Contemporary Music Instruction and Mentoring

  Choosing Bass Strings


The brand and type of strings you put on your bass make a HUGE difference to the sound.  In fact, it strings can make as much or more difference to the tone of a bass as the brand and model of the bass itself.  Some of the differences between various types of strings include:

Roundwound vs Flatwound

All bass strings consist of a long straight "core" wire, around which another wire is wound.  If the wound wire is round, it is called roundwound.  If the wound wire is a flat ribbon, it is called flatwound.  Roundwounds are brighter have have more harmonics, and are generally better for rock, pop, and country.  Flatwounds are smooth and silky to the touch, but they are much duller sounding, and are generally used for jazz.  They are excellent for fretless basses because they make the bass guitar sound a bit more like a standup bass, and they don't wear grooves into the fingerboard.

Round Core vs Hex Core

The long straight center "core" wire can either be round, or hex shaped:




Hex core strings have more consistent tone quality, are brighter, and have a stronger attack.  Round core strings are more flexible, feel better to your hands, have a warmer tone, and more sustain.  Round core strings must be crimped, installed, and tuned to pitch before the excess string length is snipped off.  Otherwise the string winding can come loose and destroy the tone.  But because they feel so good on the fingers, I recommend round core strings for students.

Steel vs Nickel

The type of metal that the wound outside wire is made of makes a significant difference.  Steel is very bright sounding but it has a big disadvantage: steel strings wear down the frets quickly.  Nickel has a smoother sound and doesn’t wear out your frets as fast.  So I recommend nickel wound strings for students.

Coated vs Uncoated

Uncoated bass strings generally last a year or so before they start sounding dull.  This dulling of sound is caused by oxidization and by oil, sweat, and grime from your hands getting into the windings and in the tiny space between the windings and the core wire.  Coated strings  have a nano polymer coating that helps the strings last longer because they help prevent contaminants from seeping through.  I generally recommend coated strings for acoustic guitars, but not for electric guitars and basses.  They just cut too much brightness from the sound.

Gauge

Heavy gauge strings sound fat but are a bit tough to play.  Light gauge strings (.040-.095) are easy on the fingers but a little wimpy sounding.  I generally recommend medium gauge strings (.045-.105), which is the gauge that comes stock on most electric basses.  They sound good and are not too hard on the fingers.  The G string is .045, D is .065, A is .085, and E is .105.

Recommended Strings

Out of all the strings I have tried thus far, my favorite for general use are the DR Sunbeams Nickel Plated Medium 45-105 (NMR-45) bass strings.  They are roundwound, round core, nickel, uncoated, medium gauge, and they sound great!  And they are very reasonably priced!  These are the strings that I am using on two of my three performance basses, and they are the strings I recommend for most students to start on.  For fretless basses, my favorite strings are the d'Addario XL Chromes 45-100 (ECB81).