With the round core strings it’s more important to crimp the end of the string before you cut it, so the wrap does t slip from the core - if you’ve had dead strings from DR round core strings that could be why. Less important but still a habit I do with hex core too.
Just put some Hi Beams on my bass today and thought about this. DR says they flatten the round core near the ends of the strings after the nut, so it seems like this should only matter if you’re below that area (on a standard scale bass, this would mean cutting below the nut generally). It’s still an ingrained habit for me though.
OH yeah... And if you've only got one bass, changing tunings regularly absolutely screws Hi-Beams, especially if you're really into that shiny brand-new Hi-Beam sound! Shitty overtones and other odd weirdness is seriously frustrating until you know what's happening. Didn't help that I was working that out using a headless Status S2, the strings core can slip under normal use without special attention!
Elixir strings were a game changer for me. They keep they're brightness for so long, and I don't have to worry or think about when they're gonna die and sound like crap. I can just play and connect with the music. Plus the coating they use make them feel so smooth and playing faster is easy. I can get about 4-5 months of use out of set and that's playing almost everyday. In all honesty they still don't sound that dead in that time it's just they are so pitted from the frets by that amount of time. I know that a string will probably break since I tend to play on the harder side. Not all the time, but I like that growl from a more aggressive touch when I need it.
I use DR Hi Beams and DR Pure Blues. I used to change every 1-3 months depending on how much I played, but recently have been changing closer to 1 month for the reasons you mentioned. Fresh strings definitely inspire me and the harmonic content is richer
9:25 - Sure, you're stretching the strings, but more importantly, you're creating the break angle over the bridge - if that stays rounded, the action feels high and the string loses some of its fundamental tone.
I haven't changed my strings for 4 years. And they still sound good ! Stainless steel strings they are and I always wash my hands/strings before/after practicing
What do you do with the OLD strings? Seems like someone could make use of them (not me; I'm a Low B guy)... Miracle Max says that bass strings only ever get MOSTLY dead...
I've never thought about this, as I'm a 3 year old flatwounds kind of guy, but I usually have to tune my bass every 5 minutes the first night I put new strings on. Which really sucks on a gig! I always stretch the strings out, and try my best to make sure everything is seated right, but it's always been a thing. Wonder what I'm doing wrong. Seeing you immediately launch into such perfectly intonated music on fresh strings made me do a double take!
From the title alone, i thought this vid was superfluous. The double stops in that loop though we're inspiring! Thank you for pursuing your musicianship and sharing it with us.
I play guitar and what's funny is that I kinda don't like the sound of super fresh strings. I'm speaking of when you literally JUST put them on. I noticed that - even though I stretch them out - they feel like they don't know yet what to do. It takes a couple of hours until intonation sounds best, which is weird, but that's my experience.
I’ve played DR high beams for 14yrs and they’ve never ever let me down. The tension acclimates to the bass real quick and they seem to rarely drop too far out of tune for me when the weather shifts.
I've not changed my string for about 2 years on the 2 basses that I own. But part of that is not knowing the process of HOW to do it (which is something that I should work on!) But the point you made Janek of finding that part they gives you the motivation to enjoy the work made me think of how I keep the engines going when I dont have motivation to practice or sit for an hour or two. Personally, It helps tremendously when I switch instruments. Not sure why, but going from flats on my pbass then a week or month later, playing my acoustic bass really helps!
I change my bass strings 4 times a year, with the seasons. I have 2 main basses. I'm not a big fan of how they sound for the first day or two. From week 2 to about week 12, they stay remarkably consistent. After that, I can feel and hear them go off. But it's humid here in HK, so they'd probably last longer in a drier climate.
For me I can’t really stand super bright new strings after the first few days they start to break in and I love when it breaks in I use that hi beams as well been loving these strings on my j bass
The reason people say to change one at a time is you're way less likely to have to reset your action I always do one at a time tune it up to pitch move on to the next one and its exactly the same as it was before I changed strings
Wish I could afford that. I change my strings about every 4 months. I live in Louisiana, and the humidity affects my strings. Mostly by my hands being sweaty. When it gets hot, I’ll grime em down until the fall, around this time, that way my new sets get the most use with the least grime after.
Janek, have you ever delved into coated strings? If so, what are your thoughts on them? I've recently put a set of Elixir Stainless Steels on my Music Man and it is just heavenly. (BTW, I just purchased your Bass Player's Warm-up! I'm looking forward to putting it to good use!)
I’ve asked before and I don’t think I got a response, how do you feel the fresh strings and your stratospherically high action benefit the tone? Because I have changed my strings out every few days on low action basses vs higher action and I noticed the fresher strings played a bigger factor in on the higher action. Whereas the low actions basses seemed to maintain a certain crispness. Maybe that’s just the mechanics of my hand coming into play. Thoughts fellow bass dudes? And Janek?
When l started playing bass l’d snap a string sometimes, (but 31 years on l can’t remember doing that in decades!). I suspect because my technique was naive at first. I’d put a new one on and it would stand out like a sore thumb because the others were dead by comparison. Just having four strings was important, tone was secondary! 😆 Now l change them every six months... all four. I do like to keep tension on the neck though, so l do them one at a time. It just feels kinder to the instrument. My bass cost £300 though... l’d love a Fodera.
What do you do with the strings after? I reckon people (including me) would buy them cause 3 days old to me personally is when I like them the most, the high end roles off
Sounds good. My guess is you’ve done around 2500 string changes. . Hell every couple days if I could afford it lol. I try to change the strings on my main bass every gig. I’m more of a weekend warrior though so that’s normally 2-3 times a month. They get really bad after a show. I play a lot of venues with like 1000w lighting cans like right by my damn head. Definitely not how they were meant to be used so it’s like a sauna onstage. My other basses though I’ll let go a while. I have one fender with strings that are two years old.
Whaou crazy ...I don t have the money to change every 3 days...one or two times a year as that the sounds change and I play with it ...really fun and interesting...
"Inspiration from a fresh set of strings"... it is a mental thing. If you are that busy, every week is more that enough, unless you do have an agreement with some manufacturer...
it would cost me $3650 a year ($30 set of high beam 5 strings every 3 days) to change my strings like you. so yeah im good doing it every few months lol
If janek changes strings nearly every day, then let’s say he changes his strings 300 times a year. 300 X 25 years of playing = 7,500 string changes 😵 I have kept every set of strings ive ever changed. If Janek were to do that, he might have more strings than he does pedals.
I know why your strings lose tension. It's because the way you change your strings, you don't bend them before you cut them ... read the inside of the package of the hi beams! You might not need to change them that often and you might even find more new sounds after a week, month...
Ten packs of these strings that you use per month cost more than my entire monthly salary with full-time work ... and yes I'm from Europe. So frustrating :(
Don't be silly. I got a Mexican jazz in 2015,.got a pro setup with new Aguilar Ag4hc pickups and EB 45-100s. I have a new packet of strings, and I'm gonna change them, but don't suggest new strings every week or month. That's just foolishness. My 7yr old strings still give me a smooth funky quack 🌴
I think you've probably changed around 2,500 sets of bass strings in your life. How did I come to that? You've been playing bass for a bit over 9,000 days. You said that when touring, there are periods where you might change strings every single day, but that every three days is more usual. One has to assume that you've had some downtime over that period too (sick or busy with non-music stuff), and that you probably did not change strings so frequently when you were first starting out, so I'm guessing that over that long period you changed strings a bit *under* every three days on average. This means you'll very likely eventually spend well over $100,000 in today's money on bass strings over the course of your career. This could be a very low estimate if you change strings on your #2 or #3 anywhere near as often as on your #1, but I'm assuming you don't.
OMG! It's definitely too often. Really! Most of the strings, roundwound strings, sound great even after week of playing so every 3 days? wow! I change my flatwounds every year (every January I could say) and my roundwounds every 6 months (May-June and January-February). Good strings give me good sound for long so I rather buy expensive set and change it less than buy some shitty stuff for couple of $ and change it often. I really don't wanna do this and I rather wanna play than thinking about changing something in my bass, amp or whatever. Same with setup. If it doesnt work just change it and play and forget about this stuff! Don't overthik some things too much. I used to use very low action but it desn't feel and sound as I would like. And I used light strings too. Now I use high action and medium/heavy strings and it's what I like and I don't need to think about it again.
I bought a bass when I was building the great pyramid in Cairo. That was over 4,000 years ago and I’ve never changed the strings. I’m better than you too, I’ve been playing a lot longer.
DR strings are probably the longest lasting strings of all brands. They retain clarity and definition for a very long time. Changing strings every third day as a youtuber....just sitting at home practicing....ehh....? - Of course, it must be extremely necessary? .......Geezus!
365 days in a year; over 25 years; provides 9,125 daily opportunities to change your strings. I'm gonna guess 4,733 times. You replaced + restrung. I dare not guess at tuner peg revolutions. LOL
First sentence of this video just tells you this guy doesn’t know what is he talking about! You don’t need to change your strings that often! That’s marketing and an unsustainable and expensive practice! Your strings are fine, just practice more and you will notice that used strings actually feel better!
@@rocha2333 “this guy” is right here… no need to talk like you’re commenting on a news article and talking to the rest of the world when it’s my channel. Chances are, I’m going to see it and I’m going to reply. Perhaps you don’t need to change strings that often, and maybe you like the feel of older played-in strings. That doesn’t mean everyone is going to want/need/prefer exactly the same thing. And what does the first sentence of the video have to do with marketing? I mention the brand of strings I play in this video, but talking about the frequency with which I change them is not intended to sell more units, it’s an honest statement of how I work. It’s also not an expensive or unsustainable practice when I get them for free. Again, this is not marking and I’m very aware that free strings aren’t a reality for most people. You might want to think about getting your facts straight before making statements that aren’t true, and then just being direct and asking a question which returns an answer that people who read the comments can benefit from. I’m right here, I’m happy to reply, and I am very familiar with the details having done this for over 30 years.
@@janekgwizdala I’m sure you realise that the mayority of people who watch your videos are not professional bass players, not sponsored, just people who want to learn a thing or 2 about bass. So great if it works for you, but still an unsustainable practice, I refer to the environmental impact of such a practice, still unnecessary and expensive for most of people. In the end of the day people do whatever they want to do no matter the consecuences or the reasons of doing it. And finally, don’t take it so personal when I said ‘this guy’ it is just an opinion wether you like it or not.
Yeah, Cuz. Please send me your 3 day old strings.
With the round core strings it’s more important to crimp the end of the string before you cut it, so the wrap does t slip from the core - if you’ve had dead strings from DR round core strings that could be why. Less important but still a habit I do with hex core too.
Just put some Hi Beams on my bass today and thought about this. DR says they flatten the round core near the ends of the strings after the nut, so it seems like this should only matter if you’re below that area (on a standard scale bass, this would mean cutting below the nut generally). It’s still an ingrained habit for me though.
Some one watched the fodera setup instructionals
iamthemoneyj it’s on the DR packaging though I think since Foderas are round core they recommend the same thing
OH yeah... And if you've only got one bass, changing tunings regularly absolutely screws Hi-Beams, especially if you're really into that shiny brand-new Hi-Beam sound! Shitty overtones and other odd weirdness is seriously frustrating until you know what's happening. Didn't help that I was working that out using a headless Status S2, the strings core can slip under normal use without special attention!
Elixir strings were a game changer for me. They keep they're brightness for so long, and I don't have to worry or think about when they're gonna die and sound like crap. I can just play and connect with the music. Plus the coating they use make them feel so smooth and playing faster is easy. I can get about 4-5 months of use out of set and that's playing almost everyday. In all honesty they still don't sound that dead in that time it's just they are so pitted from the frets by that amount of time. I know that a string will probably break since I tend to play on the harder side. Not all the time, but I like that growl from a more aggressive touch when I need it.
I use DR Hi Beams and DR Pure Blues. I used to change every 1-3 months depending on how much I played, but recently have been changing closer to 1 month for the reasons you mentioned. Fresh strings definitely inspire me and the harmonic content is richer
9:25 - Sure, you're stretching the strings, but more importantly, you're creating the break angle over the bridge - if that stays rounded, the action feels high and the string loses some of its fundamental tone.
I haven't changed my strings for 4 years. And they still sound good ! Stainless steel strings they are and I always wash my hands/strings before/after practicing
What do you do with the OLD strings? Seems like someone could make use of them (not me; I'm a Low B guy)... Miracle Max says that bass strings only ever get MOSTLY dead...
I've never thought about this, as I'm a 3 year old flatwounds kind of guy, but I usually have to tune my bass every 5 minutes the first night I put new strings on. Which really sucks on a gig! I always stretch the strings out, and try my best to make sure everything is seated right, but it's always been a thing. Wonder what I'm doing wrong. Seeing you immediately launch into such perfectly intonated music on fresh strings made me do a double take!
From the title alone, i thought this vid was superfluous. The double stops in that loop though we're inspiring! Thank you for pursuing your musicianship and sharing it with us.
I play guitar and what's funny is that I kinda don't like the sound of super fresh strings. I'm speaking of when you literally JUST put them on. I noticed that - even though I stretch them out - they feel like they don't know yet what to do. It takes a couple of hours until intonation sounds best, which is weird, but that's my experience.
I haven't change my flatwound in P bass in 8 years. I play on that bass 40 gigs a year, I practice daily. They sound awesome for me😊
I’ve played DR high beams for 14yrs and they’ve never ever let me down. The tension acclimates to the bass real quick and they seem to rarely drop too far out of tune for me when the weather shifts.
I've not changed my string for about 2 years on the 2 basses that I own. But part of that is not knowing the process of HOW to do it (which is something that I should work on!)
But the point you made Janek of finding that part they gives you the motivation to enjoy the work made me think of how I keep the engines going when I dont have motivation to practice or sit for an hour or two. Personally, It helps tremendously when I switch instruments. Not sure why, but going from flats on my pbass then a week or month later, playing my acoustic bass really helps!
I change my bass strings 4 times a year, with the seasons. I have 2 main basses. I'm not a big fan of how they sound for the first day or two. From week 2 to about week 12, they stay remarkably consistent. After that, I can feel and hear them go off. But it's humid here in HK, so they'd probably last longer in a drier climate.
One year with the same fender 7250 roundwounds and l'm still enjoying the sound, l play at least 3 hours a day...
My G string has just snapped on my electro acoustic bass after 20 years I'm devastated have to buy some new ones now 😁
For me I can’t really stand super bright new strings after the first few days they start to break in and I love when it breaks in I use that hi beams as well been loving these strings on my j bass
The reason people say to change one at a time is you're way less likely to have to reset your action I always do one at a time tune it up to pitch move on to the next one and its exactly the same as it was before I changed strings
Wish I could afford that. I change my strings about every 4 months. I live in Louisiana, and the humidity affects my strings. Mostly by my hands being sweaty. When it gets hot, I’ll grime em down until the fall, around this time, that way my new sets get the most use with the least grime after.
And this is why I finally decided to use flats on my main bass lol. Never have to change them.
I agree with the 1 string at a time thing. Always taken all off then put them all on, starting from E-G. Never had any issues with this in 16 years.
Janek, have you ever delved into coated strings? If so, what are your thoughts on them? I've recently put a set of Elixir Stainless Steels on my Music Man and it is just heavenly.
(BTW, I just purchased your Bass Player's Warm-up! I'm looking forward to putting it to good use!)
I’ve asked before and I don’t think I got a response, how do you feel the fresh strings and your stratospherically high action benefit the tone? Because I have changed my strings out every few days on low action basses vs higher action and I noticed the fresher strings played a bigger factor in on the higher action. Whereas the low actions basses seemed to maintain a certain crispness. Maybe that’s just the mechanics of my hand coming into play. Thoughts fellow bass dudes? And Janek?
When l started playing bass l’d snap a string sometimes, (but 31 years on l can’t remember doing that in decades!). I suspect because my technique was naive at first.
I’d put a new one on and it would stand out like a sore thumb because the others were dead by comparison. Just having four strings was important, tone was secondary! 😆
Now l change them every six months... all four. I do like to keep tension on the neck though, so l do them one at a time. It just feels kinder to the instrument. My bass cost £300 though... l’d love a Fodera.
What do you do with the strings after? I reckon people (including me) would buy them cause 3 days old to me personally is when I like them the most, the high end roles off
Sounds good. My guess is you’ve done around 2500 string changes. . Hell every couple days if I could afford it lol. I try to change the strings on my main bass every gig. I’m more of a weekend warrior though so that’s normally 2-3 times a month. They get really bad after a show. I play a lot of venues with like 1000w lighting cans like right by my damn head. Definitely not how they were meant to be used so it’s like a sauna onstage. My other basses though I’ll let go a while. I have one fender with strings that are two years old.
I change mine 3 if not 4 times a year which is every 3 or 4 months, I feel them when needed to be changed.
I can buy a brand new custom shop guitar every year with what you are spending on strings. Was this an April 1st video?
I change my strings every 3 or 4 months 🙊
I have the same strings often a 6 moths
A lot depends on the ratio of the price of the strings in your country to your earnings ;-)
BART FUNK BASS exactly! This would be prohibitively expensive for most people l think. I guess Janek gets free strings (?)
Whaou crazy ...I don t have the money to change every 3 days...one or two times a year as that the sounds change and I play with it ...really fun and interesting...
"Inspiration from a fresh set of strings"... it is a mental thing. If you are that busy, every week is more that enough, unless you do have an agreement with some manufacturer...
Is it when your fingers turn black
It's easier when you have a sponsorship and endorsement deal!
it would cost me $3650 a year ($30 set of high beam 5 strings every 3 days) to change my strings like you. so yeah im good doing it every few months lol
Yeah the cost is so high
If janek changes strings nearly every day, then let’s say he changes his strings 300 times a year. 300 X 25 years of playing = 7,500 string changes 😵
I have kept every set of strings ive ever changed. If Janek were to do that, he might have more strings than he does pedals.
Vincent Padilla ..and 7,500 x (let’s say £40?) = £300,000!!
How often do you cut your hair?
I know why your strings lose tension. It's because the way you change your strings, you don't bend them before you cut them ... read the inside of the package of the hi beams! You might not need to change them that often and you might even find more new sounds after a week, month...
Ten packs of these strings that you use per month cost more than my entire monthly salary with full-time work ... and yes I'm from Europe. So frustrating :(
Don't be silly. I got a Mexican jazz in 2015,.got a pro setup with new Aguilar Ag4hc pickups and EB 45-100s. I have a new packet of strings, and I'm gonna change them, but don't suggest new strings every week or month. That's just foolishness. My 7yr old strings still give me a smooth funky quack 🌴
I think you've probably changed around 2,500 sets of bass strings in your life. How did I come to that? You've been playing bass for a bit over 9,000 days. You said that when touring, there are periods where you might change strings every single day, but that every three days is more usual. One has to assume that you've had some downtime over that period too (sick or busy with non-music stuff), and that you probably did not change strings so frequently when you were first starting out, so I'm guessing that over that long period you changed strings a bit *under* every three days on average. This means you'll very likely eventually spend well over $100,000 in today's money on bass strings over the course of your career.
This could be a very low estimate if you change strings on your #2 or #3 anywhere near as often as on your #1, but I'm assuming you don't.
he's probably endorsed by DR strings
OMG! It's definitely too often. Really! Most of the strings, roundwound strings, sound great even after week of playing so every 3 days? wow! I change my flatwounds every year (every January I could say) and my roundwounds every 6 months (May-June and January-February). Good strings give me good sound for long so I rather buy expensive set and change it less than buy some shitty stuff for couple of $ and change it often. I really don't wanna do this and I rather wanna play than thinking about changing something in my bass, amp or whatever. Same with setup. If it doesnt work just change it and play and forget about this stuff! Don't overthik some things too much. I used to use very low action but it desn't feel and sound as I would like. And I used light strings too. Now I use high action and medium/heavy strings and it's what I like and I don't need to think about it again.
Changing my strings every three days would equate to 1/3 of my current weekly wage.
So like changing your strings(for ~30€) once a week for 25 years means you have spent ~30000€ on string in your live. Damn.
I left my strings on for 7 years
May as well be flat wounds!
@@adroit57 I have flats that I haven't changed for that long. In fact, they've outlived some of the basses I have put them on.
Roundwounds when you have the money flats never!!!
P bass with flats. Classic forever.
Kind of annoying when you have to buy your own strings!
Every 3 days like janek 😂 💰
Can I get you old strings?? Lol. Probably way more life in them than my strings. 🤣🤣
If I could afford to change strings every other day, I would too.
I bought a bass when I was building the great pyramid in Cairo. That was over 4,000 years ago and I’ve never changed the strings. I’m better than you too, I’ve been playing a lot longer.
26x365/3=3163,33
DR strings are probably the longest lasting strings of all brands. They retain clarity and definition for a very long time. Changing strings every third day as a youtuber....just sitting at home practicing....ehh....? - Of course, it must be extremely necessary? .......Geezus!
That tone you use its kinda cool, dammm. i have to say sorry, kinda expensive :( also
I change strings when i can afford to
365 days in a year; over 25 years; provides 9,125 daily opportunities to change your strings. I'm gonna guess 4,733 times. You replaced + restrung. I dare not guess at tuner peg revolutions. LOL
If you done it an average of once every 3 days, it's about 3085 🤣 not too bad
👍🍀👍🍀👍🍀👍🍀👍🍀
Every few months, lol
First sentence of this video just tells you this guy doesn’t know what is he talking about! You don’t need to change your strings that often! That’s marketing and an unsustainable and expensive practice! Your strings are fine, just practice more and you will notice that used strings actually feel better!
@@rocha2333 “this guy” is right here… no need to talk like you’re commenting on a news article and talking to the rest of the world when it’s my channel. Chances are, I’m going to see it and I’m going to reply.
Perhaps you don’t need to change strings that often, and maybe you like the feel of older played-in strings. That doesn’t mean everyone is going to want/need/prefer exactly the same thing.
And what does the first sentence of the video have to do with marketing? I mention the brand of strings I play in this video, but talking about the frequency with which I change them is not intended to sell more units, it’s an honest statement of how I work. It’s also not an expensive or unsustainable practice when I get them for free. Again, this is not marking and I’m very aware that free strings aren’t a reality for most people.
You might want to think about getting your facts straight before making statements that aren’t true, and then just being direct and asking a question which returns an answer that people who read the comments can benefit from.
I’m right here, I’m happy to reply, and I am very familiar with the details having done this for over 30 years.
@@janekgwizdala I’m sure you realise that the mayority of people who watch your videos are not professional bass players, not sponsored, just people who want to learn a thing or 2 about bass. So great if it works for you, but still an unsustainable practice, I refer to the environmental impact of such a practice, still unnecessary and expensive for most of people. In the end of the day people do whatever they want to do no matter the consecuences or the reasons of doing it. And finally, don’t take it so personal when I said ‘this guy’ it is just an opinion wether you like it or not.
Answer: whenever a string breaks.