Your Go-To Strings Aren't Doing It....Now What?

[Bodeeni]

Many time when a bass has gone bland on me, I have change the type of strings and given it a new life. I rotate through flats and rounds, sometimes tapes too.

 

[JC BASS 91]

Maan, I love SIT Powerwound Nickel strings they're the only strings I've used for several years. Recently, I've had two separate basses, a Rickenbacker 4003 & Peavey Millennium USA 35" scale length, that have had very dead sounding " E " strings. I replaced the " E " on the Peavey with the same results. This really has be contemplating trying another string brand, maybe D'Addario?

The NYXLs have a very similar feel to the SIT Nickel PW strings, at least to me. I really like them on my 5 string Jazz bass.

 

[rtav]

Yeah - this is a bit of a weird topic for me. Disappointment with strings.

Been playing for 45 years, hundreds of sets of strings (all roundwound of various types), lots of basses, and never once have I thought, "These strings aren't doing it for me and I need to hunt for something new to do it for me." Not once, on any bass, in any decade.

To me strings are either bright or dead. Ive never broken it down scientifically, but the only reason I've ever changed strings was because they were dead. And the strings I've purchased have been from reputable string manufacturers with decent QC, and I tend to stay with the strings that shipped with the bass.

The entire string process:

1. Buy new strings, put them on bass;
2. Play bass until strings are dead;
3. Buy new strings, put them on bass;
4. Play bass until strings are dead;

and on and on.

To me, strings are entirely utilitarian and unless they break, die or are obviously defective and get no more thought than "OH MY GOD WHY ARE THESE SO EXPENSIVE!!!!!!!!!"

 

[groooooove]

i'm well aware of what to expect from stainless, nickel, or flats.

i'll be aiming for one result or the other and choosing from those three categories accordingly.

aside from that, brand is what i'll switch.

for years i only used SIT rock bright stainless. I still think that is a superior string. I actually just put the nickel RB on a new bass and i'm very pleased with them.

i've always found that most electric bass strings are pretty damn good. there are lots of name-brand options that are all quite good.

 

[Bob_Ross]

"On a particular bass", as in a bass new to you or one you haven't sat down and played much since acquiring. Or it could be one you never played in a band mix or recorded with either, and it gave you trouble getting a tone you like in that setting. I didn't primarily have "same go-to bass, same go-to strings, different outcome" in mind when writing it.

I don’t think that ever happened to me.

Huh. Yeah, I'm with JimmyM: Hasn't really happened to me.
With one or two exceptions* every new bass I've acquired in the last ~35 years sounded exactly like what I was expecting and hoping for when I strung it up with my "go-to strings". And I've never pulled out a bass that I hadn't sat down with in a while and found that its sound -- or my tastes or interests or needs -- had changed such that a different set of strings was warranted.

*...and both exceptions were fretless basses: One of them came from the builder with tapewound strings, and I liked the sound so much that I decided that instrument would always get those same tapewounds, which are not my "go-to strings" for any other instrument. And the other bass I knew in advance that I wanted a different sound than what my usual "go-to strings" would yield so I chose a different style string from the same manufacturer, that didn't get the results I was looking for, so then I chose another different style string from the same manufacturer and that got me the sound I wanted, so BOOM done. So now those two fretless instruments have a different "go-to string" set than all my other basses, but they always sound like what I'm expecting and need when I use them so no need to change up from my "go-to strings".

 

[fakeneckplate'65]

The NYXLs have a very similar feel to the SIT Nickel PW strings, at least to me. I really like them on my 5 string Jazz bass.

I just ordered 5 sets of D'Addario EXL170BT to try out, which are balanced tension, 45-60- 80- 107.

 

[GTHintz]

This is quite a subject with all the nuance. My method is that I'll take a bass and run near the same eq for everything because that's huge. Eq is so much of your tone. But anyway, with that set I'm looking for my set up trying to dial that in as well as possible. Once I get it as close as I can and I'm still not happy then I start thinking about what's missing. I'll pan through my pickups and tone knobs and see what it's doing to tone. Sometimes it's a particular string tension that's not giving me the response I'm expecting or that I'll need to blend my pickups a little different to create the response I want. Still not happy I'm starting to look at different strings. I believe that every string builder does it a little different and it shows in your tone. More than most stringed instruments. They all have a different eq response and trying to match that with the bass is a process. I typically start with a string that I'm very familiar with and that helps me see what the bass is doing and I'll make changes from there. But I'm definitely in the camp that says strings make a difference. Even if it's not the strings fault in terms of construction or qc it's also how it reacts off the individuals hands. The way I play I really try to be expressive with my fretting hand and my plucking and I definitely notice string to string how it changes things.