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The feckin' price of coated strings lately!!!!


LITTLEWING
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I was about to buy a couple of sets of 5 string Elixir Nanowebs to replace my 6 month old sets as an Xmas treat on my two regularly gigged basses (yes, they DO last that long and are only just starting to dull a little) and did the usual gander on Amazon and the 'bay first.

Whoah momma, who decided that they should put nearly another ten squids on top since the last purchase? Even Earnest Ballbag have gone up too.

Obviously over time they've got us hooked with the great feel, sound and longevity and I guess they think we can't do without the 'drug' now and willingly hand over extra hard-earned just to keep that 'high' going.

Admittedly. 40-odd notes just twice versus 25 about six times a year isn't too bad I suppose, but come on chaps, play the game. It's a coat of plastic, not gold.

The robbin' b*ggers!!

Hope their turkey gives them the squits.

:angry:

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Someone posted just the other day about a similar percentage price rise on Picato strings, so perhaps it's not just coated strings.

I wouldn't really know as I like my strings deader than a dead thing and buying new strings is a thankfully rare experience.

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[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1386197582' post='2297227']
Said it before, Legacy Strings from Stringsdirect.co.uk - £7.99 a pop and do the job jus' fine!
[/quote]Yeah, I saw your post the other day and was looking at them only this evening.

£9.95 for a five set of 45-130 can't be bad even if they stay reasonably bright for ten gigs.

Hell, I'm gonna order some right now.

:P

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I managed to find an Amazon dealer doing 4 string sets for £31 thankfully, but the cheapest i can find the 4 string sets anywhere else is £38, though i need a bus ride on top of that to the shop to get them (After calling them to place an order so they can get them in) so it still ends up being over 40 quid.

Liam

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[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1386200032' post='2297264']
I managed to find an Amazon dealer doing 4 string sets for £31 thankfully, but the cheapest i can find the 4 string sets anywhere else is £38, though i need a bus ride on top of that to the shop to get them (After calling them to place an order so they can get them in) so it still ends up being over 40 quid.

Liam
[/quote]

You might find it cheaper to import them from the USA. Even with tax and duty they often work out cheaper. And stuff does occasionally slip through the net.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1386197363' post='2297225']
Someone posted just the other day about a similar percentage price rise on Picato strings, so perhaps it's not just coated strings.

I wouldn't really know as I like my strings deader than a dead thing and buying new strings is a thankfully rare experience.
[/quote] It was me who posted about the Picato strings then went up a fiver overnight but on looking around most strings seem to have gone up in price wonder if it is because the price of metal has gone up? Regarding the Legacy strings I did not really like them they sounded fine but I just did not like the feel after a while thought they were OK at first I think there is a guy on here who sells cheapish Elixir strings and has other makes for sale, bust must admit I am keeping my eye out for the 735's and if they are cheap enough may stock up and if I cant get those I might try Warwick yellow labels I have heard some good things about them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote name='Mark_Bass' timestamp='1388829290' post='2326451']
Taking a cue from the posts here I brought two sets of light elixirs from the US fleabay.
All in with shipping it was £63 so assuming I don't get stung on import it works out as a decent saving.
[/quote]
Fingers crossed for you!

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[quote name='Mark_Bass' timestamp='1388829290' post='2326451']
Taking a cue from the posts here I brought two sets of light elixirs from the US fleabay.
All in with shipping it was £63 so assuming I don't get stung on import it works out as a decent saving.
[/quote]
I've been getting DR neons from the states for a while now, never had any trouble with extra charges

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What do we expect? We can't have our cake and eat it too. You want cheap strings? Fine - don't expect them to last. You want strings that last? Fine - don't expect them to be cheap.

The thing is, selling more of something keeps the price down, as long as the supply is a bit ahead of the demand. Selling less of something pushes the manufacturing price up. You either sell them cheap and fast, or slow and expensive. If you are buying a set every 6 months, instead of maybe a set every month or 2, the price will go up. It's completely your choice what you buy, though.

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To be fair to Elixir - they did announce an imminent 45% price increase last year, with plenty of warning. There were threads on here about it, and it was on Stringbusters / Strings Direct websites too - and in their email marketing.

I don't use their strings, but a couple of mates do so they just bought as many as they could stretch to before the price rise.


Oh - and they are often way cheaper on Amazon. Just have to keep looking!

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_5_6?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=elixir%20bass%20strings&sprefix=Elixir%2Caps%2C193"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_5_6?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=elixir%20bass%20strings&sprefix=Elixir%2Caps%2C193[/url]

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[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1389036942' post='2329171']
What do we expect? We can't have our cake and eat it too. You want cheap strings? Fine - don't expect them to last. You want strings that last? Fine - don't expect them to be cheap.

The thing is, selling more of something keeps the price down, as long as the supply is a bit ahead of the demand. Selling less of something pushes the manufacturing price up. You either sell them cheap and fast, or slow and expensive. If you are buying a set every 6 months, instead of maybe a set every month or 2, the price will go up. It's completely your choice what you buy, though.
[/quote]

I don't disagree with you in principle but in practice the price of bass strings in the UK still seems disproportionately high to me.

Take the elixir nanowebs, for instance. £43 at stringsdirect (who are a company I like and I'm not having a go at them). The same strings are about $35 at most US retailers. Thats £26 [i]retail[/i]. Knock some dollars off to get to the wholesale price, add on a few dollars per pack to get them shipped to the UK (strings are small and robust so shipping should be easy), add 25% VAT and duty and you get nowhere near £43.

I recently bought a set of D'addarios for a 6 string bass for £12 from the US. They're £25+ in most UK stores. Thats a really painful markup for UK customers. Nearly every guitar shop in the UK stocks d'addario strings, so they'll all be getting regular deliveries of the more common D'addario strings, so its not even like they're going to have to be shipped over especially---just added into an existing delivery.

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[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1389194754' post='2331164']
I don't disagree with you in principle but in practice the price of bass strings in the UK still seems disproportionately high to me.

Take the elixir nanowebs, for instance. £43 at stringsdirect (who are a company I like and I'm not having a go at them). The same strings are about $35 at most US retailers. Thats £26 [i]retail[/i]. Knock some dollars off to get to the wholesale price, add on a few dollars per pack to get them shipped to the UK (strings are small and robust so shipping should be easy), add 25% VAT and duty and you get nowhere near £43.

I recently bought a set of D'addarios for a 6 string bass for £12 from the US. They're £25+ in most UK stores. Thats a really painful markup for UK customers. Nearly every guitar shop in the UK stocks d'addario strings, so they'll all be getting regular deliveries of the more common D'addario strings, so its not even like they're going to have to be shipped over especially---just added into an existing delivery.
[/quote]

The thing is - companies like D'Addario are really strongly in favour of providing jobs locally, which I say fair play to them. The down side to this, for us, is that we have to pay higher import taxes and duty to get them here, because the value is higher than if they were produced in an eastern economy. Although they shouldn't be so much higher in price as to warrant somebody ordering from the USA. I think the suppliers are quite careful about that - can't say the same for retailers though - they set their own prices.

I believe we got a set of Elixir Nanowebs in recently. Not sure of the price. I could find out if anyone is interested to know?

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[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1389299530' post='2332652']
I was in the shop earlier today - We have a set of Nanowebs in for £35. I think we got a special deal on it though. Bass strings don't sell that well in the shop I work in, so we only ordered one set :rolleyes:
[/quote]

Good price that! I bought a set in a local shop 18 months ago (before the price increase) for £40

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[quote name='tallmanmax' timestamp='1389918202' post='2339663']
This seems like a good deal:-

[url="http://www.djmmusic.com/p-13406-elixir-nanoweb-bass-guitar-strings.aspx"]http://www.djmmusic....ar-strings.aspx[/url]
[/quote]

Well spotted! £30 for a set of Elixirs is what I'd call very reasonable :)

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