When to change Flats

[guitfiddle]

I believe that Jamerson never changed the strings on his '62 Precision, so I really meant that.

Not true. He changed them every few years--his son confirmed this in an interview. He actually got fired from some gigs in California, very late in his career, because he was refusing to change strings at all and the intonation really began to suffer for it.

I think it was actually Joe Osborne who never used to change his strings. This was back when he back when he was an LA session player. Apparently he had a set of LaBella's that lasted 15 years.

[ricaddic]

I change mine at least once a year as a rule of thumb, I play many basses so they dont get the wear on them as fast as those who only play one or to basses constantly I have about 23 basses so thier strings seem to last longerI use them on all 7 of my Fenders and only on my 4001C64, but yes I change them all after every year in fact this spring will be massive change time.

[Ric-O-Buc]

"These were LaBellas and I think they were steel. Won't nickel strings (TIs) degrade faster?"

In my experience, Nickel wound strings will last longer than Steel wound.

[cangaroo]

Rick basses are great because they have a great sound both with fresh and very old strings.

[doctorwho]

IMO most strings will reach a point when they lose their 'bite' and need to be replaced ... this could be due simply to the continual stretching of the string resulting in a shift in the positions of the active (vibrating) spots and nodes (non-vibrating spots).

[martin halstead]

On the basses I have with flats I only change them of the intonation goes out, and that appears to be mostly due to wear. I have a 65' fender P that the owner apparently never played after 68, according to his son who inherited the bass with the original flats still on it (and swapped it with me for a Hammond organ(!)) The winding on the E is starting to loosen, but so far they are still working.