will be able to give a more scientific explanation, but basically a dead string is a string that loses its natural bright, sounding "dead".
That's why we talk on "life length" for guitar/bass strings, with coated strings supposed to keep its sound for a little more time than its non-coated counterparts.

While this is expected to happen after some playing time, it is completely unusual (or at least should be) finding dead strings out of a brand new package.
I think there was a thread here not long ago, about a holdie for some big act (Geddy Lee, if I’m not mistaken) commenting on how common it was for him to find dead strings on the packs...

 

[Rob22315]

@Rob22315

That was my first thought also, especially because the first time it happened, the problem was with the E string, where I have a Hipshot D-Tuner. But the second and the third time it happened, and with different strings, I gave up on that idea...
Of course I may have fu**ed up while installing...


But as I am quite used to the installation process, I find it more possible to be the "old string" problem . . .

I only know what you've posted so your install may be fine (no details provided) but having it happen on differently located strings doesn't isolate anything to the strings or the install. Do you cut them first or crimp/bend first? Bending then cutting will keep the tension in the windings. Cutting first may allow the windings to 'unwind' a little bit making the strings sound dull. I don't remember if BBs are round core or hex core. Round core are more susceptible.

 

[darkstorm]

Dr is the only mfg that Ive had dead in the box strings in more then 20 yrs. That was with the neon bass strings. Id try the rotosound nexus.

 

[mmbongo]

Dr is the only mfg that Ive had dead in the box strings in more then 20 yrs. That was with the neon bass strings. Id try the rotosound nexus.

Proper installation is the key.