I love my DRs! Every bass I have has had K3's on them at one time or another. No action adjustments neccesary....my friends say I have no action, most of my basses will hold a business card or two without any issues.
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These Black Beuties are nice but.....
- Thread starter Reigninblood
- Start date
The only thing I don't like about the Black Beauties is that they feel sticky. Does this go away or is the nature of the beast?
- Dec 12, 2007
- 2,268
- 43
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Zon Guitars, Tsunami Cables, DR Strings, GK
I like Black Beauties on my fretless because they are slinky feeling and the coating reduces some of the finger noise. I've never really cared for them on a fretted bass.
Yeah after a couple hours of playing that tacky feel goes away and they become really smooth. Just use extra caution when you first put em on, my E came unraveled as I was tuning it. Coulda been me, coulda been a mfg defect, not sure.
I've been using BBs for the past few years. They came on a bass I had taken on a trade and I loved them. Still have the tone of steels but the coating takes some of the zing off and they feel better on the fingers and frets. They coating seems to help them last much longer. The new K3 is much better. I've had them on all my basses - med for my standard basses and heavy gauge for my drop tuned bass.
Ed Friedland did a great review on all DR strings a while back. He had very good things to say about the BBs. I have to agree with his comments.
Only complaint is that they are at the top end of the price scale....
Ed Friedland did a great review on all DR strings a while back. He had very good things to say about the BBs. I have to agree with his comments.
Only complaint is that they are at the top end of the price scale....
I have them on a couple of my basses and I really liked them... the only real down sides are...
-after using them for some time, I wore the coating off with my right hand, where I pluk the strings... they still sound the same, but now have shinny spots where the metal is showing under the coating... I am not a pick player.
-they can get very "hot" quickly if you are doing any kind of slides up or down the neck... friction can get troublesome...
Fishheadjoe
-after using them for some time, I wore the coating off with my right hand, where I pluk the strings... they still sound the same, but now have shinny spots where the metal is showing under the coating... I am not a pick player.
-they can get very "hot" quickly if you are doing any kind of slides up or down the neck... friction can get troublesome...
Fishheadjoe
I just put a set of Black Beauty light gauge on my p bass special to check them out.
My observations... lights are definately light. Not nessesarily a bad thing.
They do start out somewhat tacky... this seems to go away after you play for some time.
Someone described them as having a dark tone. I would agree. They are not so 'metallic' as non-coated strings. I think the tone goes nicely with my maple fretboard.
Slides do produce more resistance or friction than my previous non-coated strings.
Finally, they are black and look cool on a maple fretboard with a shiny black bass body. I suppose that is probably the main reason for trying these over dragon skins or neons.
All in all, I think I like these strings...
My observations... lights are definately light. Not nessesarily a bad thing.
They do start out somewhat tacky... this seems to go away after you play for some time.
Someone described them as having a dark tone. I would agree. They are not so 'metallic' as non-coated strings. I think the tone goes nicely with my maple fretboard.
Slides do produce more resistance or friction than my previous non-coated strings.
Finally, they are black and look cool on a maple fretboard with a shiny black bass body. I suppose that is probably the main reason for trying these over dragon skins or neons.
All in all, I think I like these strings...
I find them feeling a little sticky, and they subdue the treble quite a but on my bass, but got a good tone with a little adjusting.
first tried a set on my Washburn B-50 ("Ethel"), liked them so much got a set for my VM jazz which sound's fierce. 
I adjusted the truss rod, couldn't get the action as low with them as I could with the lo-riders
That is kind of normal going from the looser Round Core strings instead of the Hex Core. If you went up one size heavier on the Black Beauties, it would maybe put it closer in the ball park, but not necessarily the same.
I'm inclined to say the latter - not a defect per se though, more a inherent design flaw. I had the same thing with a set of peacock blues. It seems to me that the windings are too close together at the tuning peg end of the string compared to other manufactures that have looser spaced windings there. Not to mention there's no silk wrap. As a result, the slot in the tuning peg cut through the winding and slipped off the core. Admittedly, I have a D-tuner on the E-string but that shouldn't made any difference.
Not something I can afford to happen on a gig. As such, I'll never use them again.
Manytimes this has to do with the roundcore. Silk is more for aesthetics these days..
Unfortunately if the string does not taper off completely before the post the windings can break free even if you bend and crimp the string before cutting. Many other strings do not have this issue since the windings have a firm grip onto the hex cores.
Unfortunately if the string does not taper off completely before the post the windings can break free even if you bend and crimp the string before cutting. Many other strings do not have this issue since the windings have a firm grip onto the hex cores.
That definitely can happen if you don't install them just right. But to me, the sound and feel of a round core string is worth the extra care during installation. I've never had one break (knock on wood!)
