NYXL 45-100 vs NYXL 45-105

Gear
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I want to buy a NYXL set and I’m not sure which of these two to get. I know this is very much personal preference, but any insight would be appreciated. I’m not sure what is actually on my bass right now as it is the strings that came with it. I also don’t know what strings that nut has been cut for. If it was cut for 45-105 (my assumption) would 45-100 cause me any issue with the nut? Since it says the 45-105 is “hybrid” does that imply they don’t go together as well as the 45-100 set? I know they are a different tension, but is it noticeably different? This is for my Sadowsky Jazz Bass if that is relevant. I also play normal finger bass. No slapping or anything like that.

And before all the recommendations for other strings come in, I’m only considering one of these two. :slight_smile:

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2

I have had no issues using 105’s on a bass that shipped with 100s, and you wouldn’t have any difficulties going the other way either.

I actually go back and forth on if I prefer 0.100 or 0.105 for the E string. I have 0.100 on my BB and 0.105 on my TRBX right now.

No. D’Addario classifies their strings as light, medium, and heavy; hybrid there just means you got light top end, medium bottom end. The A string is probably also .005 larger.

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For light top-end and medium bottom-end, what’s that really mean? Will it sound slightly different if I play each string in order as I shift from the A to D string? Obviously an A is an A but maybe there is a nuance here. Or is it just a tension thing?

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4

I run NYXL 45-105 and the packaging doesn’t refer to hybrid at all. They’re described as 4 string -normal.

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Just different feel really. Slight tension difference, slight tone difference, but not like it is light years different. Mostly feel.

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I think I have seen them called that in descriptive text, not on the packaging.

EXL165’s (45-105) are a common example:

EXL170’s (the 45-100 variant) just say “regular light gauge”.

Those are basically my two favorite string sets. Need to try the NYXL’s next.

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7

I think the description is just aligning with Ernie Ball nomenclature.

45 65 85 105 is marketed as Hybrid Slinky by EB and Normal by NYXL.

However they’re described, the 45-105 NYXL are excellent strings and feel “just right” to me.

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If you click on the link to get to the product page, it calls it hybrid in the first line if the description.

"NYXL45105 is a hybrid gauge string set for long scale basses. "

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Indeed. I hadn’t realised that was the manufacturers site, I thought it was a retailers description. My apologies.

Odd that they describe it as Hybrid on the website and Normal on the packaging.

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No problem. I appreciate the effort. It is indeed confusing.

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11

I put 45-100s on my Jaguar, replacing 45-105, and haven’t had an issue.

I also replaced 45-105 with 52-110 on my Jazz and no issues

You should be fine

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What bass make/model?

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It’s a Sadowsky Jazz Bass. I’m assuming it had the below strings on it. From the blue wraps, I’m pretty sure they were Sadowsky strings and this seems the logical set. They don’t have a 45-100 set, so I think it is a 45-65-85-105 set that was on it. So I’m going to go with those for the NYXL. I just received them today so will change them this weekend.

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14

I’m not too familiar with Sadowsky but most basses today come with 45-105s.

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15

If you do a lot of bending on E I would go with 100

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16

I’m going to try the 105s first for consistency, but I’ll stick on 100s in a few months and see if I can tell the difference and if so, which I prefer.

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17

I’ve used both for years and still don’t know which I prefer :slight_smile:

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18

Does that mean you can’t really tell the difference personally as it is so minor? Or that you can tell the difference, but just don’t have a preference?

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The latter. You can definitely feel the difference.

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I prefer the 105 feel because I like fat E strings and I can not lie. The difference in tone is very minimal like Howard mentioned before.

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