what kind of strings are these?

green_us90 · Post by **green_us90** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 1:11 pm

The D'Addario strings feel slinky but are pretty high tension- nothing a little tweak of the rods can't adjust. I like the chromes a lot.

david_schwab · Post by **david_schwab** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:15 am

I also use D'Addario XLs. They are great strings! Even better is you can get them in a twin pack for about $22! I buy them from Musicain's Friend.

"Any reason anyone can think of for color coding strings?"

That's part of their ecological packaging. They put all the strings in one bag, so that's how you tell them apart.

It seems obvious which string is which, but I have put the wrong string on when I wasn't paying attention!

As far as the tension... they are less than GHS Boomers of the same gauge. I recently tried a set of 5-string Boomers after not having used them in years. On my bass (not a Rick) with dual truss rods, I had to do quite a bit of tightning to get the neck stright. The funny thing was the Boomers *felt* quite lose and sloppy.

I took them off the next day and put XLs back on.

revolver323 · Post by **revolver323** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:13 am

I'd suggest Lakland strings, either nickel or stainless, whish are made by GHS but sold on the Lakland (www.lakland.com). The 4 strings sets are $17.50 and fit any 34" scale bass. 5 string sets are made for string-thu-body 35" scale so may be too long for most players. They sound great, last long and are inexpensive.

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:13 pm

I prefer D'Addario XL's myself strings. I really don't care for GHS Boomers. I've just tried the D'Addario Pro Steels, I like them alot also.

blueflamerick · Post by **blueflamerick** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:21 pm

I play only D'Addario XLs now. I didn't really care for the Pro Steels, they feel kinda sticky to me.

david_schwab · Post by **david_schwab** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 4:44 am

I've been wanting to try the Pro Steels. How is the sound compared to the nickel strings? Are they much brighter? That would be a reason for me to try them out.

I used to like Boomers back in the '70s and '80s, but I was surprised how much I disliked them when I tried them recently. Brand new, they sounded like the two month old set of XLs I was replacing, and the low B string was truly awful! I wanted to remove them within minutes! I was tempted to send them back to GHS with a note attached! But to each their own I suppose...

I used to use GHS Bassics on my Ricks. They sounded better than the Boomers.

Ken Smith strings are my other favorite, but I haven't used them in a while.