I cut mine to four fingers length. But apparently even less is acceptable. This is a pic I happened to take of my TF from two years ago, right out of the box.
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Why do folks cut strings?
- Thread starter anightintunisia
- Start date
I cut them for a couple reasons, one reason they are too long and too many wraps can cause the tuning to wander, also the potential for strings to shift on the post, 'slippage' from the garbled hastily installed crossed string sections compressing especially if you play with heavy or hard bends...Not enough wraps can cause the string to 'slip' as well usually also while playing bends, not an issue for a noodling player or a garage band but I don't like those kind of surprises when performing YMMV.
If you’re at that level, why would you care about reselling electric bass strings?
We trade strings around all the time. Otherwise we’d never be able to try new strings out. On average strings around $200’ish a set.
Also, new flatwounds for electric bsss don’t sound as good as someone who has played them for a month or two and has decided to move on. It’s then easy to buy a used set to try them.
So, you care that others cut them? Because you don’t want to break them in, in those rare circumstances that you buy a used pair, to try them.
This feels like a non-problem. Like one that’s not worth wasting finger miles on to start with.
To answer your OP, people cut strings because in 99% of situations your electric bass stings will be installed one time and then thrown away. Your use case isn’t even consistent with you, and isn’t a common one.
Hope that clears things up. You can go back to yelling at clouds now.
I’ve never had any issue trying to fit strings properly. Literally ever.
If you cut them, there is a general rule that suggests making sure enough length is left to allow the sting to reach the tuning machine. Not abiding by this rule would increase the risk of defeating the whole purpose of the string.
Probably would have made sense. The majority of responses are “what?? Why??”.
For someone that doesn’t really play flats the line of logic is legitimately baffling. Hence the slew of incredulous replies.
Cutting strings is a touchy subject apparently! Glad I stirred the pot and rumbled some feathers haha
Sometimes I forget that their are other strings besides flats. It was pretty amusing reading all of the what?? Why??? responses though.
You’re welcome over to my house any time.
Edit: The E strings on my basses are on average 5-6 after looking except one bass which is 3, but G / D are all 3-4.
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Even with flats, it’s not that common to resell. Most folks here install them and use them for 5-10 years. In 25+ years of playing electric bass I’ve met 0 players, in person, that resell their strings.
The “what/why” responses are more due to how rare your use case is. Even amongst die hard flat using electric players, it’s not really that common to resell or trade strings. It’s more of the novelty of your request, and how odd it is. Which triggers incredulity on the behalf of almost any person that reads it. Since very very few players resell their strings.
Hence the “what, why”s. To many of us, it’d be like complaining because someone fit a tampon to themselves. These are one time disposable purchases that go directly into the trash once their useful lifetime has ended.
I mean I understand. But I and most of my fellow bass player friends change strings around on a regular basis for certain instruments, and most of us have a box filled with used strings. I have two boxes, one for electric and one for upright.
I guess for me, I’m having to change strings often, sometimes record one song with a set of strings then changing them at the studio and cutting another song with a different set of strings. My box of electric bass strings are filled with strings that I’ve used a couple times and I’ll eventually get to using them again or maybe pass them along to someone else instead of the trash since they’re almost brand new. I certainly wouldn’t call them trash.
I really don't tire of being a outlier (a/k/a weirdo):
I never change strings*, only replace broken ones. In the last 10 years I have only broken headless bass strings (2), and they are double-ball and fitted.
* Mebbe some day I'll be arsed to 'splain why ...
I never change strings*, only replace broken ones. In the last 10 years I have only broken headless bass strings (2), and they are double-ball and fitted.
* Mebbe some day I'll be arsed to 'splain why ...
Sure. But your use case is very niche.
People aren’t going to change their habits to suit your rare use case. As 99% of the time electric bass strings are installed one time, then discarded.
It’s not rocket science to understand that.
In your case I’m not quite clear why you’d need to change strings, while cutting tracks. If you do I’m not clear why you’d keep the strings you swapped off. That seems like an odd use case.
If you’re swapping back and forth from flats to rounds then why not just have an extra bass. I’ve never met a producer that cared about bass string gauge. So I can’t imagine you’re swapping for that. Nor have I met one that’s pedantic about brand. So I can’t imagine you’re swapping for that.
Usually, when you change often, it’s because you want that fresh round sound. But you aren’t using rounds so that’s not the rationale in this case.
Seems like a very odd scenario overall.
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I just try and cut 'em so there's enough neat wraps (no overlapping ever) to push the last wrap down to the base of the tuner shaft so there's a good angle going to the nut (unless it's going through a string tree).
As for selling used strings, I never considered that in 40 years of playing--I didn't even realize people did that. I don't even swap them between basses much, hardly ever. Old ones I keep for emergency backup but I can count on one hand how many times I've had to grab one. To me once you put a new set on and it gets cranked down and settles in on whatever that particular bass has for a bridge, nut, tuners, etc they're kinda compromised. Fortunately for me I like well broken-in strings, both rounds and flats.
As for selling used strings, I never considered that in 40 years of playing--I didn't even realize people did that. I don't even swap them between basses much, hardly ever. Old ones I keep for emergency backup but I can count on one hand how many times I've had to grab one. To me once you put a new set on and it gets cranked down and settles in on whatever that particular bass has for a bridge, nut, tuners, etc they're kinda compromised. Fortunately for me I like well broken-in strings, both rounds and flats.
I’ve never NOT cut my strings. To be honest, I’m a little confused as to how you get an entire string on a stringpost and still have 100% tuning capability, without winding dropoff. I’ve been doing that for the last 30 years, even with my 35” scale basses.
