What is the most expensive string you've ever bought?

[RGerhart]

On my quest for the right flatwound string set, I think it was probably the Labella Gold Flats for five string. I've just come to accept that five string basses aren't meant to have flats, sorry guys. The B string is just too undefined and stiff.

On the plus side, I found my go-to flat: Ernie Ball Cobalt flats. I have not experienced the rust issues everyone complains about. Nice tension, nice tone, great feel. But they are still expensive, around $45 - 50 I think is what I paid for them.

 

[Turnaround]

View attachment 5358127

$212.48

Be glad you aren't in Canada:

 

[kodiakblair]

£36 for TI jazz flats.

Not too concerned that, 10 years later, they now cost £50 as I bought several packs

 

[ColdEye]

Dogal Jaco flats, considering getting a set for my 5ver.

 

[Hasty]

Be glad you aren't in Canada:

View attachment 5358420

I look back on Spiro's as the halcyon days of string buying. I'm now using a mix of Evah Pirazzi's and Oliv... I've bought quality electric basses for less than what those strings cost me.

 

[KohanMike]

I play acoustic 21" scale bass ukes and use exclusively Kala/Galli 23" flatwound nylon core that cost $50 US. The 23" are necessary because the basses have a tailpiece.

 

[Carl Hillman]

To the best of my recollection, the most expensive string I've ever bought was a Sadowsky 5 string set of blue label flats. About $140 for a 5 string flat set. I think.

$375 for a set of Thomastik Bel Cantos with an extended E string.

 

[Low F#]

Dogal Jaco flats, considering getting a set for my 5ver.

Same, but mine were for my 5ver. Set was $133 delivered. Really like them though.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

To the best of my recollection, the most expensive string I've ever bought was a Sadowsky 5 string set of blue label flats. About $140 for a 5 string flat set. I think.

Adjusted for inflation from 1974, about $90 for a set the strongly recommended ( politely put, but in reality it was an unwarranted prediction of dire consequences) Rickenbacker strings used on Rickenbacker basses.

I also spent about ( also adjusted) for inflation $380 for a set of cat guts for a DB.

 

[Pings Bass]

View attachment 5358127

$212.48

dems da ones (except I use the full scale mittels)

and they cost more than at least one of my electric basses

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

Dogal flats for electric and Evah Pirazzis for upright and T.I. flats of course.
+1 for the Dunlop flats being runner up.

 

[ColdEye]

Same, but mine were for my 5ver. Set was $133 delivered. Really like them though.

That’s good to know. Have not really seen any reviews of the low B.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

Dental floss. It’s crazy how much they charge for just a few feet of that stuff. The next most expensive are TI Jazz Flats but they're worth it.

 

[Bruiser Stone]

Expensive up front, or expensive in total hours played per set of strings?

 

[bass12]

TI flats, followed by TI rounds. Luckily I didn’t like the rounds, because I kill rounds extremely quickly and couldn’t afford fresh TIs on a regular basis.

 

[Low F#]

That’s good to know. Have not really seen any reviews of the low B.

The low B has the same feel as the other 4. They took me a little while to adjust to how "bendy" they are. Left hand developed a much lighter touch to accommodate.

 

[perfektspace6]

To the best of my recollection, the most expensive string I've ever bought was a Sadowsky 5 string set of blue label flats. About $140 for a 5 string flat set. I think.

I know nothing about flats. Is the high cost related to how long they tend to last which means the construction of the string has to be to a higher standard?

I pay around 45 a set for stainless rounds or nickel rounds. Ken Smith brand for a long time.

 

[mambo4]

Pretty Sure my TI Jazz flats were the biggest price tag
But I haven't changed them in over a decade,
so long term they are the cheapest

 

[J-Bass RMR]

I paid $75 for mine back n da day from the Keene Musical String Co. ...

View attachment 5358403

I hate to think what that would cost now....
(and why I chuckle every time someone complains about how expensive electric basses have become...)

 

[coyote1]

$180 for D’addario Helicore Pizzicato strings for double bass. The instrument (Matthias Thoma) apparently still had the original strings from 1974 when I began using it seriously, so the new ones made an enormous difference.