Strings

[throw_this_away]

I boil my strings once... maybe twice and it really brings life to the tone. After that I find they risk breaking at the tuner end.

I also like lighter gauge (40-100) rotosound roundwounds.

However I did get some coated 45-100 elixir roundwounds last fall I believe, and they still hold pretty nice tone. I will get them again.

[prog_rockin_metal_man]

if you want your strings to always sound nice and bright I heard you should soak them in denatured alcohol...apperently this works alot better than boiling your strings and it won't make them break. I haven't tried it personaly but I hear good things. I've heard that you can get it at places like Home Depot but any good hardware type store should have it I figure.

I use Rotosound RS66 strings and I love them! I never understood people who said they chew up their fingers and frets...I used to use Dean Markley Blue Steels and I found those alot harder on the fingers and just as hard on the frets as the Rotos.

Chris, the point of low tension strings is to reduce the load on the neck and yes you will be able to bend them easier.

[henry5]

I love Rotos on my Ricks, but man do they die quickly. I recently put a new set on for some recording, did 4 songs, maybe 2 takes each and they'd gone. And I'm in no way an aggressive player. What's more I wiped down thoroughly as I always do and the next day they'd started rusting.If I could find a string that sounded similar but lasted longer I would use them; I've heard good things about DR but they cost literally twice as much as Rotos in the UK ; of course if they last twice as long then the extra will be worth it. Also I like a low tension string (in a perfect world I'd prefer to use a heavier gauge lower tension string than vice versa), so I will have to give DRs a try at some stage. Also Status do a roundcore string which is supposed to be very good and is cheaper than the DRs , over here at least.

Oh, and re the P Bass thing, most P Basses I've played have had as much treble as my Ricks, occasionally more.

[edski]

I guess I'm still a flats guy at heart. After getting my Laredo March of '05 I changed the strings out after about 4 months. I used cheapo Musician Friends bulk strings so I could get the same guage as the originals...

That set has been on the Laredo since. And the last several gigs/practices I find I'm getting the best sound I ever have out of a bass.

I guess the deader the string the more I like it...

[ricnbacker]

I am not really concerned with the cost of the strings. I have had my factory strings on for 5 years now. so I wil try the rotos just to play and try to get that entwistle tone just for some fun but it looks like the HI beams or the Extra lifes will be parked on my bass for a while, given my history of course

lol

[4stringnosing]

"I use Rotosound RS66 strings and I love them! I never understood people who said they chew up their fingers and frets...I used to use Dean Markley Blue Steels and I found those alot harder on the fingers and just as hard on the frets as the Rotos."

Lol, this shows why strings are such a personal choice. I was quite impressed by the Blue Steels and was surprised by how comfortable they were for steel. I used these for 3 months right after using nickel (i.e. softer than the RS66s) Rotosounds that just about removed my fingerprints! I gave up on them after about 5 hours of playing time. As they say, to each his own! (i.e. YMMV)

[ricnbacker]

You know Edski, thats probably why mine havent bothered me till now.
Yea, one string sounded a little off the other day
but in general my bass sounds fine. My strings have that well broken in feel to me.

You know what will happen once i change the strings dont you?

I will probably turn into a string changing fool!

LOL

[ricnbacker]

hey Freddy

what is YMMV?

[jmh]

YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary

[edski]

Chris, maybe, maybe not. Again, YMMV!

It's funny, I never gave string much thought until recently. I had been using Fender 9050 ML's, a veritable bridge cable, on my 4001 and fretless J bass. Another case of after years I was DIGGING the tone out of the 4001, but the tension was inducing too much bow in the neck.

Not wanting to mess with the rods, I switched to the same MF bulk RW that I find acceptable on the Laredo. Now I really don't like the 4001 as much anymore... Next step I guess is to try TI flats - low tension for the 4001 and it's fragile neck.

I still have those Fender stings on my J bass...and I like it. But last time I played the fretless at practice I did notice that the tension makes it tougher to play. So I might look into using TI's next time on the J.

The only problem is that my string changing schedule is so slow. I have a fresh set of 9050's that came of the 4001 - and the set of RW's on it now, plus another set of those bulks still in the bag they come in, and a set of the 9050's still in the packaging. And the strings on the J have a lot of life left in them...

So even though I've "suddenly" become more aware of what different strings might do to the sound of my basses, I'm still a cheap-skate at heart, and not inclined to change strings very often...so it might take a decade to test out my theories!

[rictified]

Ed, you hit the nail on the head, that is why I like flats, you do have to "dig" the sound out of your bass with your hands. You can get just a cutting a sound with flats but you have to work at it which I love to do. I have always used the term "wrench" the sound out of my bass.

[bobcat]

Chris: yeah, basically, low tension strings, like the Hi-beams, bend much easier, and move much more freely when playing . . . I use them because I play really hard and I need something that gives a bit more than normal, or my picking hand tires out really quickly; that's why I stopped using Lo-Riders. I loved how they sounded, but my hand just got so tired after playing for a bit. Also, tension can make some difference in tonality, but it's not as important as, say, the material of the strings or whether they are flat, round, compressed round, ground, etc. Low tension tend to be a bit more present in the high mids (high tension get a bit more low mids), and they tend to be "snappier", if that helps at all. I dunno how else to describe it. What works best for you really varies, though. You might like very low tension strings, very high tension, or somewhere in between. Just test some stuff out. And like I said, Hi-beams are amazing. I will never buy another type of string ever.

Jack: It's very hard to find anyone who likes the kind of music I like. People at my college tend not to be big on the proggy side, and if they like classic rock, it's always Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Bob Marley (if he even counts as classic rock), and, no offense to AC/DC, but I am not interested in playing any of their songs ever (I didn't even know their songs had a bass part in them until recently . . . you can't hear it at all). Luckily, I did meet up with a piano performance major in the conservatory when we both struck up a conversation about how awesome ELP was, and so we've jammed a bit and we're planning on recording some stuff. There is a huge lack of both drummers and non-singer/songwriter guitarists, so we're still missing two crucial parts to the music . . . try imagining "Siberian Khatru" with no guitar . . . we've attempted "21st Century Schizoid Man", "Fireball", "Tarkus", "Roundabout", several easy Zeppelin tunes ("Immigrant Song" for sure), and we're going to brave the first impression of "Karn Evil 9", because my keyboardist friend can sing like Greg Lake AND play like Keith Emerson. At the same time. When we have something recorded, even like a sloppy run-through, I'll post it up here. Now all I need is a nice Firewire preamp and ProTools . . .

[rictified]

AC-DC were much better when they had their original singer who died in 1980 (I think), the lyrics were clever and they were more of a rock 'n roll band than the arena rock band they became. The rhythm section was really tight and simple. In fact their original bass player played a Ric 4001.
Woops, sorry about hijacking the thread.

[westtexasrickenbacker]

Great information on Rotos, DRs and oh, ok, fender strings in the last few posts.

Thanks!

[wayang]

Jeepers, Robert, I'm a prog-head too, and yet I have to say: you haven't lived 'til you play bass on "Highway To Hell" or "Back In Black"...

Seriously, tho'...can't find a drummer, eh? That sucks...too bad you're not going to school here in Colorado; okay, I can't rush the **** out of the tempo like Palmer, but close your eyes and I can make you think Bruford's in the room...