It's a nice bass too - definitely something "Traditional" sounding enough where string choice makes a good difference, not where the prevailing tone is via active electronics with radically non-flat eq baked in.
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Red silks on unidentified strings means.....?
- Thread starter Ricky Rioli
- Start date
Good idea. I often forget what strings I put on a bass so I created a spreadsheet to keep track of that and also keep track of bass maintenance, battery date and voltage etc.
I keep another for string inventory with notes so I can compare how I felt about them at the time.
Of course with COVID-19 that’s all gone out the window, only good thing is maintenance is now up to date.
If they are a rich, deep, blood red, with brass ball ends, they are probably GHS Boomers. My absolute favorite strings on a P.
if they are a bright red, with red, white, blue ball ends, they are probably Rotosound Swing Bass 66. Those are my favorite on Js.
if they are a bright red, with red, white, blue ball ends, they are probably Rotosound Swing Bass 66. Those are my favorite on Js.
I'm not sure of the brand, but they appear to be round wound strings at 40 to 100 gauge. However, if they're actually Roto Swing 66's they'd be 40 to 95!I just bought a Yamaha BB424 on Reverb. It sounds great, the strings really suit it. The dealer I bought it from was short on communication skills, so I'm left having to identify what the strings are myself.
Fortunately they are very distinctive: they've red silks and are very rough in comparison with the Daddario Nickels I was using recently, so I'm guessing they're Rotosound RS66s?
View attachment 4119584
Now I just have to work out which gauges they areThe only other strings I have to hand are the Chromes on my other bass: my attempt to compare thicknesses of the rounds and the flats by touch just made me laugh. The roundwound E seems thinner than the 105 flat...but does that actually mean that it's thinner than 105?
I guess my first attempt should be the RS66LD (45 65 80 105) since they call that "standard"
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JeezyMcNuggles
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Bass boomers probably. Although, rough isn't anything I'd describe those as. How's the mid range on them? Abnormally present?I just bought a Yamaha BB424 on Reverb. It sounds great, the strings really suit it. The dealer I bought it from was short on communication skills, so I'm left having to identify what the strings are myself.
Fortunately they are very distinctive: they've red silks and are very rough in comparison with the Daddario Nickels I was using recently, so I'm guessing they're Rotosound RS66s?
View attachment 4119584
Now I just have to work out which gauges they are
I guess my first attempt should be the RS66LD (45 65 80 105) since they call that "standard"
Medium: 40 60 75 95 (RS66LC)
Hybrid: 40 60 80 100 (SM66)
Standard: 45 65 80 105 (RS66LD)
Custom: 45 65 85 105 (RS66LF)
Heavy: 50 70 85 110 (RS66LE)
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After just two months, the strings are now so dead that turning the tone from 10 down to 0 makes literally no difference!
Would that be more evidence to support it being a Swing Bass set?I've another bass on its way to me that will arrive with a set of RS66LD fitted by the dealer. Hopefully my fingers will tell me, yep these are the exact same thing.
I've just had a new set of Rotosound Swing Bass RS66 fitted - they're very similar in feel and sound to what was on before .... but not the same.
The roughness is the same, the sound is similar, but they simply look different than the mystery string - much darker. The red of these Rotosound silks is much more vibrant and bright than the mystery string. The RS66s seem to have a bit more depth of tone, a bit less strident.
So now I'm feeling both confused and stupid. Does the lighter colour of the metal indicate a nickel coating, or does stainless steel vary, eg depending on how much it's been polished?
Here's a nice clear photo of the ends of thr mystery strings now they're not hidden in the body
Here are the two side by side, but I think the capturing the difference in shade is beyond my Samsung phones abilities:
Generally speaking, nickel-plated steel is lighter in color and shinier than the dull grey of stainless steel. This tells me the old ones are probably the GHS Boomers, which also have darker shade of red for the silk.
Here are the Round Core Boomers I just put on my P bass a couple of weeks ago:
The only nickel plated strings I've played whilst knowing the identity of were Daddario XL Nickels. In comparison with them the mystery strings felt quite a lot more rough. Does that sound consistent with the GHS Boomers? Certainly visually they're a match.
In the UK, GHS Boomers are far more expensive than Rotosounds, so I probably won't be pursuing this any further. They did suit this BB424 very nicely though.
Between the Boomers and the XL Nickels, there isn't a big difference in texture for me. But again, you're talking to a guy who hates most rounds for their "rough feel".
Between having the XL Nickels and getting these ?Boomers, I was playing only Daddario Chromes. That was only for a couple of months, but perhaps that was long enough to mess with my perception of roughness, and make any roundwound feel abrasive. Ho hum.