Acoustic bass strings

[lemmywinks]

It's time to re-string my acoustic bass (an old Ozark cheapy), usually i go for D'addario phosphor bronze but money is a bit tight. I was wondering if there's anything cheaper knocking about? Can't afford to stick £25 strings on a knock-about bass but would like a similar sound to the sound D'adarrios give.

Anybody used these?

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acoustic-Bass-Strings-Phosphor-Bronze-Medium-Light_W0QQitemZ290403483520QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item439d657f80"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acoustic-Bass-String...=item439d657f80[/url]

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-string-Acoustic-bass-guitar-strings-040-95-by-Olympia_W0QQitemZ130350564278QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item1e597fc3b6"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-string-Acoustic-ba...=item1e597fc3b6[/url]

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acoustic-Bass-Guitar-Strings-by-Adagio-RRP-15-99_W0QQitemZ330303747759QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item4ce7a336af"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acoustic-Bass-Guitar...=item4ce7a336af[/url]


Cheers!
Steve

[Dom in Dorset]

I didn't find that it made a lot of difference what strings i used on my cheapy acoustic. I tried £40 bronze strings , nice tone for about a month then dead. I found cheap electric strings did the job.
In my experience a lot of acoustic strings are very light gauge, my Ibanez came with nice heavy bronze strings, i've no idea what they are._edit: I've just measured them 45,65,80,100, not as fat as i thought but a tad fatter than many.
I'd go for the Trace - because it's the only brand i've heard of
or - whatever is the heaviest gauge.

Edited March 30, 2010 by Dom in Somerset

[lemmywinks]

I got the Trace ones in the end, they're 100-40 so should be ok. The Olympia ones looked too cheapy and you can get the Adagios for £17 for 2 sets, probably the same strings. The Trace ones are USA made so should be a bit better, my housemate bought some cheap 6 string acoustic sets off eBay and they were awful, literally not worth the £1.69 they cost him!

I tried normal steels a while ago and didn't like them as much, same with the black nylon-coated ones i tried.

[Dom in Dorset]

Black nylons are great on acoustic fretless, I'd imagine they are a bit dull on fretted.