LOL! What a hilarious thread..."I broke one string, so they suck." "I didn't like their sound, so they suck." BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Worst string manufactuer you know
- Thread starter Thir13teen
- Start date
Ernie Ball, and GHS bass boomers, pure junk! Ernie Ball are dead right out of the box.
DR on the other hand I have used for 18 years. They last forever, are very consistent from string to string, and the high beams just sing.
There are no better bass string and I've tried everything in the last 45 years.
DR on the other hand I have used for 18 years. They last forever, are very consistent from string to string, and the high beams just sing.
There are no better bass string and I've tried everything in the last 45 years.
I tried dean markley blue steels yrs ago and I hated everything, the sound, feel, regretted buying them. I use d'addarios on my modulus flea and love em. Usually DR's on my smith and status basses with good results.
Scott in Dallas
Commercial User
- Aug 16, 2005
- 2,084
- 27
- 55
- Disclosures
- Builder and Owner: DJ Ash Guitars
I don't like EB's either! I thought made in China Hartke's were better. GHS Boomers are turds too but I actually didn't mind their cheap strings though, not awesome but got the job done.
DR has an awesome product. Great tone, great feel and excellent service if you have any trouble. I'm surprised at all the DR hate in this thread.
My experience with DR guitar strings has been extremely variable. set to set, they were eithergreat or shot with no middle ground, which is why I don't use them... Never bothered with the bass strings as a result.
My least fav bass string would be one made by RotoSound. Their QA simply sucks - or at least it did. I got sooo many sets with 1 completely dead out of the box string... I droped those guys years ago and said, now way I'm goin' back there.
So having trashed those folks lest you guys think I'm just a bitter old curmudgeon.. I love D'Addario Chromes, Thomastic Jazz Flats, Infeld Super Alloys and Power bass stings. I like LaBella tapes - when they don't fray right out of the box. I like D'Addario's tape wound but don't have enough experience to love it yet.
My least fav bass string would be one made by RotoSound. Their QA simply sucks - or at least it did. I got sooo many sets with 1 completely dead out of the box string... I droped those guys years ago and said, now way I'm goin' back there.
So having trashed those folks lest you guys think I'm just a bitter old curmudgeon.. I love D'Addario Chromes, Thomastic Jazz Flats, Infeld Super Alloys and Power bass stings. I like LaBella tapes - when they don't fray right out of the box. I like D'Addario's tape wound but don't have enough experience to love it yet.
Especially since different strings sound different on different basses. I love MTD strings on my MTDs, but on my Lull they just don't work for me. I've had similar experiences with other strings on other basses.
I felt ripped off by DR more than anything, strings are dead within hours, and they cost more than everyone else. I also find EB strings for bass to be crap, the guitar ones are fine though.
What about S.I.T. strings? I never hear anybody using them but they seem to spend a lot of $ on marketing with ads in magazines.
This thread's pretty funny....
Imo, SIT's Powerwound are great strings. Last well & punch like a hard puncher
Whenever I've lent/sold a bass with em on, ppl ask about em in the positive
Imo, SIT's Powerwound are great strings. Last well & punch like a hard puncher
Whenever I've lent/sold a bass with em on, ppl ask about em in the positive
Well, perhaps these aren't the most objective or in-depth analysis of why a string manufacturer may suck, If you don't have a lot of bad experiences with different brands of strings aside from a handful of times that a string broke, or that one or more brands just don't sound as good as others, then that's all you have to go on when deciding on the "worst" string manufacturer that you know of.
Recall that the OP was asking for the "worst string manufacturer you know" rather than the worst ever.
Out of all the major brands (Ernie Ball, D'Addarrio, SIT, DR, GHS etc), what manufactuer has consistently let you down with quality & tone?
for me it was DR. Only time I ever broke a string while tuning up. It was a set of DR Low Riders & GHS strings have always lost their luster after a week or so.
That happened to me too! Only time I ever tried DR's.
I hate Ernie Ball strings. Dead within an hour. For round they sure do sound like flats, and flat sound like rubberbands.
I never really had too many issues with DR. I would occasionally find a dead E or G, but it was the same with Rotos. Don't love either brand, but I don't totally hate them either...
As for DAddario, I'm not disappointed, I'm not overly excited either. They're great strings for $20, but I wouldn't pay DR/Roto prices for them.
Oddly I find Fender Flats better than Chromes, and DAddario round better than fender Rounds.
I never really had too many issues with DR. I would occasionally find a dead E or G, but it was the same with Rotos. Don't love either brand, but I don't totally hate them either...
As for DAddario, I'm not disappointed, I'm not overly excited either. They're great strings for $20, but I wouldn't pay DR/Roto prices for them.
Oddly I find Fender Flats better than Chromes, and DAddario round better than fender Rounds.
I'm surprised I didn't see Rotosound on here more. Most people tend not to like them, from what I've gathered. I guess it's more not fitting than actually thinking they're bad strings.
I can't really give my opinion, since I always tend to give strings the benefit of the doubt. I broke 3 new DR strings in a row, but I'll blame luck and my bridge before the string manufacturer.
I can't really give my opinion, since I always tend to give strings the benefit of the doubt. I broke 3 new DR strings in a row, but I'll blame luck and my bridge before the string manufacturer.
This thread inspired me to order ten sets of DR Hi-Beams. I'll let you know how many "dead strings out of the box/strings that break immediately" I get. 
For me it has to be DR strings; they just make me angry because you dish out the cash for a set of sunbeams put them on, they sound amazing, and then with ten minutes you break a string. The really bad part though is that it happened several times because i had hoped it was just a defect and not the brand.
