Cost of strings

[Cat Burrito]

I suppose when I only used flatwounds (& the philosophy was they never got changed) it bothered me less, but now I'm using roundwound a lot more I'm needing to change strings much more regularly. It got me to thinking about the difference in cost between guitar & bass strings. For nearly 30 years guitar strings seemed set at £5 a packet and yet bass strings seem to range anywhere between £16 - £45. I get that they are thicker and maybe don't get changed as frequently but wondered if the increase in cost was directly proportionate to these factors?

Interestingly, as an aside I am restringing my upright bass this week. Again same factors but my strings were £100 and the most expensive set I saw were these at £550 https://www.thomann.de/gb/pirastro_eudoxa_kontrabasssaiten.htm - I assume they must be pretty good?!?

[gary mac]

26 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

 

Interestingly, as an aside I am restringing my upright bass this week. Again same factors but my strings were £100 and the most expensive set I saw were these at £550 https://www.thomann.de/gb/pirastro_eudoxa_kontrabasssaiten.htm - I assume they must be pretty good?!?

I can only imagine the level of depression if one of those broke during installation

[Lozz196]

I`ve just swapped string allegiance to Warwick Red Label steel rounds. Found a place in Germany doing them at about £7.90 a set, plus delivery, so buy 6 packs at a time, comes to under £55. Which is nice.

[Burns-bass]

The bass market is probably a tenth of that of the Guitar market, so probably explains it a little. Upright bass strings a tenth of that again I’d estimate.

How often do Guitar players change strings? Again the relationship is probably the same - 10 times as often as a bass player and 100 times more often than an upright player.

[Cat Burrito]

10 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I`ve just swapped string allegiance to Warwick Red Label steel rounds. Found a place in Germany doing them at about £7.90 a set, plus delivery, so buy 6 packs at a time, comes to under £55. Which is nice.

Clawing back a small victory for bass players 

[Kevin Dean]

2 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I`ve just swapped string allegiance to Warwick Red Label steel rounds. Found a place in Germany doing them at about £7.90 a set, plus delivery, so buy 6 packs at a time, comes to under £55. Which is nice.

Any chance that you could measure them for me to see of they could cover a 36" scale .

[Lozz196]

Yeah no worries - assume they just need to be 2 inches longer than for my Precision?

[bazzbass]

best value are the D'Addario XL165/XL170 twin packs. Search for them online

[Cat Burrito]

9 hours ago, bazzbass said:

best value are the D'Addario XL165/XL170 twin packs. Search for them online

These are what I buy for my electric basses 

[casapete]

1 hour ago, Cat Burrito said:

These are what I buy for my electric basses 

Me too. Strings and Beyond are worth a look for good prices, even with postage from the US.

[BreadBin]

15 hours ago, bazzbass said:

best value are the D'Addario XL165/XL170 twin packs. Search for them online

Normally around £32 a pack that I can find. Registering for the Players Circle on the D'addario website gets you a free set every 8 too.

[King Tut]

I've been using Legacy strings lately which are apparently rebadged, rotosounds at under £12 a set. No complaints at all there. Having seen Lozz's post though I've searched Warwick Red Label, which I've used in the past and seen that they're available at Gear For Music at under £8 a pack. Think I'll get some of them.

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, King Tut said:

I've been using Legacy strings lately which are apparently rebadged, rotosounds at under £12 a set. No complaints at all there. Having seen Lozz's post though I've searched Warwick Red Label, which I've used in the past and seen that they're available at Gear For Music at under £8 a pack. Think I'll get some of them.

I've used them for years with no issues _ I have also seen Blue - although I have no idea what the difference is. 

[MiltyG565]

The cost of bass strings is just like anything else. Certain intrinsic and extrinsic market factors determine the price. A big intrinsic factor is the market size and ability to achieve economies of scale through mass production. Extrinsic factors being wholesale prices of raw materials (steel and other metals), exchange rates, import duties, labour costs, the list goes on.

The thing is that for the most part, the costs to produce a bass string are largely the same as the costs to produce a guitar string. Where they diverge is the amount of material required and the length of time it takes to make. So even though the wrap on a particular bass string may be coming off the same spool of steel as the wrap on a guitar string, the extra steel required and the extra time required for the bass string drives the price up.

Let's suppose, simply for the sake of demonstration, that one of the string winding machines in a string factory can do 20 guitar strings in an hour, or 14 bass strings in an hour. By the end of an 8 hour shift, a single operator could produce 160 guitar strings, or 112 bass strings. Looking at the labour cost alone, and let's say they get the current UK minimum wage of £7.50 per hour, that's £0.38 per guitar string, or £0.54 per bass string, and in fact it's generally accepted that the wage a employee gets is only about 70% of what it actually costs to employ somebody when you factor in all other associated costs like pensions and other benefits, so in the real world that's probably going to push the labour cost up to about £0.70 for the bass string.

That's before the material costs are considered.

The supply chains for these things is normally massive and global. Ore mined in Australia might be refined to steel in China, then shipped to the USA where raw steel is processed into components for strings according to the specifications the manufacturer has given, then shipped to the manufacturer, perhaps halfway across the country again, made into strings in their factory, then boxed up and shipped out to probably most the countries in the world. Supply chains on this scale aren't cheap to set up and maintain, and that's why volume production yields a lower unit cost, because the high costs are spread across a higher number of units, so any reduction in the number of units that can be produced means a disproportionately higher unit cost.

Hope this helps

[Kevin Dean]

5 hours ago, King Tut said:

I've been using Legacy strings lately which are apparently rebadged, rotosounds at under £12 a set. No complaints at all there. Having seen Lozz's post though I've searched Warwick Red Label, which I've used in the past and seen that they're available at Gear For Music at under £8 a pack. Think I'll get some of them.

I've just ordered a set , I just hope they fit my 36"  Shuker ....Interestingly I just took off my 2 week old set of Newtone string & replaced with a two week old Rotosound swingbass  & I can't tell the difference at all , I mainly play with a plectrum & maybe other styles would show a difference ? 

[T-Bay]

Just ordered some of the Warwick ones, a standard set and a set for my acoustic bass. Will be interesting to see how they sound.

[skidder652003]

Ive used the Harley Benton sets at £4.30 a pop, they're fine, I also have a set of DR Highbeams which are better but at £30 a set not that much better, If you're changing em every 3 months or so if gigging regularly then to me its a no brainer, the difference in a band setting is negligible (IMO)

[Kevin Dean]

2 minutes ago, skidder652003 said:

Ive used the Harley Benton sets at £4.30 a pop, they're fine, I also have a set of DR Highbeams which are better but at £30 a set not that much better, If you're changing em every 3 months or so if gigging regularly then to me its a no brainer, the difference in a band setting is negligible (IMO)

Do you think they are  long enough for a 36" scale ? 

[skidder652003]

7 minutes ago, Kevin Dean said:

Do you think they are  long enough for a 36" scale ? 

Further information

String gauge	045 - 065 - 085 - 105
Material	Nickel Plated
Scale	Long Scale
Taperwound	No

[Geek99]

58 minutes ago, skidder652003 said:

Further information

String gauge	045 - 065 - 085 - 105
Material	Nickel Plated
Scale	Long Scale
Taperwound	No

arent 36" classed  as extra long scale ? He'd need to find the actual strings lengths

[Kevin Dean]

4 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

arent 36" classed  as extra long scale ? He'd need to find the actual strings lengths

some standard long scale are just long enough , on some legacy I had to cut the odd silk back , Elites stated to tapper too soon by about 2mm .

[chris_b]

Find the strings you like and want to use. Base your decision on their feel, sound and longevity.

If they make you sound that good then just put your hand in your pocket. It's a small price to pay.

[Kevin Dean]

for me the question  is will they really last 4 times longer than a set that costs a quarter of the price ? & what makes a string  sound brighter for longer apart from the coated strings surely dirt & sweat will have the same effect on any string ?

[mcnach]

I'm with chris_b. When I find a string that makes me think "hey handsome, how are YOU doin'?"... the price differential does not matter all that much. We're talking about a difference of at best £25-30 when considering the cheapest strings possible, but more something like £15-20. I don't change strings for every gig. Fortunately I do not like the very bright sound of new strings, so even if I changed them every 4-6 months (it's more like 9-12 months for me), am I going to compromise for the sake of £5 a month?

Strings vary a lot in their flexibility, roughness and of course sound. They can really transform an instrument.

[dmccombe7]

Since using nickel strings I've gone from Fender nickels to D'addario nickels and recently tried DR nickels but to be honest the DR's didn't warrant the extra cost.

Think i might try the Rotosound nickels and if they don't do it for me i will go back to the Fender or D'addario. 

Dave