What's your philosophy on strings? Same strings on all/most basses or different strings on all/most basses?

[L-u-A-R]

My thinking is to use whatever strings best suit my needs/wants/preferences/etc. for a given bass.
So, I'm agreed with this philosophy:

The bass picks the strings but I have to listen to what it's saying

That means, "different strings on all/most basses" just by principle.
They could all end up with the same strings, but just because.

 

[funkinbottom]

I'm up to 8 basses now.
2 = Dunlop flats 45-125
1 = La Bella DTF 45-128
1 = La Bella Black nylon tape wound 50-135
1 = Dr. Legend flats 45-125
1 = D'Addario XL nickle wound 45-130
1 = Fender 9050 flats 55-105
1 = SIT Silencers (compression wound) 50-105

 

[Thumpin6string]

I used to use the same stings (Carvin nickel 29-128s with tapered E and B) on both my basses, but then Carvin went under. So, I switched to the Labella Slapper which were pretty much the same as the Carvins. Labella quit making those too. So, now it is a crapshoot of trying different strings to see if there are any I like. The latest are some Dunlop Standard 40-120 tapered with one of my old C strings. For a 6 string I find the high C is less critical than the rest. I like nickel 40 60 80 100 with a tapered B under a 130. Not many sets like that out there.

 

[Ron Berenato]

DR Sunbeams and Pure Blues. Light and medium gauges. On both my EBMM Stingray and a parts precision. My Washburn acoustic has D'Adario Phosphore bronze strings. ALL ROUNDS. I LOVE ROUNDS. I put that s*%t on everything!

 

[Gervais Cote]

Pretty much all different strings on my lot of 9 basses to get some different sounds and a better fit with the songs I have to play.

Oh, and 5 out of my 9 basses are for sale, I really don’t need all that !

 

[BassBrass]

Cobalt flats on a majority both 4 and 5 st. and fretless, one labella dtf on a P5, multiple round brands- nickel, alloy and steel. One nickel dragon skin. A few 4's now in D standard, nickel and Cobalt flat heavy gage. StringJoy steel on a Jackson... Fat beams on a YamahaTRBX6o5... I think my 1501 now has the MarkBass nickel strings that came off a Markbass Gloxy that now wears Cobalt flats (a match made in heaven)

 

[Bent77]

After years of varying all of the strings, now everybody gets slinky round wounds

Tone knobs and foam at the bridge makes up the difference on any other tone that I want

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

Every bass gets Infeld SuperAlloys straight out of the gate.
TI Jazz Flats are an option as well.
(Had a Pbass that hated the SuperAlloys but loved the Flats, while my other Pbass takes both equally well.)
Been doing this for almost 2 decades now and the only reason i’ve ever deviated is because i started to add in medium scale basses due to health issues, and SuperAlloys don’t come in medium or short scale.

 

[jutty17]

I have a Carvin that wears String Joys. I have a fretless Alembic (rarely played) wearing LaBella flats. My P/J Yamaha wears DR Legends flats. The L2500 Tribute wears DR DDT's and the 6 string Ibanez has DR Sunbeam mediums. I do really like DR products.

 

[pb9717]

I use elixir exclusively. Always the same size on every bass except for one. I have TI flats on my passive paranormal jazz. The reason is two-fold. Firstly, from an economic standpoint, they are the most low cost option. They last basically forever. I’ve had them on instruments for over a year and they’ve still work fine. So the cost of one set replaces the cost of 3 to 4 other sets. secondly silky feel is something I’m used to, and when I use an uncoated string, they feel grabby, like sandpaper. I also use the TI flats because they too will likely never be replaced. They will last a decade easily, making them far more affordable than a initially lesser expensive other brand. Playing the long game here with purchases. I have no desire to keep switching strings. Put on one good set, leave them on for as long as they’ll work.

 

[JohnnyChatter]

Dunlop super brights. They sound good on everything. Low tension but have a snappy sound and are like 20 bucks. I used to use ErnieBall but they just loose their tone to quickly and at least feel like they have higher tension though that could be false information so please don’t take my word on that.

 

[deepestend]

I do believe that every bass "picks" the strings that work best on it.

That said, all of my basses have Labella 760's on them.

 

[pbass2]

All my roundwound basses get Nickel Lo-Riders, 4 and 5 string. My flatwound four stringers get Labella DTFs and my flatwound fivers get DR Legends. Then it's all about string age. I'll put new rounds one when needed for example, but I'm mostly an "old strings" guy.

 

[Atshen]

I have two basses with D'Addario Chromes and two others with D'Addario XL's.

 

[James Hart]

I've got TI Jazz flats on 2 and TI Jazz Rounds on 4

 

[Jefenator]

I'm all about versatility & variety, and I use strings accordingly.
I have noticed that some basses really sound like **** without a compatible set of strings, while others like my beloved J-bass work great with pretty much anything.
In terms of strings, I like to keep handy:

• Extra thump-y flats
• More flex-y "mwah" flats
• Flats somewhere in between

I think that covers it. Oh, wait, I almost forgot: rounds for the active 5-strings.

 

[Jay2U]

Different strings on differently tuned basses. The BEAD tuned Ibby mostly has flatwounds on, sometimes fat, cheap roundwounds, however. My cheap P-Bass copy, mostly tuned DGCF, has cheap steel roundwounds on. The G&L L2000 has Dunlop or Daddario nickel plated strings on and is mostly in standard tuning.

 

[Bob_Ross]

All of my basses get Ken Smith medium gauge stainless steel roundwounds (and have since 1985) with four exceptions:

- the ABG gets whatever bronzewound strings are in stock locally
- the 8-string gets D'Addario XL-8s because that's all that's ever in stock, anywhere
- the Rob Allen fretless gets LaBella 760N nylon tapewounds, because that's what it came with when I got it and they sound effing fantastic on that bass
- the Warmoth fretless gets Ken Smith "Slick Round" Nickel Iron Medium groundwounds, because they too sound effing fantastic on that bass

 

[buldog5151bass]

Depends on what you play. I use my fretless and ABG for jazz, so I have flats on those. I have nickel rounds on my 2 fretted basses, which I use for rock.

 

[vvvmmm]

I have a few basses.

They all came with strings.

They still have 'em.

I have put flats on basses I need flats on.

I bought the ones was on sale.