What strings are best for my acoustic bass?

[MrCoffee]

Hello there bassist's,

I am new to the world of bass playing and was told that this is the best site for helpful info. I have recently bought myself a tanglewood acoustic bass, it is a lovely guitar but i feel the strings could be improved. I am not sure what type of strings i have on there at the moment but they sound extremely scratchy especially when i slide my fingers across them.

I am looking for a crisp bright sound without having to put too much effort into bashing it about. I hope this brief description is clear for a helpful reply, many thanks Oliver John Coffee

[BASainty]

Welcome to the site MrCoffee .

It sounds like you might have some phosphor bronze strings on your Tanglewood, I have them on my SX acoustic, I use Fender 8060 Bronzes, they are less scratchy than the other set I had on before when sliding and they give a nice bright crisp sound and for about £11 you cant go wrong! They tend to last quite a while too.

You can always try a different type of string, plenty of guys here use flatwound strings or black nylon strings, these will give you more of a double bass and therefore not as bright sound but you will not get any sound when sliding.

Im not a massive expert on acoustic bass strings but I do recommend trying fender strings, I like them and they have a lot of love from other members too.