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When to replace round wounds

#21
When you are no longer happy with the sound, it's time.

In the 1980s, I used stainless steel, and replaced them about once a month. Now, I use nickel, and have had the same strings on for over a year.

I probably would put on fresh strings if I were going in the studio. This gives the engineer more options, as he can always eq out some upper range if he/she wants.
 
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#23
A good setup can potentially do wonders for how the bass feels and plays in your hands. Plus it's harder to learn bass and develop proper technique on a poorly setup bass. It can hold back your progress and is uninspiring.

Since you're new at this I recommend a pro setup initially so you can get idea of your basses potential in regards to playability and sound quality. Later on, it's a good idea to learn the setup procedure and the proper order of steps fro setting up a bass. It will come in handy when you need to make an adjustment or want to try a lower or higher action or to reset intonation when you change strings. Also, it way save you some money and you won't have to waste time waiting on your bass while it's in the cue for a setup.

It's preferable but not essential to do a setup with new strings. Flats are different and can be used for years. Dead roundwounds simulate flats somewhat but is not the same as an actual set of flats. The setup should include checking and adjusting pickup height if needed but if the strings are worn then you may not get an accurate sonic response.

Besides, you'll never know how your new bass will sound with new strings and it's helpful to have this baseline. You may or may not like the zingy-ness of fresh rounds at first but you can always turn down the treble if it's too much.
 
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#25
Everybody is different when it comes to desired tone. I prefer bright lively zing. When enough of it is gone, I change, and that depends on how much I play. Round’s definitely do break in, but when too much zing has left, it’s time for them to go.
 
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#27
I get 9 months to a year out of a set of rounds, and I am practicing every day. That said, my play time is spread amonst a few basses, so it's more like 2 ore 3 months of play that I get out of a set.

If I'm doing a sonic tweak on the circuit of one of my basses, or building a new one, I will transfer a set of strings that's a couple months old onto that bas, so that I'm tweaking with strings that aren't new/zingy, but also not dead. Whenever I put a set of strings on one of my basses, the string pack goes in the gig bag for that bass, with a note as to when I put them on - I keep track of how long strings have been on my basses, so I'm not guessing as to how worn in a set is.
 
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#28
I'm a new strings guy..... Broken in strings are too old for me and off they go. I follow the "zing can be dialed back on new strings but can't be dialed forward on broken in or old strings" philosophy.....Yes, I spend a lot of money on strings...and new strings are all consistent to each other( I play a lot of slap style where life/tone consistency from string to string is important) whereas on old strings, lower strings are played/worn more than higher ones......for me its about 20-25 hours per bass or 3 to 5 gigs with exceptions that have gone longer or shorter with seasonal/environment parameters involved......my exception is my practice/ beater bass that I sit in front of the TV and practice with unplugged which has a set that has been on when The Dead Sea was known as the I'm Feeling A Little Sick Today Sea
 
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#31
If you are going to have a new setup done (and I agree you should be learning how to do that yourself) it’s nice to start with new strings. The issue with “old” strings is that it’s a little hard to tell when the windings get distorted enough to start affecting tuning & intonation. When old strings are removed from a bass, you can see where the strings have been in contact with the frets. On some strings, it looks like a shiny / clean spot. On more “worn” strings, the winding wire looks slightly flattened at point of contact. On very worn round wounds, the winding wire will be flattened and usually separated some. Depending on the string manufacturer, size of winding wire, metal or alloy of winding wire, etc, some strings start getting more difficult to tune &/or intonate a lot earlier than others. Strings with smaller winding wire can feel better to your fingers, but are usually less durable to wear well where they contact the fret. That’s not a hard rule, because it seems some winding wire is a lot harder than others (nickel vs stainless steel vs plating, etc)

All this is only to say the time to change (or not change) round wound strings vary by player, by string, and to some degree, by bass. I like fresh rounds and still like them to at least halfway to dead sounding, but worn strings are a little like tires; if they are guaranteed to go 80,000 miles, you just don’t get the same performance for the last 10,000 miles….
 
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#33
QuinnyB said:
First post here, hopefully I don’t embarrass myself too much:roflmao:

So I picked up my bass for the first time a while and I’ve been practicing with it for a few weeks and taking up some lessons again. It really needs the action adjusted so I’m planning on taking it in for an overall setup/adjustment.

My question is should I replace the round wounds with new strings? I initially thought “definitely” but I’ve been hearing a lot about how “dead” older roundwounds can be appealing. And these are older! I played it a lot in 2012-2014 and only played intermittently until now and never changed the strings I’ve only heard before about flatwounds aging nicley, so I’m not sure if these are WAAAY over due or if they have character now. Thoughts? Please go easy on me…
Click to expand...

I can’t really say what is best your you, but I change mine out on the average at about 75 hours of use per set. The actual time depends on a couple of factors, like under what conditions I’m playing. If I’m just noodling around for months at a time , it would be higher. A heavy schedule of gigs, recording sessions, and rehearsals, it’s be significantly less.

Contrary to popular opinion, all strings wear and when worn, should be replaced. I’ve had more sound engineers in my life complaining about bassists and their well used and deeply loved strings, and zero complaints about bassists with new strings.

One quick check is to run your fingers under the strings where the strings are hitting the frets. If you feel grooves, you may want to consider thinking about replacing them. When you start noticing intonation issues, new buzzes, or odd artifacts that weren’t there before, it’s probably well past their life expectancy for commercial work. Knocking it around at home, maybe who cares.

Strings are relatively inexpensive but an extremely important part of your sound. For better or worse, it’s your sound and you own it.

I hope this helps.
 
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#37
I hate the sound of new rounds, but I love how rounds feel. The DR hi beams on my p bass have been on for about a year now, and I'm still loving the sounds coming out of them. I'm just never going for that metallic, zingy sound, so I have a hard time being motivated to play when I replace them (even though playing is needed to break them in).

I should probably experiment with some flats or pressurewounds at some point, but I'm scared to waste that money only to find the strings don't sing like I want them to.
 
#39
QuinnyB said:
First post here, hopefully I don’t embarrass myself too much:roflmao:

So I picked up my bass for the first time a while and I’ve been practicing with it for a few weeks and taking up some lessons again. It really needs the action adjusted so I’m planning on taking it in for an overall setup/adjustment.

My question is should I replace the round wounds with new strings? I initially thought “definitely” but I’ve been hearing a lot about how “dead” older roundwounds can be appealing. And these are older! I played it a lot in 2012-2014 and only played intermittently until now and never changed the strings I’ve only heard before about flatwounds aging nicley, so I’m not sure if these are WAAAY over due or if they have character now. Thoughts? Please go easy on me…
Click to expand...

It's a personal choice but for me I tend to replace them after maybe 30-50 hours of playing time. Some cats change them frequently. I remember seeing an SBL interview where Janek Gwizdala replaced his every three days (though for him that could be 30-50 hours of playing time). I'm guessing Marcus Miller changes his pretty often since he's going for that slap zing. So it kinda depends on what you are going for.

Rounds go through phases. Most start off zingy and stay that way for at least a few hours of playing. Then they mellow out a little. And then after that 30-50 hours of playing they tend to undergo another change where they become dead(er). To me they lose their appeal at that point. I would rather stick with flats if I'm going for a deader, more muted tone. I think they do it better than old rounds do.

My two favorite strings are the Fodera medium nickels (though I haven't tried the new DR ones). They lose that annoying zing pretty quickly and settle into a relatively long period of good life (close to 50 hours in my experience). Then my new all time favorites are the DR Pure Blues PB-45. They quickly enter into that middle phase and I suspect will last a good long time. (I only started using them a few weeks ago so I don't actually know how long they will last.)
 
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