Nickel die quicker.

And as I'm poor, and like zingy strings, that only leaves me one choice.

Just bought my HD500 and carried it home on the bus. Unboxing time ^_^

I'm kind of bereft of disposable income too but I'm pretty tolerant of old strings, I resent change and progress in all their forms.

There's kids on the lawn GET OFF THE LAWN

I use strings for like 6-8 months typically and changing them is like a massive event for me ^_^ Just put some new ones on a couple of days ago and it just makes such a massive difference. I wish I could afford to change every month or so really.

I'd love to be able to try heaps of different kinds. Whatever string I get I can make it work for me, I'm not a princess about it, but I definitely don't get to plumb the depths of what is available.

The last ones I put on were some Ernie Ball flats I think, not sure. I quite like flats, I'd like to try some La Bellas just for kicks but they're a bit scarce on the ground here I think.

These R Coccos seem worth a pop though.

I'm limited with what I can buy for a 7. Overwater seem to be pretty good for the money. Still costs me less than £25 a set for them which is decent.

Next time for my 4 string though, I'm looking at those new DR DDT strings for drop tuning. Expensive stuff. I like the idea of coated strings like Elixirs, but I play with a pick so I know I'll shred the coating off really quickly :/ Never heard of the R Coccos though!

I imagine it's a bitch trying to find strings for that.

I've never restrung my 6 string, it came with Elixirs I suppose and they've stayed on so far.

Richard Cocco is a relative of the La Bella founders, they're supposed to be pretty good. They're about $50 a set, the fattest gauge (50 70 85 110) is sold out at the only Aussie store I know of for them so I might try the slightly slimmer ones that are in stock (45 65 85 105) but I would rather try the fatties :(.

There's loads more choice of strings for a 7 if you're prepared to buy in from America. But I'm not. Not for strings!

I wouldn't be surprised if we one day discovered that all strings were the same and made in the same place. But we've been suckered into convincing ourselves they are different :(

Haha there's differences sure. Not the colourful, hyperbolic differences people swear up and down by, but differences nonetheless.

Like, they come in different packets.

different coloured windings are what produce the real tone anyway

That's the truth.

Also, the more money you pay for your strings, the better you play.

[quote=gaslight;18511242]I imagine it's a bitch trying to find strings for that.

I've never restrung my 6 string, it came with Elixirs I suppose and they've stayed on so far.

Richard Cocco is a relative of the La Bella founders, they're supposed to be pretty good. They're about $50 a set, the fattest gauge (50 70 85 110) is sold out at the only Aussie store I know of for them so I might try the slightly slimmer ones that are in stock (45 65 85 105) but I would rather try the fatties :(.[/quote]

I'll keep an eye out for the 50-110's up here. They average about $28 here in the U.S., so I might be able to get a set and ship them to you for less than they're charging.

I'd really like to get you addicted to a set of Circle K strings. They're amazing. :)

[quote=fatbandit;18511245]There's loads more choice of strings for a 7 if you're prepared to buy in from America. But I'm not. Not for strings!

I wouldn't be surprised if we one day discovered that all strings were the same and made in the same place. But we've been suckered into convincing ourselves they are different :([/quote]


I think there are 3 or 4 main string winders that wind strings for about 20 of the large businesses.

Truth be told, string winding is fairly straightforward - nobody does anything particularly innovative - it's merely a technique. The differences come from the materials used (various nickel and steel grades), the core:wrap ratio (I guarantee you could hear and feel a difference between a .050 string made with 20:15 and one made with 14:18), and core shape (hex vs. round).

My top 3 strings + AC30 model + reverb = secks sound. Oh my. I don't even know how to scratch the surface on this thing. So many tones sitting waiting to be discovered in here.

[QUOTE=FunkMetalBass;18511352]I'll keep an eye out for the 50-110's up here. They average about $28 here in the U.S., so I might be able to get a set and ship them to you for less than they're charging.

I'd really like to get you addicted to a set of Circle K strings. They're amazing. :)[/QUOTE]

I'm on the notification list for when the 50-110 nickels are back in stock, when they do come in I'll probably bundle them in with the strap I'm keen for. No idea when that might be though. There's too much I want to buy :upset:.

I can afford neither the bass nor cabinet I want to order, but I'm pretty set on getting both too.

Oh, you might be able to help me with my cabinet that I currently have.

It's an Epifani UL212, and has been making weird noises when playing at high volume with the bass EQ'd up. Like a distorted kind of sound, a bit like a really lame envelope filter. The sound stops if I press firmly in the middle of the grille with my knee while playing, so I thought, maybe something is a bit loose in there.

I took off the front grille and tightened the screws as best I could on all the speakers, then put the grille back on. Now the old sound is gone and in its place is a weaker kind of rattling, again agitated by volume and especially when the bass is EQ'd prominently.

It seems like it comes from around the upper left of the two 12's but it is tough to be sure. I'm not sure what the deal is.

I can take it back to where I bought it to get it looked at but I won't have time to do that for a while.

Did you try playing it at all with the grill completely off?

...damn it.

I should have thought of that hey.

I'll try that tomorrow morning.

[quote=gaslight;18512320]...damn it.

I should have thought of that hey.

I'll try that tomorrow morning.[/quote]

I'm always a fan of isolating problems and not rebuilding until they are solved (or ruled out).

Yeah, it hadn't occurred to me that the grille might be the source of the noise, I was focused in on the other screws inside under the grille.

My schroeder had a sound like that once. My dust cap had torn on one speaker. Check that out too.

Would that be visible from the outside? The speakers look fine as far as I can tell from the outside.

Also, I'm seeing Ron Carter Trio in June. Aw yeah :smoke:.

Mine was the recessed speaker so I didn't have a clear view of it. You should be able to tell from the outside on yours though. It'll be easier to see if and when you take the grille off, however!

Don't know how extreme a case mine was, but it looked like this:

[IMG]http://i56.tinypic.com/286s3ye.jpg[/IMG]

Oh, mine definitely doesn't have that. Mine appear in good health.

Damn I'm hungry. I've had nothing but oats and toast and tea all day. Well, I had a banana and an orange juice and some biscuits but you can still see the point.

Okay, after taking the grille off, it's definitely something with the top left of the 12" speakers.

It sounds like it is suffering a bit when playing notes under E1 at volume.

[quote=gaslight;18513056]Okay, after taking the grille off, it's definitely something with the top left of the 12" speakers.

It sounds like it is suffering a bit when playing notes under E1 at volume.[/quote]

Does it sound like an issue with the speaker itself, or just a rattling of some sort?

To me now it sounds like it's the speaker, if it makes sense, it sounds to me like it is coming from behind the outer surface of the speaker. Nothing rattling any mo.

Have you taken the back panel off and seen if there's anything rattling against the back of the speaker baffle or anything? Could be a loose screw or something.

either that or the speaker is clipping and just cant handle low notes at high volume.

The fact that it's a recent development in only one speaker of a matched 2x12 makes me think that isn't the case.

There's no back panel to take off, I'd have to take it apart from the front.

I should mention I'm taking it apart now, but I've been noticing this sound for months.

When I say at volume, I'm not turning the master up past 6 o'clock, never have probably never will, but at solid rehearsal volume it will make that noise.

I just built a mock-up 8-string bass (okay, I really only made a 2-string to get a feel for spacing) and instead of using the notes A1 and A2 like a normal 8-string, I used A0 and A1. It sounds absolutely amazing. I really have to have one now. I don't think extending it to a 12-string (as in, a 6-string, doubled) is in the cards, if only because getting the bridge made will be damn near impossible.

But really, it's incredible. Those thunderous low octaves provide such an incredible, beefy feeling that an octaver just can't emulate the same way.


EDIT: In case y'all were curious, here was my prototype:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/segU1.jpg[/img]



After taking measurements of the distances of the strings, I realized that they will fit perfectly on the Schaller 8-string bridge. I'd still say that, to keep tension up and string gauge down (helping to eliminate the strings smacking each other), a 39-40" scale neck is ideal, and with 45-50 lbs of tension on each string, you want a heavy SOB neck with carbon or steel reinforcement rods - that's 360-400lbs of force that will be on it.