OK, total new-guy string questions

[SKATE RAT]

it really depends on the bass. or not. i only play rounds. flats are for fixin'. i had Ken Smith steel strings once when i played an Ibanez SoundGear. they killed my frets. but sounded great. i played a P bass in the 90's and i've used D'addario's before and didn't like 'em. too bright and they rust. and quick. i've tried Blue Steel's and hated them. but now i have a set (they were free) in my Vantage flying V and they sound and feel awesome! which is funny since it has a DiMarzio P pup? i tried Fender strings and blaah. my favorite by far are GHS "Boomers" they just sound and feel right to me on most basses. right now my T-40 has Roto Sounds and i don't like 'em. they feel too stretchy & too soft. i even use GHS Boomer guitar strings. also sound great feel great and last a long time. the strings on my Ripper are 3 years old and i play raw ass hardcore punk thrash. they're still clean and still sound great. i played guitar in a band for 10 months and i only broke 1 string and we practiced once a week and i did a dozen gigs before i quit. i used the same strings the whole time in that band. i'm curious about DR's. since every body seems to like them. but a lot of people like D'addario's too.
but whatever strings you use. like farts, they sound better when they're older.

[Aussie Mark]

Really!?  Learn something every day - who actually makes them EB or D'Addario? 

I believe D'Addario makes them for EB.  Of course, EB make their own roundwound strings.

[PhilT]

I like flats, partly to keep out of the guitarist's sonic space, and also I can pick up the bass after a 2 week gap and not have to go through the pain barrier.

When I got my Starfire, it was strung with rounds, but there was also a set of flats in a D'Addario packet. I didn't look too closely, just assumed they were Chromes, which I'd tried before and didn't like. But, not having any other medium scale strings to hand, I put them on anyway - and didn't like them. They felt hard and stiff, just like I remembered the chromes were before. Then I looked at the packet again, and realised it was for the rounds I'd just taken off, and the brass ball ends and red silks on the flats would be rather strange for D'Addario. I think they're TIs, which aren't hard and stiff at all. So now I wonder if my string preferences are based in any kind of objective reality, or just some bizarre emotional response to branding.

[rahock]

On my 70 P I played Rotosound  or GHS Rounds for several years and got tired of destroying frets. Went to D' Addario Half Rounds  for a few decades and felt that they were a good compromise for brights and lows. I always went with the heavy guage 110 E for a fuller sound.  Converted to D'Addario Chrome Flats on both my Ps  five or six years ago and I can't see myself going  back to rounds again. The chromes still have pretty good brightness, but that's something I don't use much anymore. They are fuller sounding and have allowed me to go with a lighter 105 E and still provide more fullness than the heavier guage rounds.
I play mainly Blues , jazz and anything else that has a walking bass type groove. I've changed my style a bit with the flats too. I used to use a pick quite a bit and I haven't touched one since the flats went on. I play more traditional uprightish stuff that I used to also , and the flats lend themselves much better to that style of playing. I no longer use a lot of treble either, just a bit here and there to cut or create a little edge on a chord. I used to use a lot of treble with the rounds to get  the zing or boink thing going. No more zing or boink for me
Nofi got me me going on La'Bella tapes on electric / acoustic stuff and they are the absolute greatest uprightish sound going. I may give them a try on the Ps too. For the style I play I think they would be fine. If you are looking for zing and boink , these are definately not what you want
Rick

[uwe]

I think there is no need to be obsessive about either string brands, string types or on which bass to use what strings:

These days, you'll be hard-pressed to find a new set from any brand that doesn't well for what it is. They all differ in nuances of course. But I'm really a string whore and play anything that gets in my way, always interested to try out a new brand or type.

Flat or round, taped or half-round, coated or not? I like the variety of all. After having played flats for a couple of songs in a band setting, I enjoy the liveliness of rounds (as do most guitarists I've found out, it's what they are used too, outside of traditional jazz, guitarists never play anything but rounds). And I dig the "clear-pick-attack-followed-by-a-quick-decay-thud" of flats after having played rounds for a while. You can be to the point of obnoxious with flats too, think of Iron Maiden's Steve Harris. It's not necessarily all vintage sounds.

I've made - sometimes for the heck of it - the weirdest combinations of strings and basses with great results. I've put Marcus Miller signature strings on a sixties Bird even though I never ever slap - they sounded great, giving the bass Ric'ish zing while retaining gibson warmth and fullness. I've stuck tape wounds on my active EMG equipped Lee Sklar bass (probably the only one with tape wounds in the world I hazard to guess!) And the result is better than anything I had before, kind of acoustic with a piezo touch, but much more stable and full. Many of my fretless basses have tapewounds too. Two of my TBirds have flats - they still sound like TBirds don't worry. I even once had my sixties EB-2 strung with acoustic bronze wounds, that sounded great as well, the raging mudbucker compensating for whateer volume loss there was due to the non-magnetic bronze coating. I've put TI 5-string flats on my Ric 4003S/5 and it was the first time a set sounded nearly even on that bass beridden with string volume issues.  I even had my Ric 4003S/8 strung with TI flat regular strings and D'Addario rounds for the octave strings and that sounded exceedingly well too.

So what I'm saying is: Outside of the obvious - don't play flats if you want an angry piano tone, don't play D'Addario Chromes if you like to bend, avoid TI flats if you like not only your G string tight between the cheeks - there are really no do's and don'ts.

[Dave W]

If you like real lows and highs
Don't play TIs 
(flats, that is)

I have never understood how anyone can get their hands torn up by rounds. I must have tough skin. OTOH playing flats after not having played them in a while has given me blisters more than once.

[ack1961]

Thanks to all for the insightful responses.
Lots of valuable information contained in this thread.

I'm going to continue to experiment, but I now how some really good reference points from some fine musicians to help me.  It's valuable to me to at least have a hint as to what to expect from a string in any configuration. There are so many variables to play with.  Awesome stuff, guys. Thanks

Steve

[Freuds_Cat]

Ric'ish zing while retaining gibson warmth and fullness.

Sounds like my idea of heaven

[OldManC]

I have never understood how anyone can get their hands torn up by rounds. I must have tough skin. OTOH playing flats after not having played them in a while has given me blisters more than once.

Funny you mention this Dave. That's why I never tried flats all those years. My first forays into playing included trying a few basses in stores or from friends that had flats and they gave me blisters as well, so it was always rounds for me. I don't know what it was about Rotos or Blue Steels, but my fingers just didn't like them at all. Boomers, Slinkys, and all the rest have never bothered me though.

[Freuds_Cat]

George, I agree that Slinkys and Boomers seem to be less abrasive on the fingers than Rotos or Blue Steels. I used Rotos for most of the 80's and 90's. My second choice at that time was Boomers. Both the GHS and EB Slinkys seem more flexible too. I like a taught string with punch and click which is why I used the Rotos. I find them a bit too inconsistent for the price these days.

Ironically I found the DMS Blue Steels to be too dark sounding back then but I am 80-90% sure that the Web String Stainless strings that I now have a preference for are really DMS Blue Steels just a lot cheaper.

Also pretty sure that the Ken Smith Short rounds that I use are GHS. They feel/sound the same and have the same weird guages.

As far as delicate fingers go I can only think that people aren't playing enough to keep their callouses.  ....... as uncle Chopper says "Have a cuppa concrete and Harden the #$@k up"  





I'm sure I'll get in trouble for that one 

[OldManC]

You certainly won't get in trouble from me. That was great!

[SKATE RAT]

i agree

[birdie]

Quick and dirty response from a dumb guy- let each bass you own tell you what type of strings it likes. For example, in my arsenal I have two very nice vintage jazz basses. One just loves flats. the other one demands rounds.
In this way each individual bass will help you sound your best.
Seems simplistic, i know.Did i mention I am just a dumb guy??

[birdie]

PS- for flats I go W/ la bellas and TI's(also pyramids-kind of pricey). For rounds it's lately been DR's and R. Cocco's.

[SKATE RAT]

i find it funny that no one but me mentioned string life.