LeftyBassist.com

just curious

I generally change my Elixirs every 6 months. They last relatively long on me and still feel and sound great after that time, but by then the top end of the low strings has dropped a lot and I prefer the bright attack of new strings.

Uncoated strings would last only a couple of weeks on the basses I really play a lot before they sound dead to my ears.

It goes with the era.

In the 90's it was 2-3 times a week. Often I changed strings during a recording session also but style of sound changed and more recently ( about 7 to 8 years) there is a more vintage vibe in bass sound so it doesn't matter that much now. I would say that I change now every 3 to 4 months or less.

Same here as an Elixir user. For basses I have strung with flatwounds, I change strings practically never. I currently have a set of D'Addario Chromes on my other '72 J that are over 10 years old!

once every year and a half, i love roundwounds that are dead, i cant cant stand the brightness of brand new ones but after 4 or 5 months thats when they start getting good

Hofner-LaBella "Beatle Bass" Flats - 6 months. That bass gets hammered every show so by 6 months those flats are totally lifeless and dead, no note definition at all.

Rickenbacker 4001S-GHS Precision Flatwounds - 3 months. Strings need to be bright enuff to play "Walrus", etc.

Fender Jazz Bass-GHS Precision Flatwounds - 6 months. Doesn't get played as much during the show as the other two.

My other basses get new strings...whenever.

Never. I'm a boiler.

pete

I used to boil my strings as well. It does bring life back, though the brightness generally doesn't last very long (less than a week tops with constant playing). You also have to be very careful when rewinding a pre-wound/pre-shaped string back on your tuning heads to account for no slack. I made the mistake of boiling a set before a gig once and I had thought I had the bass tuned up. Right in the middle of the song, strings started going flat, and I don't mean minimally I mean dropping 1-1/2 to 2 steps! It was a disaster.

That's true.

I suggest no more then one boil, may be two max, to avoid that!

ive heard that soaking strings in mineral spirits overnight is an awsome alternative to boiling and other then fret wear on the strings basically makes them brand new again

Way too often for my liking. I use taper-cores on the ones that played regularly and they don't keep their 'piano-tone' as long as some non-taper-core brands, like rotosound for instance.

So what I do is give the E-A-D-G strings one boil, leaving the B string grungy. I'll get two more sessions from that before they need to be replaced. I've tried boiling them a 2nd time with less than positive results. Nothing has broken on me, but the 2nd boil does not bring back much life.

I change them as often as I break them. So often.

Steel strings I use the most and around 3-4 months depending on the bass and how much it's getting hammered. For my tastes I would never use a flat wound but I hear the longer you have the better they get. Strings stretch and after a certain amount of time the intonation goes out above the twelfth fret and I hate that. Honestly my favorite string sound is a brand new nickel they sound just like a piano with a touch of a chorus on them just amazing. Nickel strings after two days sound like mop threads.

I have heard boiling strings breaks them down and although they may sound OK right when you put them back on they sound bad fast and again intonation is wacky. I found a trick that works pretty well from my experience. Stridex acne pads. Yup they have an acid that's mild but will break down oil and dead skin like your face it gets in the round wound strings so the pad is perfect. Just go up and down the string a few times and throw the pad out and man you can see the crud on the pad.

Now I just work like crazy and buy em as I need em...