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Strings advice


OscarJWL
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I inherited this 1985 Headless Washburn bantam off my grandmother around a year ago, and in the past 6 months I’ve really got into the bass as my second instrument. As soon as it came through the door we knew it was in dire need of servicing, but we didn’t start until I stupidly snapped one of the strings.  Though I’ve taken up the responsibility to fix it up myself, and I’m confident in repairing/replacing parts, I’m unsure what strings would be appropriate for it. 
While COVID-19 has given me plenty of time to improve my playing ability, I’ve not been able to go to a store and a have feel of what strings would be suitable and get some first hand suggestions. 
I’d appreciate some advice for some good, and relatively affordable strings, preferably some heavier ones with a warm sound.

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Personally - the biggest thing for me with strings is playability which is a pretty personal thing so you may go through a bit of trial and error. 

What is your first instrument? What did you like or dislike about the old strings? Why do you say you want heavier strings? Do you like the feel of the higher tension?

If you go for roundwound strings they may sound brighter than you want initially. Something with a nickel wrap rather than stainless steel with have a bit less “ping”.

I don’t think you’ll need to be limited to double ball end strings - you may be able to use a regular string and clip and clamp one end just behind the nut. If you go down this route then you’ll have a lot more options.

If you want “warm” (which says “old soul / Motown to me”) you could try some flatwounds. I’m a big fan of Thomastik-Infeld jazz flats and a pro player mate of mine swears by D’Addario Chromes. Neither are super high tension though (a common feature of flats) though the TIs are a bit of an acquired taste (realt quite low tension).

 

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