Cat Burrito Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 I suppose when I only used flatwounds (& the philosophy was they never got changed) it bothered me less, but now I'm using roundwound a lot more I'm needing to change strings much more regularly. It got me to thinking about the difference in cost between guitar & bass strings. For nearly 30 years guitar strings seemed set at £5 a packet and yet bass strings seem to range anywhere between £16 - £45. I get that they are thicker and maybe don't get changed as frequently but wondered if the increase in cost was directly proportionate to these factors? Interestingly, as an aside I am restringing my upright bass this week. Again same factors but my strings were £100 and the most expensive set I saw were these at £550 https://www.thomann.de/gb/pirastro_eudoxa_kontrabasssaiten.htm - I assume they must be pretty good?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 26 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said: Interestingly, as an aside I am restringing my upright bass this week. Again same factors but my strings were £100 and the most expensive set I saw were these at £550 https://www.thomann.de/gb/pirastro_eudoxa_kontrabasssaiten.htm - I assume they must be pretty good?!? I can only imagine the level of depression if one of those broke during installation 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 I`ve just swapped string allegiance to Warwick Red Label steel rounds. Found a place in Germany doing them at about £7.90 a set, plus delivery, so buy 6 packs at a time, comes to under £55. Which is nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burns-bass Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 The bass market is probably a tenth of that of the Guitar market, so probably explains it a little. Upright bass strings a tenth of that again I’d estimate. How often do Guitar players change strings? Again the relationship is probably the same - 10 times as often as a bass player and 100 times more often than an upright player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted March 27, 2018 Author Share Posted March 27, 2018 10 minutes ago, Lozz196 said: I`ve just swapped string allegiance to Warwick Red Label steel rounds. Found a place in Germany doing them at about £7.90 a set, plus delivery, so buy 6 packs at a time, comes to under £55. Which is nice. Clawing back a small victory for bass players Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Dean Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 2 hours ago, Lozz196 said: I`ve just swapped string allegiance to Warwick Red Label steel rounds. Found a place in Germany doing them at about £7.90 a set, plus delivery, so buy 6 packs at a time, comes to under £55. Which is nice. Any chance that you could measure them for me to see of they could cover a 36" scale . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Yeah no worries - assume they just need to be 2 inches longer than for my Precision? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazzbass Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 best value are the D'Addario XL165/XL170 twin packs. Search for them online Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted March 29, 2018 Author Share Posted March 29, 2018 9 hours ago, bazzbass said: best value are the D'Addario XL165/XL170 twin packs. Search for them online These are what I buy for my electric basses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 1 hour ago, Cat Burrito said: These are what I buy for my electric basses Me too. Strings and Beyond are worth a look for good prices, even with postage from the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBin Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 15 hours ago, bazzbass said: best value are the D'Addario XL165/XL170 twin packs. Search for them online Normally around £32 a pack that I can find. Registering for the Players Circle on the D'addario website gets you a free set every 8 too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tut Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 I've been using Legacy strings lately which are apparently rebadged, rotosounds at under £12 a set. No complaints at all there. Having seen Lozz's post though I've searched Warwick Red Label, which I've used in the past and seen that they're available at Gear For Music at under £8 a pack. Think I'll get some of them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 1 hour ago, King Tut said: I've been using Legacy strings lately which are apparently rebadged, rotosounds at under £12 a set. No complaints at all there. Having seen Lozz's post though I've searched Warwick Red Label, which I've used in the past and seen that they're available at Gear For Music at under £8 a pack. Think I'll get some of them. I've used them for years with no issues _ I have also seen Blue - although I have no idea what the difference is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 The cost of bass strings is just like anything else. Certain intrinsic and extrinsic market factors determine the price. A big intrinsic factor is the market size and ability to achieve economies of scale through mass production. Extrinsic factors being wholesale prices of raw materials (steel and other metals), exchange rates, import duties, labour costs, the list goes on. The thing is that for the most part, the costs to produce a bass string are largely the same as the costs to produce a guitar string. Where they diverge is the amount of material required and the length of time it takes to make. So even though the wrap on a particular bass string may be coming off the same spool of steel as the wrap on a guitar string, the extra steel required and the extra time required for the bass string drives the price up. Let's suppose, simply for the sake of demonstration, that one of the string winding machines in a string factory can do 20 guitar strings in an hour, or 14 bass strings in an hour. By the end of an 8 hour shift, a single operator could produce 160 guitar strings, or 112 bass strings. Looking at the labour cost alone, and let's say they get the current UK minimum wage of £7.50 per hour, that's £0.38 per guitar string, or £0.54 per bass string, and in fact it's generally accepted that the wage a employee gets is only about 70% of what it actually costs to employ somebody when you factor in all other associated costs like pensions and other benefits, so in the real world that's probably going to push the labour cost up to about £0.70 for the bass string. That's before the material costs are considered. The supply chains for these things is normally massive and global. Ore mined in Australia might be refined to steel in China, then shipped to the USA where raw steel is processed into components for strings according to the specifications the manufacturer has given, then shipped to the manufacturer, perhaps halfway across the country again, made into strings in their factory, then boxed up and shipped out to probably most the countries in the world. Supply chains on this scale aren't cheap to set up and maintain, and that's why volume production yields a lower unit cost, because the high costs are spread across a higher number of units, so any reduction in the number of units that can be produced means a disproportionately higher unit cost. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Dean Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 5 hours ago, King Tut said: I've been using Legacy strings lately which are apparently rebadged, rotosounds at under £12 a set. No complaints at all there. Having seen Lozz's post though I've searched Warwick Red Label, which I've used in the past and seen that they're available at Gear For Music at under £8 a pack. Think I'll get some of them. I've just ordered a set , I just hope they fit my 36" Shuker ....Interestingly I just took off my 2 week old set of Newtone string & replaced with a two week old Rotosound swingbass & I can't tell the difference at all , I mainly play with a plectrum & maybe other styles would show a difference ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Just ordered some of the Warwick ones, a standard set and a set for my acoustic bass. Will be interesting to see how they sound. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidder652003 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Ive used the Harley Benton sets at £4.30 a pop, they're fine, I also have a set of DR Highbeams which are better but at £30 a set not that much better, If you're changing em every 3 months or so if gigging regularly then to me its a no brainer, the difference in a band setting is negligible (IMO) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Dean Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 2 minutes ago, skidder652003 said: Ive used the Harley Benton sets at £4.30 a pop, they're fine, I also have a set of DR Highbeams which are better but at £30 a set not that much better, If you're changing em every 3 months or so if gigging regularly then to me its a no brainer, the difference in a band setting is negligible (IMO) Do you think they are long enough for a 36" scale ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidder652003 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 7 minutes ago, Kevin Dean said: Do you think they are long enough for a 36" scale ? Further information String gauge 045 - 065 - 085 - 105 Material Nickel Plated Scale Long Scale Taperwound No 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 58 minutes ago, skidder652003 said: Further information String gauge 045 - 065 - 085 - 105 Material Nickel Plated Scale Long Scale Taperwound No arent 36" classed as extra long scale ? He'd need to find the actual strings lengths Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Dean Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 4 minutes ago, Geek99 said: arent 36" classed as extra long scale ? He'd need to find the actual strings lengths some standard long scale are just long enough , on some legacy I had to cut the odd silk back , Elites stated to tapper too soon by about 2mm . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Find the strings you like and want to use. Base your decision on their feel, sound and longevity. If they make you sound that good then just put your hand in your pocket. It's a small price to pay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Dean Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 for me the question is will they really last 4 times longer than a set that costs a quarter of the price ? & what makes a string sound brighter for longer apart from the coated strings surely dirt & sweat will have the same effect on any string ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 I'm with chris_b. When I find a string that makes me think "hey handsome, how are YOU doin'?"... the price differential does not matter all that much. We're talking about a difference of at best £25-30 when considering the cheapest strings possible, but more something like £15-20. I don't change strings for every gig. Fortunately I do not like the very bright sound of new strings, so even if I changed them every 4-6 months (it's more like 9-12 months for me), am I going to compromise for the sake of £5 a month? Strings vary a lot in their flexibility, roughness and of course sound. They can really transform an instrument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Since using nickel strings I've gone from Fender nickels to D'addario nickels and recently tried DR nickels but to be honest the DR's didn't warrant the extra cost. Think i might try the Rotosound nickels and if they don't do it for me i will go back to the Fender or D'addario. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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