Clarky

If you REALLY want to read a grilion pages on different strings and hear a wide spectrum of opinions, you could also try checking out the TalkBass Double Bass 'strings' forum http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f17/ There are loads of fanatics of all types of strings there but the most zealous support seems reserved for Spirocores in my opinion. Its why I felt obliged to try them out - and I'm very glad I did

Personal opinion only but I didn't like Honeys, higher tension than Silver Slaps and Spiro Weichs and seemed to me like a half-hearted attempt at steels (they are metal wrapped nylon strings). Horses for courses though, someone will probably come along and say they are brill! If I were starting afresh I would either go with Spiro Weich or - for gut-alikes - I would try out Super Silvers (as with more experience Silver Slaps were a tiny bit too flappy)

Hi Pete, the basics are there are guts/gut-alikes (usually nylon) and there are steels. The former are generally more thumpy and old school, the latter have more growl and sustain and are generally better if you also like to bow. I tend to think of them (mega simplistically) as like flats and rounds in their characteristics. Only steels will work with mag pickups, whereas all strings work with piezos or contact mics. Innovation make very good value gut-alike strings - Silver Slaps are mega low tension and incredibly easy on hands (good for slapping, and for pizz playing if your hands are not very strong), Super Silvers are still low tension but not floppy (so I am told). They also make higher tension strings (eg, Rockabillys etc). The choices for steels are vast. Weich (soft) and Mittel (medium) are nomenclatures used by Germanic manufacturers as are Stark (hard). I have Spirocore Weichs on my basses and they are low tension, easy on the hands and have loads of growl and sustain. Have a listen to Danny Thompson to hear Spirocore growl (albeit noone does it quite like Danny, its all in the hands just like with electric bass). Many view Spirocores as the industry standard for jazz playing but there are loads of other good choices. Others like Evahs, Obligatos etc etc. This link is good for hearing the difference between a bunch of strings: http://www.hervejeanne.de/saitenmatrix.php The only thing I will say is it becomes uber-expensive trying out strings so I would look for s/h ones on BassChat if I were you before shelling out for a new set. Good luck mate!

Happy new year all. We are kicking off 2013 with a set at the Hootananny in Brixton on Saturday 19th January. It's a 'Stranger than Paradise' promotion which means the other two bands (don't know names yet) are likely to be something along the lines of Balkan/folk/retro/alternative and definitely interesting! We will be onstage at 11 pm.

B+gger. Wonder if it was the Easter Weekend clash (which I pointed out to Bree) that did for the hotel's willingness to accommodate the event? I think they were after 20 or so attendees so I see no reason why thlack of interest explains this. Humbug!

Fantastic, Lozz! It will indeed be great to see a BCer on the box

As a long time DB player you *may* prefer a Precision (ie, chunkier width) neck to a skinnier Jazz, but I could be wrong here. At your price point I personally would pay about £400 for a Japanese (CIJ or MIJ) Fender Precision or save some quids and go with a Classic Vibe or 60s Squier, like this one for example (which has the advantage of a passive/active P-retro preamp for a wider variety of tones) http://basschat.co.uk/topic/189672-reduced-squier-cv-60s-precision-with-john-east-p-retro/page__st__20__p__1906286__hl__precision__fromsearch__1#entry1906286

Dave bought a DB pickup off me. All tickety-boo and seamless, like our last deals ATB Clarky

Thanks! I also just realised (doh!) that if I play at the end of the fingerboard its one inch closer to the bridge than my 3/4 flatback (as fingerboard is same length) and of course the closer to the bridge the higher the tension. I guess a combination of that plus break angle is why it actually feels slightly higher tension with my plucking hand than on my 3/4 bass.

[quote name='Mr Bassman' timestamp='1355789682' post='1902928'] Can be to do with the angle over the bridge also [/quote] Good point, plus the after-length is shorter on the Kolstein accentuating the break angle. I have no intention to change the strings, I was just a bit confused as to why they felt rather different to the identical set on my 3/4 bass