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Acoustic bass string/sound options and advice


Pinball
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Hi, I have a fretted Crafter elecro/acoustic 5 stringer that plays very well. It has nice bright phosphor bronze strings on it, that are maybe a bit too bright for me.

Are there any other options equivalent to flats/half rounds or nylon?

Will nylon work with a fretted bass? I have only ever seen them on un-fretted basses so assumed they would wear out to quick? Also would they be too quiet?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

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Thomastik flats are very nice, but acoustically very quiet - great sound if you use the pickup (as I'm sure you do!). Might need to raise the action, as they are very floppy. I've got D'Addario black plastic flats on mine (fretted Martin four string) and they are the best compromise I've found for fullness and warmth.

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[quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1350846014' post='1844228']
Both nylons & flats sound great on fretted acoustic basses. Unamplified there is a loss of volume but they sound so much more authentic to me
[/quote]
^This.

... and the loss of volume hardly matters since with any other instruments you'll need to amplify anyway.

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I've got labella. black nylon strings on my washburn ab10 , they have a lovely warm upright like tone and very clear too" and I find they have plenty of volume unplugged for practice, but most acoustic basses need s bit of help anyway :)

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I bought an acoustic about 20 years ago with the notion that I could accompany my mate(s) on his acoustic guitar, but it's just not loud enough.

It kind of worked amplified when accompanying other acoustic players and gave a false authenticity to the whole 'unplugged' scene, when everybody played acoustic sets - plugged in! :blink: (Eric Clapton has got a lot to answer for) However, I now prefer electric fretless to accompany acoustic sets - and very soon I will be trying my best to keep up on the DB - plugged in!

Nylons always work for me.

Edited by philparker
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Lets just face it. Acoustic bass guitars are simply not loud enough to work for pure acoustic settings. They were meant to be used in those semi-acoustic settings where everyone plugged their acoustic instruments in the system. If you are playing in a pure acoustic setting buy an upright bass or at the least one of those Mexican guitarrone or old Guild B3/Ernie Ball bass guitars.

As far as ABGs go, I cannot tolerate the bright phosphor strings. Too much finger noise and way too twangy. I prefer light gauge flats or tapewounds for less stress on the soundboard. Be sure, especially with the tapes, that they can fit through the bridge if that is how they are installed on your bass. The acoustic basses with the big bridge pins are not usually a problem for thick tapewounds, but you might need to enlarge the slots in the nut. My current acoustic bass is a Carvin AC40 fretless with Fender tapes. Sounds wonderful.

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[quote name='fretlessguy' timestamp='1351368243' post='1850644']
As far as ABGs go, I cannot tolerate the bright phosphor strings. Too much finger noise and way too twangy. I prefer light gauge flats or tapewounds for less stress on the soundboard. Be sure, especially with the tapes, that they can fit through the bridge if that is how they are installed on your bass. The acoustic basses with the big bridge pins are not usually a problem for thick tapewounds, but you might need to enlarge the slots in the nut. My current acoustic bass is a Carvin AC40 fretless with Fender tapes. Sounds wonderful.
[/quote]
Good advice I hadn't thought about strings fitting an acoustic style bridge. Nice guitar you have there. I have only ever seen it in pictures.

Edited by Pinball
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The D'Addario black plastic strings are pretty much "normal" sizes..a lot of that type are bigger (La Bella, Pyramid, Roto). That's the main reason I opted for them, so I didn't have to open up the nut and bridge slots and mess around.

Having fitted them, they are just as nice as any other I've tried, and much nicer than the Rotosounds..which never sound in tune to me! The LaBella's have a bit more edge, the Pyramids are the softest and warmest sounding. But the D'Addarios are pretty much in the middle, nice medium tension as well, so haven't needed any truss rod tweaks in over a year of use.

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