Sida79

I'm the same + don't drink alcohol + am nervous around people regardless of the event + am an extremely morning person and am sleepy from 8 pm onward.

I used to wonder why someone who's into all things bass doesn't actually do that, but ever since I started going to bass meetings and trying out my fellow players' instruments, and the other way around, I realized that the way we play changes the sound so much that it wouldn't be nearly as informative as I once thought, if at all.

It's funny, because La Bellas sound completely different to me and I often had both and changed them around since I like them both. TI is kinda... low tension, but great attack, no thump but very strong mids, a smidge harsh (for a flat, at least) yet strangely musical with a sound of their own, even better with a pick and thumb muting. La Bellas I found much different: less dry sounding, huge thump, strong tension, a big, round, woolly sound. I just stick to fingers with that one.

Honestly, the thought of potentially sharing this only came to me halfway through and I didn't expect the topic to garner too much interest so I just didn't bother doing it properly. This is also why I didn't name the basses (they're not that common) or the string details (I threw away the boxes). While I feel this is useful in principle, the nature of it is so individual you'd really have to apply the principles yourself as everything from the instruments themselves to your own taste and playing technique would affect the conclusion. As for the details, roughly: Fender Adam Clayton -Sounded great with Fender 7250/7150 as they have a similar character, and it made it just a tad warmer. 7150 sounds better at home, 7250 sounds better in a band setting. I'm not sure if this is a deliberate move by Fender or just a coincidence. -Sounded bad with any kind of older/less defined strings and flatwounds, except TI. In those combinations it tends to sound muddy or cheap. Limelight Jazz -Sounded great with La Bella White Nylon/dead rounds as those are the strings most similar to its somewhat unique sound. -Doesn't work too well with warm or mild sounding strings. It just starts sounding too polite and unnoticeable. Custom /w Bartolinis -Sounded great with Warwick Red Label/Chromes as the former give him the brightness it lacks and the second match the character perfectly so it growls like crazy. -It has a very deep sound so any string that is not bright or aggressive enough to overcome that just fails to shine despite its tonal capabilities. Limelight Precision -Sounds great with TI flats, as they have a musical sound like the instrument itself, yet fill out the middle frequencies perfectly and give it that bit of presence it lacks in a band setting. -Cold/aggressive strings almost go against its character, making it sound cheap.

I even had it the other way around a few times. I'd buy a bass because it sounded great, but when it came time to change the strings I would discover it only sounds great with the strings it came with, and I couldn't find out what the strings were.

Maybe this is a "duh" moment for some of you, but I've never done something as crazy as this nor did I expect to actually find anything concrete tbh. Anyway, something came over me a while ago and I decided to try 13 different sets of strings on all four (at the time) of my instruments. Strings used were: -TI flats -Harley Benton nickels -Rotosound 66 -Chromes -Labella white nylons -EB slinky -Labella Jamerson -Fender 7250 -Fender 7150 -Warwick Red Label -Elixir -a couple of used rounds I got with the basses I bought I recorded short clips of each bass-string combination, then shuffled them repeatedly and rated them blindly over a long period in order to make sure I can consistently tell the difference. Now, before this I would buy a set of strings, get some idea of how it might sound and then look for that component every time I'd buy the same set, find it and be content. However, I didn't consider that a bass+string combination might be a more relevant way of looking at things and, indeed, by far the most important takeaway for me was that it doesn't seem to matter so much what strings you use, as it does how they suit the instrument. Of the two of my favorite sets of strings (on the basis on their sound alone), one only sounded great on one bass, and the other didn't really excel on any of them. While I love the sound that they bring to the picture, that sound really might not be what the instrument needs to shine. I also didn't expect strings of the same type to sound as different as they did to one another. Three of these sets of strings have practically covered the entire range for me, sounding awful on one instrument, fantastic on another, and meh/solid on the remaining two. The rest of them were also all over the place. Not a single set was actually good on all the instruments and not a single set was actually bad on all of them. And this is not strictly a matter of taste. If the strings don't match the instrument at all, they can sound completely "broken", dead, no presence, no sustain, as if you fished them out of the trash and they have absolutely no life in them whatsoever just making some sort of dull hollow noise. This is the absolute worst case scenario, but they can sound bad in more subtle ways as well. Strings can easily rob the bass of its character and potential, making it sound bland or cheap. P.S. This is obviously dependent on other individual factors as well, but I think it's a safe bet that whatever "good strings" are for you it has to do as much with the interaction between the strings and your instrument as it does with your own taste in strings. Strings can obviously change the tone of the bass, when it comes to frequencies at least. Whatever the instrument lacks can be successfully remedied with strings that have loads of it. However, I feel it's almost impossible to influence the character of the bass in the desired direction or I just don't know how to. (by character I mean whatever way you would use to describe the tone of the instrument other than bassy/middley/trebly, whether it's soft, hard, warm, cold, sharp, round, whatever crazy descriptions we use.) I definitely can't classify a certain sound with such precision to the point where I would know what the "opposite" of that sound is, not even close. And character mismatch probably plays a big role in why some strings take away from the sound of the instrument instead of add to it. In any case, the only major breakthrough I've had here had to do with the positive extreme, meaning: If you love the sound of your bass, and you've found strings that sound very similar to that (e.g. they make your bass #2 sound a lot like your bass #1), they will likely emphasize that sound and make your #1 instrument sound even better. This was the case with the "best" strings I've found on 2/4 basses. On one of them the best strings primarily remedied the lack of presence the instrument has, without going against its character. And on another by pure luck it's both - they both remedy the purely subjective "fault" of the instrument in my ears, and emphasize the rest of its natural tone.

I do, in fact, have some places where to hide them. Behind the sofa, like you said, and even some space in the closet to slip them in upright. What I don't have is a nice accessible place where I could have any more than 1 bass ready to be grabbed and played like I used to. Since I'm neither buying a new flat or moving out actually useful furniture, having a stack of unused basses seems pointless.

I know... I try not to look at it and just enjoy the sound. Wife says it's disgusting!

I've always wondered about people who went far into double digits. It's not that I don't get buying instruments, I get it. But I would not have time to give those instruments any serious amount of playing, and switching from instrument to instrument requires at least some adjustment, so... expensive decoration?

[ cries in Croatian] A single photo incoming edit: no idea why it's so blurry until you click on it

Unlike a mechanic's tool, a musician's tool is connected to the very tangible quality of the final product that also happens to influence them personally through the feeling of satisfaction with their work. The situation is more akin to a cook permanently letting go of some ingredients. Some meals definitely will become more difficult/impossible and others might pass judgement based on that, but you are admitting to yourself you're not striving to be a top chef and just want to enjoy a nice meal now and then.

Different colors? In all seriousness my three jazz basses are as different as they can be. Limelight sounds very woody, custom sounds very plasticky and Fender is in between. Custom has a very deep sound, Fender is quite bright, and Limelight is in between. Different strings suit them, they have very different neck feels, string spacing, etc.

Thank you for the great advice, everyone. I think ultimately the solution is me accepting the things I'll lose, not caring as much about it and embracing the things I'll gain in terms both physical and mental space and hopefully concentrating less on fiddling about with the instruments and more on actual music. I will indeed: -Loan out the custom five string indefinitely to a guitarist in one of my bands. He'll definitely use it to record some low end ideas and I should've thought of it sooner. -Sell the Fender. Just like with my ex Gibson Thunderbird, it's a great bass but it's not unique and I could theoretically buy another one like it if for any reason if I really wanted to. As much as I'd love to have only one bass I'll keep the Limelight Jazz with rounds and the P (which is actually a Limelight PJ) with flats. And then probably buy more Limelights, lol

Haha... yeah, I guess. Nothing in particular, I just bought it fairly recently. Fender is seen as the "default" sound so I can either subdue it with the tone control or make it sound quite modern with the right strings. If cranked it can easily sound like "too much of everything" and it's easier to remove the extra frequencies that are there than it is to add the ones that aren't. Often it's that very sound that sounds terrible singled out that sits best in the recording. I never really knew how to do the same with vintage sounding basses. I find them amazing if they fit as-is, but other than that I've never managed to make one sound modern. I can put steel strings on and pound them with a pick but that brings a different type of aggressive sound not everyone is fond of. But overall I'd say it's probably just my habits and limitations, more than the actual basses themselves.

That's a great idea, but I've been struggling in the past with DADG... I think I'd need a complete 4 string detuner I think that's precisely my issue, which is my least favorite? Perhaps even the bass I play the most since usefulness does not have to be exciting 😕 Oh, I've had more... but at one moment I promised to myself never to have more than 4 again and stuck to it, if needed selling one to buy another. But until now I've always had at least one bass that might have been "fine, but not my thing as much as the others". Was a hoarder when I was single, so now I'm starved for space. Basses are still much cheaper than new apartments! True, but I still miss the ones I've sold. So many unique basses... the ones I had, at least, not this weird 3 x Jazz situation I have now haha