Bass Players - How Often Do You Change Your Strings?

Malice

As the thread title says, I'm just wondering how often you folks change your bass strings. The last two basses I bought got their strings changed as soon as I got them home but I haven't changed them since. One bass has had the same strings on it since May 2008. I change the strings if I notice they are manky but that's about it.

So, what about the rest of you?

Rigsby

I have TI jazz flats on one of my basses since early '07, and it'll be a while before I'll need to change them.

I use rounds on the other bass. At a guess I'd say I change them every 3 or 4 months. I wipe them down after every gig or practice, and always wash my hands before I play. Helps to prolong their life.

It all depends on how often you play, and whether you like the sound of dead rounds, which most people dont (also depends on how full your wallet is !!! ).

James Jamerson never changed his strings.

Fatgoogle

I prefer bright strings, so would ideallymbe looking to change them once a month but i just cant aford that, so it just means dialling in bit more trable each go.

Dord

For basses with roundwounds it's usually every couple of months depending on how often I'm playing it though. My #1 is due a string change but I can't afford it right now so I'm playing another. The other one has tapewound strings and they've been on it for a year. They still sound good, but I'm changing them soon for other reasons (due to grounding noise).

eoin5

I used to let it slide for ages before changing strings but now its about every month or so. I'm gonna try some rotosound long life ones next time round.

Malice

sugarman wrote: »

It really depends how manky they get, usually i can get about a year or two after boiling them maybe twice:P

Actually, that's something else I've often wondered about. Do people really boil their strings? I would have thought the water would do far more damage than simple grime.

Rigsby wrote:

James Jamerson never changed his strings.

Except maybe when one broke .

Rigsby

malice_ wrote: »

Actually, that's something else I've often wondered about. Do people really boil their strings? I would have thought the water would do far more damage than simple grime.

This subject comes up a lot on bass forums. Seemingly a lot still do boil their strings, and claim they get a longer life from them this way. Personally, I agree with you that water + metal = rust. I think a good wipe down after each play is almost as good.

Dord

malice_ wrote: »

Actually, that's something else I've often wondered about. Do people really boil their strings? I would have thought the water would do far more damage than simple grime.

Except maybe when one broke .

Nope, they don't break.... or very rarely. The strings he used that is.
I use the same ones, Labella 760N Tapewounds. They're steel roundwounds coated in black nylon tape.

Rigsby

Dord wrote: »

Nope, they don't break.... or very rarely. The strings he used that is.
I use the same ones, Labella 760N Tapewounds. They're steel roundwounds coated in black nylon tape.

Yeah, they are the ones Jamerson used. Seemingly he used the thickest gauge available, and also had the action ridiculously high. If I remember correctly, he had the same strings on for close to 27 years :eek: When they began to lose their tone from age, people tried to get him to change to other types, to no avail.

Later in his life he was given a fretless bass to try out. His opinion : "don't ever ask me to play such a useless heap of junk again".

Malice

Dord wrote: »

I use the same ones, Labella 760N Tapewounds. They're steel roundwounds coated in black nylon tape.

I'm curious about them now, do you order them online?

Dord

malice_ wrote: »

I'm curious about them now, do you order them online?

Yes, I got them from Saitenkatalog.de (that means string catalog )
Just be aware if you're ordering them that there will be no path to ground through the strings because of the nylon tape and as such your bass may be noisy. I'll take a close up pic of them later to show you, they look like a black power cable - extremely smooth. :pac:

Malice

Dord wrote: »

Yes, I got them from Saitenkatalog.de (that means string catalog )
Just be aware if you're ordering them that there will be no path to ground through the strings because of the nylon tape and as such your bass may be noisy. I'll take a close up pic of them later to show you, they look like a black power cable - extremely smooth. :pac:

Thanks for the link. I'll bookmark it to make sure I remember it. When you say noisy do you mean tone-wise or that there will be a kind of humming sound coming from the amp?

Dord

malice_ wrote: »

Thanks for the link. I'll bookmark it to make sure I remember it. When you say noisy do you mean tone-wise or that there will be a kind of humming sound coming from the amp?

No, not tone-wise. I mean ground hum that will come through the amp.

You could combat this by using active EMG's which don't need to be grounded through the strings.

Malice

Dord wrote: »

No, not tone-wise. I mean ground hum that will come through the amp.

You could combat this by using active EMG's which don't need to be grounded through the strings.

Yeah ground hum can be a bugger sometimes. Would any active pickups be suitable or would they have to be EMGs? Both of the basses I play most often have active pickups in them (Ibanez ADX and Bartolini MK1)

Dord

malice_ wrote: »

Yeah ground hum can be a bugger sometimes. Would any active pickups be suitable or would they have to be EMGs? Both of the basses I play most often have active pickups in them (Ibanez ADX and Bartolini MK1)

Barts aren't active, they're passive. What you have there are passive pickups with an active preamp.

EMG's are actually active. These are the only pickups I know that would be fine with it. Of course if you dont mind a bit of noise go ahead.

Malice

Dord wrote: »

Barts aren't active, they're passive. What you have there are passive pickups with an active preamp.

EMG's are actually active. These are the only pickups I know that would be fine with it. Of course if you dont mind a bit of noise go ahead.

Sorry, I must have missed this post yesterday! I think I'll pick up a set of those Labella strings the next time I'm looking to change them. If they do produce an unacceptably high level of noise then who knows, maybe Santa Claus will be good to me .

Rigsby

sugarman wrote: »

Stainless steel / nickel / aluminium does'nt rust;)

I've been boiling my strings about 6 years now (Not the 1 set, i mean i started to 6 years ago lol) and i've never had any problems. They almost sound as bright as when they first went on but just not for as long.

Giving them a good wipe does'nt do enough, i used to use string cleaners aswell but i was wasting more money buying that, plus, strings feel making with it on it.

Another little trick to make them abit brighter is to take them off at tuners completely and roll them up towards the bridge. All the loose grime tends to fall off.

2 of mine need a re-string but im flat broke at the mo...

I've heard people say that the brightness only lasts for a short period after the strings have been boiled. Is this your experience ?

zafo

Two years and counting, it was usually once a year but the strings on there now are still fine. I do have really dry hands and heavy strings though.

Rigsby

zafo wrote: »

Two years and counting

Are they round wounds ??? :eek:

Have you cleaned them at all in that time ?

zafo

Rigsby wrote: »

Are they round wounds ??? :eek:

Have you cleaned them at all in that time ?

Roundwounds yeah. Rotosound 110 swingbass. I haven't cleaned them, when I say dry hands I mean really, really dry.

They'll be changed soon enough as the tension on the e-string isn't the best.

Rigsby

zafo wrote: »

Roundwounds yeah. Rotosound 110 swingbass. I haven't cleaned them, when I say dry hands I mean really, really dry.

They'll be changed soon enough as the tension on the e-string isn't the best.

That's a long time to get from rounds. No matter how dry or clean your hands are, tiny pieces of your skin can build up on the strings over time, (even more so with very dry hands ), dulling the sound. How ever, if you are still happy with your tone, then fair play to you. You certainly save a lot of money this way.