What strings do you use

[neepheid]

The only time I've used anything else is some extra long D'addario XLs for my RD Artist for the through body stringing. Had a play with flats a while back - hated Rotos and Fenders, loved Thomastiks. Tried D'addario half rounds and didn't like them - felt sticky to me.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1332843022' post='1593735']
Any other good stainless strings I should consider?
[/quote]

La Bella Hard Rockin' Steels - currently my favourite strings for my Gus basses.

[Alec 'Aleb' Mills]

DR Black Beauties on y Ibanez

Ernie Ball Super Slinky Nickel on my P-Bass

[Johngh]

Been using Status Hotwire rounds for years and found them excellent, but recently tried Warwick Red and Yellow rounds and found them cheap as chips and very good.

Also just splashed out on some Warwick ESP's for my streamer, which are superb. I mainly go for medium gauge strings on all my basses.

[Low End Bee]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1332847608' post='1593815']
La Bella Hard Rockin' Steels - currently my favourite strings for my Gus basses.
[/quote]

Ta. Not stupid money so I'll give them a go.

[fender73]

for 4 string - 35-95 Rotos/Warwick Reds (and Trace Elliots on the Headless)

for the 6'er, currently has a set of Elixirs on, probably put a set of Warwick Reds on next

[ripper1888]

[quote name='paulypbass' timestamp='1330386987' post='1556810']
Been playing bass for about 4 years now and used most string makes. ie rotosound, ernie ball, elites, fender, stagg etc

Out of all the makes iv tryed i really cant find much difference between them, iv i had to pick one make i guess it would be ernie ball.

i do however prefer nickel strings to stainless,

Anyway what do you use do you have a prefered make
[/quote]Finally , and many years ago , I stop searching when I bought my first set of DR strings. Exellent strigs with exellent sound . Expensive but...I would also recommend Thomastik Infeld strings. Pherhaps even more expensive, but..It's all about the sound isn't ?

[JTUK]

[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1332843022' post='1593735']
I've been using DR Black Beauties for a few years now. I've noticed since they 'improved' the coating they've been losing their zing much quicker and the G string is like a rubber band in a week or so.
Very disappointed. Particularly as they look great on a bass.
I got myself a couple of sets of D'Addario Pro Steels (for less than half the price of DRs) and I'm liking them a lot. Sound like brighter RS66s and still have top end after three weeks of hard playing.
I'll trade off the looks and smoothness for the improved sound.

Any other good stainless strings I should consider?
[/quote]

After using DR for nigh on 20 years, I have binned them for Newtone.
I feel Newtone are now making strings that DR used to.

I have posted about this problem more than a couple of times and for me, Newtone
make far superior strings.
Admittedly, I have had custom winds made but I have no reason to think their normal
Diamond series straight out of the pack will not be of the same excellence. Plus for a set of 5 customs. they
are at least £10 cheaper. The money would matter less that the product had DR been on par, but I
honestly don't think that they are these days.

Too many dud strings, and little problems that were not there a few years ago, IME.

[Conan]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1332851917' post='1593918']
After using DR for nigh on 20 years, I have binned them for Newtone.
I feel Newtone are now making strings that DR used to.
[/quote]

Just tried a set of Newtone Diamonds on my Geddy. They're OK - especially for the price, but I prefer the DR MM fatbeams if I'm honest. Are they a-tenner-a-set better? Dunno. Time will tell!

[Spike Vincent]

DR Black Beauties on stage, Daddario nickels everywhere else.However,having just discovered my Favourite Strings of All Time are now back in poduction,I may well be using Daddario XL Reds when I can afford them.

[bassmansr1000]

I use Warwick black label 105's . Good price and long-lasting.

[lee4]

Status flatwound 40-100

[4 Strings]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1332851917' post='1593918']
After using DR for nigh on 20 years, I have binned them for Newtone.
I feel Newtone are now making strings that DR used to.
...
Too many dud strings, and little problems that were not there a few years ago, IME.
[/quote]

Dud strings? Never had one of those, what makes them 'dud'?

[4 Strings]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1332851917' post='1593918']
After using DR for nigh on 20 years, I have binned them for Newtone.
I feel Newtone are now making strings that DR used to.

[/quote]

Had a look on the Newtone website - look really interesting (and they're British!), especially the Platinum Bass type.

Anyone had any experience with these? At £25 a set (3 times the price of the Legacies) I'm conservative with trying out new strings, but these look really interesting.

[krysh]

r. cocco steels or maruszczyk steels and thomastik flats. nothing else for bass.

[charic]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1334562461' post='1617480']
Had a look on the Newtone website - look really interesting (and they're British!), especially the Platinum Bass type.

Anyone had any experience with these? At £25 a set (3 times the price of the Legacies) I'm conservative with trying out new strings, but these look really interesting.
[/quote]

No experience with the standard sets but the quality in general is really spot on.

I asked for them to slightly raise the tension on one string further than they had before and this particular set play BRILLIANTLY for a bass in drop C!

[joeystrange]

I use Dean Markley Misfits Skullbusters. Not bad strings.
I'd like a heavier set but I'm not gonna complain, I get them for free!

[PaulWarning]

just put some new elixir nanowebs on after having the old ones on for a year, about 30 gigs and practices most weeks, and I can't tell any difference, either I'm even more deaf than I thought or they're very good value foe money, £27 off ebay

[charic]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1334566628' post='1617552']
just put some new elixir nanowebs on after having the old ones on for a year, about 30 gigs and practices most weeks, and I can't tell any difference, either I'm even more deaf than I thought or they're very good value foe money, £27 off ebay
[/quote]

Try then with a stiff pick for a week*, if you can't hear a difference then you ARE deaf

[i]*Warning, will result in a horrendous mess and needing new strings [/i]

[Geek99]

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1332846985' post='1593803']



[/quote]
I'm with him - they're cheap and cheerful and work well. Last for ages too.

[MrTaff]

Whatever I can get cheap, currently Fender 7250's, before that Roto's, as long as they still sound bright I'm not that picky, I can't stand dead strings.

[JTUK]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1334562078' post='1617476']
Dud strings? Never had one of those, what makes them 'dud'?
[/quote]

In the last 18months or so, I've had a dud set new out of the pack... and by dud I mean a couple of strings were less bright that the rest so in effect writing off that set... so I tried to clean them up and one
of the strings adopted a series of kinks and therefore was never straight even when tensioned... this made the string unresponsive so I had to take that set straight off and bin them, pretty much.
Other sets have been ok out of the pack but did not clean up at all well....so I cleaned up a set of Ken Smiths and put them on.

So, in summary, I could no longer justify the extra monies on sets of string that served me so well in previous times.. but have just been a waste of time and money lately.
And because of these experiences and the high previuous standards, I am not willing to go back to them and see that I was just unlucky.

I could accpet the odd dud now and again... IF they still cleaned up as well..which they always used to.
I've still got sets that have been on and off 3 or 4 times ..so if I can get them to fit my new peg configs, I might clean up a few just to
hamer home the point.

There is no point me paying nigh on £40 for a 5 string set and getting a month out of them... they have to clean up a few times.

By contrast, the strings I am using now...look way cleaner after nearly 4 months..which is an unheard of period of time on a bass for me...and sound pretty damn good as well.
They were never as bright out of the pack...but they don't dull as quick either.

[JTUK]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1334562461' post='1617480']
Had a look on the Newtone website - look really interesting (and they're British!), especially the Platinum Bass type.

Anyone had any experience with these? At £25 a set (3 times the price of the Legacies) I'm conservative with trying out new strings, but these look really interesting.
[/quote]

I use the Diamond series with individual taper winds on each string.. VERY clean metal out of the pack and I noticed that straight away, so don't know the Platinum series tho.

I am going to order some more Diamonds today..thanks for the reminder.

[joeystrange]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1334562461' post='1617480']
Had a look on the Newtone website - look really interesting (and they're British!), especially the Platinum Bass type.

Anyone had any experience with these? At £25 a set (3 times the price of the Legacies) I'm conservative with trying out new strings, but these look really interesting.
[/quote]

I used them for a while a few years ago - they're actually made about 2 mins from where I work.
Anyway, I used them for a few months and they were great. Nice and bright and lasted pretty long too. Then I put on a new set and a string broke at a gig the next day. T^hey were the last set I bought.

I've also heard that they're really helpful and will make you a balanced set of strings for whatever tuning you want.

[chrismuzz]

Newtone strings are by far the best I've used. Especially if you ask for stainless steel! I use a custom set on my downtuned 6 string and they're still on well over a year later! With my other basses I use Elites simply because they're a lot cheaper, and still good quality great sounding strings!

I used to exclusively use Ernie Balls which I love. The best nickel wounds I'd used before the Newtones but sadly they are extremely expensive and don't come in steels!

Edited April 16, 2012 by chrismuzz