Things you need to know about strings

[Coreyvette]

I just got 2 sets of DR neons for Christmas.. Blue for the STD 5 and green for the $$ 4.. They look cool as tits on black Wicks, but the G string on the greens was dead right out of the package.. >.< and they don't sound THAT great.. also the low B on the blues wouldn't fit in the bridge haha, but instead of filing the bring like I did on my $$, I just squeezed the string with pliers. Though DR are my favorite strings, I am not impressed with these besides how cool they look, so I will play my January gigs with them and not waste money on them again in the future. They are novelty strings, not quality.

 

[Nachobassman]

DR are also famous for their insconsistency on strings quality.

 

[Coreyvette]

Never had a problem with Hi-Beams, I use them religiously! But Im gonna try the Red Devils next month on both 'Wicks. Hopefully the coating doesn't fall off like The black beauties after a month.. But the green neon turds are already flaking.. after two damn days...

 

[shaftbass]

DR are also famous for their insconsistency on strings quality.

In my experience (20+ sets of HiBeams), that is not the case.

Their coated strings though (several black, red, and green) are awful. At least one dead string in every pack.

They are quick to send a free replacement, but colored strings from DR aren't worth the hassle.

 

[Nachobassman]

...Their coated strings though (several black, red, and green) are awful. At least one dead string in every pack.

Then I rest my case.

 

[Nachobassman]

I´d like to share some fresh info about strings I´ve tried:



Dunlop Trujillo steels, "Uno más" 5-string set.

I bought this set for my Infinity SN5 because I´ve been having trouble to fit most B strings in its bridge´s tailpice, and I thought this Trujillo strings were "taper core". Well, only the D, A and E strings are taper, the B string is NOT.

Sound is bright, clean and punchy. Not as much as the sound I get with DR Hi-Beams, but similar. and smooth feel on fingers. Not rough at all like may steel string in the market.

The worst part is the strings lost almost all their bright after one gig. I have to admit it was a hot gig and I have sweaty hands, but I cleaned the strings very well after the gig. It didn´t help at all.

Conclusion: Nice sound, but don´t last to compensate the price. I don´t think I´ll buy this Dunlop Trujillo strings again.

 

[Hardy]

Same thing. They start very aggressive, liked this. Died quick. O.K., they lasted two gigs. But it was winter time, could hands, no sweat. I swear I will never buy them again.


...didn´t think they really meant "Born to lose"...

 

[Gnermo]

I think the name on the package means that you need to make roughly the amount they make to be able to afford these strings on a regular basis.

 

[Nachobassman]

I think the name on the package means that you need to make roughly the amount they make to be able to afford these strings on a regular basis.

You bet. 8:

 

[The ShadowKnight]

I don't really care that much about signature models, it judge it buy what I need it for. And it seems a lot of the string signatures are very cosmetic at times as well, not mentioning that we can't afford new strings throughout a gig or even songs.

 

[Gnermo]

I bought a set of these Curt Mangan strings for my 2005 LTD, and I'm having a bit of a crisis:

I played another bass with these type of strings on them and got pretty excited, so I ordered a set.
They play amazing, really smooth and I'm sure they sound great too but the issue is:

Old set on the left, Curt Magnan on the right:

As you can see the windings near the bridge are really spacious, which causes the strings not to go through the tailpiece.
I've hammered them, put them in a vice and worked them for 30 minutes. The only string that fits without any issues is the G string.
Now I am already using a newer (wider) bridge with the wider slots, and they are also viled wider even more but these strings still don't fit.

Verdict:
Don't use these for your Warwick, they simply wont fit.

 

[Hardy]

Custom Shop heavy relic strings! :lol:



But no joke: there was still life in them despite that heavy rust. Ernie Ball Cobalt strings.

 

[Nachobassman]

Holy macarell...

 

[The ShadowKnight]

What on earth happened to these strings?

 

[Hardy]

What on earth happened to these strings?

They got played!


Two or three weeks before they started to darken and to loose some hights. I just had to increase treble 20 percent. But in the end they rusted within days. Never saw this before. Must be the coating itself because the strings were not dead, only E string started to fade.

 

[The ShadowKnight]

Still quite a shocking development Are you going to buy them again?

 

[Hardy]

No. They are not much cheaper than Elixir nanoweb strings. A bit more raw, a bit more aggressive. But I would need at least 3, maybe 4 sets during one year, only one or two of the Elixir. Also Elixir did an update to their strings, I will check this sooner or later. Right now I found a stunning deal for D´Addarios.

 

[avionix543]

Question for all my Warwick colleagues out there...

Over this past summer, I got a number of sets of EMP .130B strings directly from Jon at the Nashville Shop. No problems, all were perfectly fine. Later on, I got a gift certificate for Guitar Center that was almost exactly the cost of two sets of EMP's with maybe $10 I had to make up. So I ordered them and a week or so later, they showed up. When I took them out to restring one of my basses, I noticed that the tuning peg end didn't have that typical tapered winding section where the core is exposed as the winding wire gets further and further apart... does that make sense? They kept the tight winding all the way out to the end, but all the sets from Warwick directly had the old style ends. For a minute, I was wondering if I had gotten ripped off by someone taking the EMP's out of the box and replacing them with some other strings, but after installing and tuning up plus the typical stretch time, they are, in fact, EMP's.

I don't know what, if any, mechanical difference it makes other than being able to get a few more wraps around a peg (and scratch the crap out of it in the process) with the normal (old) style. Does anybody know if Cleartone has changed the way they make EMP's for us? I haven't been able to tell any differences in tuning stability, lifespan, response, feel, colour, etc... they seem to play exactly the same as far as I can tell. Just wondering if there was a reason for it or if anybody else has noticed the change.

In other news, my vote for the EMP sound without the EMP price is D'Addario ProSteel and FlexSteel strings. They don't last as long of course, but at $20 shipped for 5 string sets and a tapered B, it's really hard to beat them. Just my .02

 

[Augie]

Cheers for the heads up re-D'addariao pro steels, im down to my last packet of EMPS and have struggled to find them anywhere in Oz, and they are crazy expensive, but I really dig the sound and feel of them.
personally I have been for and and against d'ads, hated EXLs early on, then I found a shop with NOS slowwounds sets which were the best sounding nickels I have ever found, but I have never tried the steels, I'll have to give them a go.

 

[avionix543]

I used Slowounds for years on my old Thumb and Infinity SN until D'Addario stopped making them. NOT happy when I found that out, then I was told that the XL series was the "replacement" for the Slowounds and supposedly the same thing... they weren't. So I ended up in cheap string wasteland until the ProSteel line came along. The taper on the B string even starts at roughly the same distance as EMP/Black Labels so I didn't have to do hardly any bridge or saddle adjustments when swapping over. Best of luck with them!!