D'Addario Chromes ECB82 105-50

So in an effort to get better tone I decided to give these strings a shot. I'd read all kinds of reviews about how stiff they are and saw a few videos on Youtube and they were as much convincing as they were deterring.

So I bought 'em anyway. Straight out of the box you can tell they are thick. I was worried I might need to adjust the neck or file the nut a bit on my Warmoth Jazz neck but the extra reinforcement in the neck and the fantastic nut on it needed no adjustment.

Immediately I could feel a difference. It felt as though the action had been raised and because of the extra thickness, I could get away with lowering the action and even raising the pickups a bit. Once that was done I felt the stiffness was balanced by how smooth they are and with the lowered action I found it really quite playable! They are very bright at first but the brightness mellows with age and I suspect these will get better as they get older. There is zero chance of them breaking...

When played live these things come to life. Especially through a 410 rig. They feel very "present" and articulate. Dont expect to be able to do much slapping with these but if you like to hear a bit of growl and texture then these are the way to go.

I have them on a jazz bass right now but they would shine on a P or fretless P ...