Girl_from_mars

I have been playing the bass for years and years on and off but never got "technical" about it. I was given an old 1970s Gibson EB3 copy (Antoria) found in my uncle's attic and my mum sourced a big old 1970s Ohm amp, which her work colleague used to use to gig with back in the day and off I went at age 13 with my bass lessons at school. I'm now 28 and have played on and off in bands. 4 years ago my Mum purchased me a new Yamaha RBX374 which I love. It was so much nicer to play than than the old bass. When I switch between the two, the difference in strings is clear- the old one has thinner ones and I find it more difficult plucking quickly. With the Yamaha, I get blisters so easily on plucking fingers but the sound is more solid. As I'm a little lazy and lacking in knowledge, I have never changed the strings on my Yamaha. Now I'm recording at the weekend, the producer advised me to bring some strings. Rotosounds he said would be fine and affordable, and that given my comments to him on the song we're recording, I needed to be driving more of the sound from my plucking hand. I planned to go into a guitar shop before Sunday to purchase them but I'm sh*t scared of these places. They are usually run by conceited tw*ts. Being a girl too, they just assume you're stupid. Any pearls of Wisdom for me before I set off to locate soime strings? Also, I'm in NW London so if anyone can recommend a non tw@tty guitar shop, even better! Cheers