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Worst string manufactuer you know

#82
I love Super Slinky's too. Solid tone. Roto 66 don't have that "slidey" feel that I like. But as was stated before, this thread is like the "who is hotter: Blobdes or Brunettes" question.
However, I just bought the Steve Harris P that comes with those tension wire flats. I played them for three minutes, and took them off. I installed EB Super Slinks, and I'm not sure if they are the perfect marriage. So, I am in the market for a good round on my P. Anyone? Anyone?
 
#84
octaverazor said:
Ernie Ball makes the most lifeless, bland sounding string I have every heard. Both guitar and bass.
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I'm fine with them on guitar (even using their bass strings for my 7 and 8 strings), but I hate them on bass.

Love Nanoweb elixirs, and Rotosounds though.

Both of them still have good definition and tone even when they mellow out, most others I've tried go from 'decent' sounding when new to 'completely dead' when broken in, while I find the rotos and nano-elixirs go from 'amazing' when new, to 'good' when broken in.

I'll admit the rotos don't feel the greatest when they are freshly on your bass, but the bright, articulate, overtone-laden sound more than makes up for it to me.
 
#85
Well i've never had a super bad set of strings yet, because i keep my strings for at least 6 months at a time but i've tried:

1. D'arrdio pro steel
2. Rotosound for the 6 string
3. Fender Nylon tapes
4. Dean Markley 7 string set

and out of those 4 the ones I was disappointed in the most were probably the fenders but at the same time they weren't really bad, just bad on an acoustic bass. Maybe i've just been getting lucky with my strings. Also i'm sure if i didn't get rid of the nylons, they would've been good for a LONG time.
 
#86
I've been playing since 1985 & I have never had a bad string out of a package that I can recall, only had one string break on me in the 80's & that was probably due to a sharp edge on the bridge. I've used all the major brands & have always loved Rotosound steels as my 1st choice & use Dean Markleys more often simply because they sound great as well as being slightly more affordable. Some strings as others suggested sound great for a short while but drop off in performance real quick. I never understood the hype DR strings or Daddario received on talkbass & Daddario is headquartered in my backyard here on Long Island.
 
#90
I've tried them all and never had a set sound bad out of the package. When I was a teen and starting out, I would always get GHS Boomers, since that was the only Bass strings the local shop carried. They used to go dead within a couple weeks, but that's all I used so I thought that's just the way it was with bass strings (I remember boiling one set so many times the wrap came off).

These days I've been using mostly D'adarrio nickel wounds, not necessarily due to their sound, but they're supposedly softer on the fretless FB than steel roundwounds. Plus I get them cheap.

Latest set I've tried are Rotosound Cobalt rounds on my Fender Jazz. They sound good and they've lasted for a while, but they leave your fingers smelling like ground up steel.
 
#91
FWIW, I used Rotosounds Swing 66 strings for years and I loved them (lots of zing), but about 10 years ago I switched to nickel wounds because the Roto’s were chewing up my frets. I’ve tried most of the popular brands and I use D'Addario EXL170 strings now. My least favorite strings are the new Fender 8250Ms and 7060s because now that they make them differently they don’t sound as good or last as long as they use to.
 
#93
bassistjoe93 said:
DR; they suck.
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Never got DRs for any of my basses, but I did once get a set of those red ones they make for guitars on the reccomendation of a guy at the guitar shop I used to frequent. I snapped the B and high E strings while I was putting the dang strings on the guitar the first time.

The guy at the store was nice enough to give me both a free B and E string to make up for it, but still.
 
#94
JTE said:
I liked the SloWounds too. D'Addario says they stopped marketing them because they adopted the slow winding process to the regular production. I believe that the XL series nickel strings are now the same as the SloWounds were. I don't know because I've pretty much stuck with DR ( Sunbeams and Hi-Beams) for rounds so since about 1999.

John
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Hmmm ... Thanks - I'll have to try a set. Do they still have the multi-colored silk?
 
#95
it would be interesting to hear what style of music each poster plays and what kind of tone they are looking for. I couldn't imagine Carol Kaye liking anything but TI flats so I'd image she'd hate Rotosounds. On Carol's FB page she said back in the day she didn't change strings... when they wore out she'd just go in the shop and buy another bass... I was fortunate enough to play in a band in support of some Vai tours when Billy Sheehan was playing bass. He swore by his Rotosounds. He said the stickiness of the strings allowed him to do some of the pull offs and tapping that he did. His tech changed his strings before every show. It tried them but weren't for my style of playing. I like strings that aren't so fresh and sticky. Right now I like the Dunlops for round and Chromes for flats. not so much Fender or Markley or those coated strings...
 
#96
Mr_Music90 said:
GHS and Rotosound for sure!
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I have been using Ghs boomers for the last 15 years and keep coming back tot them. Tried lots of other stuff from time to time, but the sound of boomers after two weeks of breaking in just does it for me. There's nothing wrong with those generic brands.

I tried thomastic superalloys just a few weeks back. Nice, but in combination with my bass they lack character. IMHO it is often not about the quality of the string, it's the match between string and bass. Most string brands have consistent quality, there's nothing magic in how they are made: they just fit your needs or they don't.
 
#97
eyeballkid said:
alright, i'm about to sound dumb, but how do you improperly install strings?? string em thru, wind em down, done. only thing I can think would be improper would be if you wound up the post and didn't get good contact with the nut, or cut em short that there wasn't enough winding to hold position.. neither way would affect your tone as much as ruin playability. am I missing something?
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Strings that have a round core (like Sunbeams and Hi Beams, my guess DR's two most popular strings) should be bent at a 90 degree angle past the tuning peg, then cut. If you don't do this, the core and the wrap can separate and you might get all sorts of unusual results.

I have had this happen a couple of times through the years with DR strings.

DR strings are also really long, and depending on the bass, the fat part of the string might go up on the peg and that can be trouble.
 
#98
I like all string types/brands to some extent, they all have something unique to their sound and feel but my consistent choices come from personal tonal preference. I like medium-high tension hex-core strings with a strong midrange voicing. My playing style brings out a lot of undesired sounds from strings with too much flexibility or upper-treble response.
 
#99
If you judge "worst" by number of dead/easily broken strings, it would have to be either DR or LaBella. However, LaBella responded within 15 minutes to an email I sent at 11:15PM, and I am still waiting to hear back from DR... Nine months later... It's a shame. I want to like DR strings, I met one of the founders in a restaurant a couple months ago and he seemed like a pretty cool guy.

Tonewise, I have found D'Addario and Ernie Ball strings to be rather bland and forgettable. OTOH, D'Addario's customer service is second to none, and I really like Ernie Ball Cobalts.
 

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