How much do you spend on strings

[ahpook]

12 hours ago, casapete said:

Whatever deals I can get on D’Addario EXL strings, usually £20 to £25 a set. Used to get them for a lot

less from the US but recent increases mean it’s barely worth it now. Get through about 4 or 5

sets a year on my main bass, and never had a duff string or one break either.

 

Same here.

[rushbo]

I've only recently discovered "my brand" which are Rotosound RB35's. They tend to be about £17 everywhere. I use flats on a couple of my basses and unless I see a set or two at a good price second-hand, I'll go for an Olympia or Adagio set from eBay. 

Edited September 5, 2023 by rushbo

[BigRedX]

Depends on the bass. IME there is no one brand/type gauge of string that suits every bass. In the past I have spent between £10 and £60 for a set depending on what worked best for each particular bass. At the moment for the four basses I use regularly I have four different sets of strings costing between £20 and £35

[cetera]

Owning 83 basses currently, I just pick up a different bass when the strings go dead on another....😂🤣

 

But, seriously, I just pay as little as possible on a set of D'Addario EXL165's as and when required. Usually under £25 a set....

[binky_bass]

15 minutes ago, cetera said:

Owning 83 basses currently, I just pick up a different bass when the strings go dead on another....😂🤣

 

But, seriously, I just pay as little as possible on a set of D'Addario EXL165's as and when required. Usually under £25 a set....

At £25 a set it'd cost you £2075 to re-string your herd! 💸 💰 

[MrCrane]

Pah! Amateurs!

 

Last set of strings I bought cost £218.

 

 

(Admittedly they were a set for an Upright  🙂)

 

For a bass guitar, the last set I bought cost £50 (Thomastiks) but that was in 2014 and they're almost broken in by now.

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by MrCrane

[fretmeister]

For steel rounds - DR Hi Beams at about £38

 

For most flats - Ernie Ball Group iv - can usually find them for about £38 and they last for ages.

 

For 2 basses I cannot get away from my beloved Dunlop flats. They are absolutely stupidly priced at about £85 (fluctuates a lot) for 4 string and over £100 for 5 string but I get years and years out of them. Over a 5 year period I would have spent far more on the Hi Beam rounds. The Dunlops used to be about the £50 mark but over the last 18 months they've gone mad. I've tried loads of others to see if I can get the same feel for a cheaper price without success. It would have been cheaper to just buy some more Dunlops than try a load of others!

 

I recently restrung my 5 string after about 5 or 6 years with them on. They were still fine, I had just managed to put a bad bend in a string when I had lent the bass on the edge of a table.

 

So really they only cost me about £20 a year.

[Boodang]

BGs have it easy, try strings for DB.... currently I'm using Obligato's which are about £250 a set. Admittedly you don't have to change them very often but you do need a spare set as well.

For BG I use TI flats and Galli Synthesis, about £45 a set. 

For me strings are an essential part of my sound and feel, so price really isn't the issue. Cheap or expensive, so long as they sound and feel good, although it seems to be the not cheap ones that fit the bill.

[Cliff Edge]

19 hours ago, JoeEvans said:

I'm interested in how much you all spend on strings - per set, not per year. Do you go Tesco Value (Harley Benton), Waitrose (La Bella) or Fortnum and Mason (Thomastik)?

Lately Waitrose and Fortnum and Mason but Waitrose wins. I put TI Jazz flats on three basses, replacing La Bella DTB’s but after a few weeks the old played in La Bella’s are back on all of them and the TI’s are back in the packets. An interesting experiment but for me ultimately a waste of money. 

[Cliff Edge]

19 hours ago, JoeEvans said:

I'm interested in how much you all spend on strings - per set, not per year. Do you go Tesco Value (Harley Benton), Waitrose (La Bella) or Fortnum and Mason (Thomastik

Edited September 5, 2023 by Cliff Edge
Duplicate post

[Jackroadkill]

Thus far I've only bought two sets (one for each bass), both Rotosound RS66LD's at £21.95.

 

I'm tempted to try some flats at some point so that'll mean buying another bass to put them on.  That's the right way to do these thing, I assume?

[Lozz196]

9 minutes ago, Jackroadkill said:

Thus far I've only bought two sets (one for each bass), both Rotosound RS66LD's at £21.95.

 

I'm tempted to try some flats at some point so that'll mean buying another bass to put them on.  That's the right way to do these thing, I assume?

Undoubtably the Basschat way

[woodyratm]

This thread makes me sad. I have had to replace my one of my basses about 3 times in 2 months. Using Payson. £15 for the low string each. 
 

They die so quick. I’m trying the Newtone strings on my new 6 and they’ll go on the 5 when back from Sims.

Edited September 5, 2023 by woodyratm

[SuperSeagull]

I have just tried some of the Legacy brand from Strings Direct at £15 for a set, so far so good at around £7 a set cheaper than the Elites I would usually buy. The Status always gets Hot Wires which are great value. 

[Cato]

For the Jazz and Precision I'll buy a couple of sets of DR Hi Beams each per year so probably somewhere between £140-£160 a year on roundwounds depending on what price I can find them for 

 

It was considerably cheaper than that a few years ago when you could get Hi Beams imported from the US on Amazon for between £20-£30.

 

For me if there's not much point using roundwounds if they've lost their brightness.

 

As for my fretless Sire I bought a set of Labella Jamerson flatwounds at the same time I bought the bass, but 4 years later I've never felt the need to change the flats it arrived with.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

The sets I 've bought most recently are D'addario Chromes ECB81M for the mustangs and the Starfire, Ernie Ball Cobalt flats on the thunderbirds. I paid around £50 a set for the chromes & around £40 for the cobalts. My precisions and other basses are okay with what they already have - mostly 10 year old thomastic JF344s

[Steve Browning]

Very fortunate to be a Rotosound endorsee, which is enormously helpful and for which I am very grateful.

[Skybone]

Whatever deals I can find for D'Addario Pro Steels, usually about £22, but they seem to have gone up quite a bit recently. Good job I have a few sets "in stock".

[ossyrocks]

5 hours ago, Cliff Edge said:

Lately Waitrose and Fortnum and Mason but Waitrose wins. I put TI Jazz flats on three basses, replacing La Bella DTB’s but after a few weeks the old played in La Bella’s are back on all of them and the TI’s are back in the packets. An interesting experiment but for me ultimately a waste of money. 

I’ll buy your TI JF344s if that’s what they were.

[ossyrocks]

Bass Direct do La Bella LTFs for £40. I can buy TI JF344 flats for £45 at my local shop. Those are all I use. The longer they are on, the better they get! 

[Tjhooker]

9 hours ago, cetera said:

Owning 83 basses currently, I just pick up a different bass when the strings go dead on another....😂🤣

 

But, seriously, I just pay as little as possible on a set of D'Addario EXL165's as and when required. Usually under £25 a set....

Over 2 grand to change all your strings at once... 😮

You could probably get a euro Spector in the sales for that 🤣

[Mickyk]

6 hours ago, Cliff Edge said:

Lately Waitrose and Fortnum and Mason but Waitrose wins. I put TI Jazz flats on three basses, replacing La Bella DTB’s but after a few weeks the old played in La Bella’s are back on all of them and the TI’s are back in the packets. An interesting experiment but for me ultimately a waste of money. 

Would you be looking to sell the TI flats.

[Rodders]

£40-50 on GHS or La Bella flats. If you break down the initial cost its not bad given how long they last me. 

Always ask on the Wanted Forum first in case anyone has a set they want to sell.

[Cliff Edge]

14 hours ago, ossyrocks said:

I’ll buy your TI JF344s if that’s what they were.

Thanks for the offers but I’ll hang to them as spares as there is still one other bass here that still uses them as it prefers low tension strings. 
And honestly I don’t think you’d like them, they’re not in the best condition as they’ve been on and off more times than the proverbial loose woman’s knickers. 

[JoeEvans]

Thanks for this interesting overview everyone, looks like the only consistent themes are diversity and personal taste!