DR Black Beauties Tension.

[DTB]

I bought a couple of sets of these thinking they were the same gauge as my 32-130 strings I currently use then saw they weren’t and they are stainless. 
 

Anyone have any experience of using these and if so are they a higher tension that requires a neck adjustment please???

[TheGreek]

I know that @Grangur  just bought a Yamaha wearing Black Beauties. 

 

Send him a PM.

[msb]

I have an old set on a Unicorn bass , they seem to have normal tension. Just check the neck relief and give the truss rod the appropriate turn. It’s not difficult to adjust , most basses will do seasonal shifts so it’s a very handy thing to set.

[SteveXFR]

I'm using black beauties on my P bass. Standard tuning.  Tension feels fairly similar to the Ernie Ball slinky's I had before. 

I love the sound of black beauties, nice deep sound

[DTB]

11 hours ago, msb said:

I have an old set on a Unicorn bass , they seem to have normal tension. Just check the neck relief and give the truss rod the appropriate turn. It’s not difficult to adjust , most basses will do seasonal shifts so it’s a very handy thing to set.

Yep, have adjusted guitar necks many times, but unfortunately I suffer with OCD and this is a brand new bass and I’m still at the annoying don’t break it period. Stupid I know, I hate it, but just wanted to avoid a neck adjust if possible. Hence asking. At least I’m honest about it lol. 
thanks for the advice though. I’m just gonna bung em on there I think and see……..

Edited February 4, 2023 by DTB

[msb]

Always check the relief , it only takes a couple of seconds. 
I immediately do it after any string change. Or if I sense any change in how a bass plays.

The other thing to check is nut height. But once you’ve settled on that you leave it alone , unless you are making a major string change.

[DTB]

Just got around to fitting these this morning on my Yamaha TRB. 

Very tight getting the B string through the bridge, even running it under the saddle and then putting it in the correct place after, without ruining the black coating and even though I crimped the strings before cutting I ended up with a dead G string. This lead to me putting the D’addario G back on and the D’addarios have considerably higher output than the blacks and imho a much better tone so have just ordered 2 more sets, the black ones will be off soon. 
Tension seemed exactly the same as the neck didn’t move at all. 
fyi if anyone interested. 

[nikon F]

how do you crimp a string ?

[DTB]

Just put a sharp bend in it with some pliers.  
It’s because they have a round core and if they are cut before stringing up the wrap goes loose and hence dead sounding. 
Why it affects only round core strings I don’t know but I’ve used them on guitars before no problem. Could be a faulty string or could be that one I did  wrong. The other 5 were fine and I crimped and cut all of them. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by DTB

[nikon F]

ah bending not crimping then ,,thought id missed another way of stopping the outer and inner separating ,,,cheers.

[Ralf1e]

1 hour ago, nikon F said:

ah bending not crimping then ,,thought id missed another way of stopping the outer and inner separating ,,,cheers.

Hex core strings

[DTB]

1 hour ago, nikon F said:

ah bending not crimping then ,,thought id missed another way of stopping the outer and inner separating ,,,cheers.

Well i was using the terminology straight from the manufacturer’s instructions. Sorry if I wasn’t up to your normal standards of accuracy. 

[KingBollock]

I really want to try these, but I don’t want to have to buy a five string set to get the .120 for D standard tuning. The highest the four string sets go is .110. I’d be happy with .115, I think.

However, I don’t know what the tension on the Black Beauties is like.

 

Would their heavy: 50 70 90 110 set work for D standard?

 

There’s a taper option for that gauge, too. What would be the advantage? I did struggle to get the .120 into the bridge, but some gentle persuasion with a pair of pliers did the trick.

Edited February 25, 2023 by KingBollock

[nikon F]

2 hours ago, DTB said:

Well i was using the terminology straight from the manufacturer’s instructions. Sorry if I wasn’t up to your normal standards of accuracy. 

just because the bloke on their website uses the word crimp right after bending the string dosen't make it right, no need for the snide comment was there.

[DTB]

7 hours ago, nikon F said:

just because the bloke on their website uses the word crimp right after bending the string dosen't make it right, no need for the snide comment was there.

Yeah was a bit snidey wasn’t it? However, they refer to the severe bend as a crimp. I quote;

The severe bend (crimp) will provide an anchor ………..

In any case it didn’t work on that string, and I don’t like the sound of them compared to the D’Addarios and I wouldn’t have found out unless the G failed like it did and I put the D’Addario G back on to hear the difference. So I’m glad the crimp bend whatever the flip you want to call it didn’t work. 
If anyone wants a free set of BLB6-30 strings let me know and if you pay postage you can have them coz they no use to me. 
(I bought two sets.)

Edited February 25, 2023 by DTB

[DTB]

9 hours ago, KingBollock said:

I really want to try these, but I don’t want to have to buy a five string set to get the .120 for D standard tuning. The highest the four string sets go is .110. I’d be happy with .115, I think.

However, I don’t know what the tension on the Black Beauties is like.

 

Would their heavy: 50 70 90 110 set work for D standard?

 

There’s a taper option for that gauge, too. What would be the advantage? I did struggle to get the .120 into the bridge, but some gentle persuasion with a pair of pliers did the trick.

Firstly, if it’s tight to get the string through the bridge you don’t want these strings as it will ruin the black coating (see my earlier post). 
The tension I would say is very slightly less than the similar gauge strings I took off although the neck didn’t move enough to measure but they feel easier to bend. 
I don’t know what advantage the taper set would be other than not taking up space on the tuner. Someone will no doubt help me out here. 
If you like a bright string which creates a high output from the pickup then imho these strings are not for you. They don’t have a lot of brightness or zing even when new and are a noticeably lower output. The D’Addarios have all sorts of complex overtones and a bright zingy sound, much like a piano string, which I love and you can eq out if needed but if it’s not there to start with you cant eq in. 

[SteveXFR]

9 hours ago, KingBollock said:

I really want to try these, but I don’t want to have to buy a five string set to get the .120 for D standard tuning. The highest the four string sets go is .110. I’d be happy with .115, I think.

However, I don’t know what the tension on the Black Beauties is like.

 

Would their heavy: 50 70 90 110 set work for D standard?

 

There’s a taper option for that gauge, too. What would be the advantage? I did struggle to get the .120 into the bridge, but some gentle persuasion with a pair of pliers did the trick.

 

I'm using .105 black beauties for D standard on my P bass and for me it works well 

[DTB]

No takers for a free set of strings then?

[BreadBin]

5 hours ago, DTB said:

No takers for a free set of strings then?

I'm interested 👍

[DTB]

Ok. 
Pm me your address and I’ll send them to you. 
what bass will you put them on?

[BreadBin]

Awesome, thanks! 

I'll probably try them on my HB fretless 👍