Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I know that this subject has been beaten to death but..., I was looking for some inexpensive nickel roundwounds to get me through the hot, humid summer months and took a chance on Carvin. I was floored by the tone and quality. I bought 4 sets and didnt have a bad string in the batch. Very consistant. And at $9.99 a set I wasnt expecting much. Check them out, they also have stainless steel, black nylon tapewound and 5-6 string sets.

NEVER pay more than $10 for a set of strings!!!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2551022470&category=20987

http://www.musicyo.com/product_specs.asp?pf_id=612

There are lots of good string deals out there ... I buy lots of cheap nickel wound strings and change them a lot ...

I've been using Carvin strings for years... Great string and price

Jeff - that works out at like 5 UK pounds a set!!! my god!!!! Are these strings ok? Have you ever got dead strings etc?

I remember we used to just boil'em to get the black stuff out, then put'em back on.

I tried that - but like 2 days later they go bad again

Do not buy Elixirs until they are available in different colors. I've had them on a couple of my basses and they frayed terribly. Nice sound, but cheaper strings sound nice initially.

Ya sometimes you get a dead string ... But I find I get dead strings more often when I buy the $20 to $30 sets of strings ...

A couple of years ago GC had 6 sets of nickel wound .105 - .45 bass strings for about $20 ... they came under the label of Musician's Friend or musician's choice or something ...

you know there are dozens of brands of strings but only a few factories that make them ... so the same factory makes the $30 set and the $7 set ... they just put different labels on them ...

The problems I have found with the cheap strings are cosmetic flaws and mislabeled packaging ... but they usually play and sound just fine ...

I'm w/the newbie Anthony on this one. Carvin strings are great. Easy to order on-line and a good price.

The Carvin "acoustic bass" strings are actually LaBella tapewounds. I have them on my Gibson EB-0L, the last set lasted 5 years and I have 2 years on the current set.

Jeff, there are more brand names than factories, but that's a myth about only a few factories making strings. Just off the top of my head: GHS, D'addario, LaBella, SIT, Fender, Rotosound, D'acquisto, Pyramid, Thomastik, and Fodera all make their own, and those are only the ones I know about for sure. And that's not even considering the Far East. There are companies who make specialized string-winding equipment, they couldn't survive unless there were factories to buy them.

If the cheap strings from MusicYo et al serve your needs, that's fine. But factories do make different grades, you can't assume that the $7 string is the exact same as a $30 string except for the label.

OTOH, there is a huge markup in the list prices of many of the name brands. In some cases list is up to 5x dealer cost.

Dave - yes factories do make different grades> Rotosound have their swing bass - which are of course stainless, and you can get the standard guage set in a nickel variety....

They also do a much cheaper nickel plated set called "roto bass" which do not have the silking on the ends and the ends to not taper down to the core wire. Rotosound assured me the only difference was the absense of silk, but alas, they are different strings. They are much coarser and stiffer than normal rotos, and dont last too long. In fact they were IDENTICAL to Ernie ball slinky bass.

As a matter of fact - no one here has ever mentioned Ernie ball.....they are like the most widely available brand.....also kinda ****....

these days I have 12 basses mostly 5 string models ... I gig once or twice a week and play almost every day ... so I go through a lot of strings ... so I buy copley, music yo, carvin, rogue, musicians choice, etc ... So I buy any cheap nickel wound 5 string set that I can get for under $10 ...

Jeff - ya that makes total sense for you - especially if they are 5 strings. That exta 5th string usually makes sets real expensive.

I have 3 basses - 1 has flatwounds i will leave on for like 3yrs.

I just buy Rotosund swings, and change like every 2 months. I would leave em longer but i tend to sweat and kill em eventually

I replace anywhere from a few weeks to several months ... depending on amout of use ...

If you play a total minimum of 1 hour each day, roundwound strings are gonna last like 2 months tops, before they go really muddy sounding and sticky feeling-

Flats just seem to dull down, and then dull no further