How often do you change your groundwounds?

[SlowlyButSurely]

I've always used roundwounds in the past, usually Rotosound, but about a month ago I put a set of Elites Groundwounds on my P bass. They sound wonderful, exactly the sort of sound I like. And I particularly like the absence of string noise.

 

With roundwounds I usually change them every couple of months when they start to go a bit dead. I'm just wondering how long the groundwounds will last. In the past month I've done 3 gigs and 4 rehearsals plus about an hour a day practise with them. They have lost some of their initial brightness but still sound good after tweaking the upper mids on the EQ a bit.

 

How often do you change yours?

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I purchased a fretless bass ( vester) ,and was wondering what strings were fitted . Of all the basses I have /had , the action and feel of the bass is the best of all . 
The bass was purchased in 1995 /‘96 and still sounds and feel amazing. Sound hasn’t changed much if at all. 
I did fit them on my telecaster for a short time, which I used to have and they were great on them too. 
Thanks to another basschatter , for letting me know what they were. 
The only downside, is that they are apparently very expensive strings..

Edited October 22, 2023 by RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

[Pow_22]

I love Elites and was a regular user of both their flats and grounds.  Only reason i switched brands as i always felt the E went dead much earlier than the rest and rendered the set very unbalanced.  Their flats in particular were as close to perfect as ive found on the G, D and A - old school thumpy but with something going on in the mids.  Would be interested to hear how you get on with the grounds going forward

[Maude]

D'addario half rounds are my go to string. As for when I change them? If they ain't broke.... 

[SlowlyButSurely]

Ok, quick update now that I have been using the groundwounds for just over six weeks on my P bass:

 

When I fitted them I needed to make an adjustment to the truss rod, presumably because of the higher tension. I found that I can set the action much lower than with roundwounds. This is a significant benefit for me. I find the strings just as playable as roundwounds, unlike the flats I tried some years ago which required much more pressure from the fingers to fret cleanly.

 

The sound from my P bass, which has a Wilkinson pickup, is clean and punchy just how I like it, with virtually no string noise. After 6 weeks playing which includes 3 gigs, 5 rehearsals and daily practise the strings are still sounding good. After about 3 weeks I found the E string was a bit quieter than the others so raised the pickup slightly which sorted it.

 

There used to be an intermittent dead spot around the 7th fret on the D string which disappeared when I put the groundwounds on. Can't explain that. The sound/volume is now very consistent across all strings.

 

All in all I'm very happy with them.