String Recommendations

Gear
1

What are your string recommendations for bright and clear strings?

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That’s like asking how high is up? :crazy_face:

There are tons of different string brands, gauges, materials, brightness levels, etc.

Relatively inexpensive, really decent brands include D’Addario, Ernie Ball, Fender, and DR. You can’t go wrong with this subset of what’s out there. Pick one and give them a shot. You’ll learn which brand(s), gauges and winding types appeal to you in time.

Different players have different faves. There are a lot of previous string threads on the forum. Do a quick search and you’ll find ‘em.

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Here is a chart by one of the manufacturers. If you look for the type (steel, nickel, chrome, etc), you can find similar ones from other manufacturers.
The brightness “scale” is at the top.

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81Pt0GKEyxL.AC_SX679679×678 42.4 KB

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Basically you’re going to want roundwounds. Mike named a few brants; my preference there is D’Addario but string preference is pretty personal.

Of the rounds, the nickel/steel ones feel the best in my opinion and have a bright but balanced sound; the stainless steel rounds are harsher in both feel and sound but are brighter on average.

Try a few brands! Starting with D’Addario and DR will be a good bet IMO.

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Great chart! Of those my string of choice is the NYXL and the less expensive EXL’s are a good option too.

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Yeah, D’A makes good strings.

I’ve got EXLs on my Jazz and they sound killer. I’ve still got NYXLs on my Jabba, but they’ve never been quite bright enough coupled with its Aguilar humbuckers. Need to go brighter on the next string change.

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Yeah NYXL’s are interesting. They start out less bright than the EXL’s, but they are rock solid and retain their brightness longer. EXL’s are a third the price, start out brighter, but dull out faster.

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8

I would add GHS Bass Boomers to that list

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:+1:

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How about we start with the brightest and priciest

It’s on quite a few of my basses both 4 and 5 string. Love the harmonics and the sparkling tone effortless string burps. It goes without saying that you’d need a decent muting kung fu to play these without making all kinds of weird sting noises.

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personally been very happy with NYXL’s. have them both on my TRBX and my squier jazz. also phil conrad (https://www.youtube.com/@philipconradmusic) loves Stringjoy’s and i like his thoughts on bass, so i feel like i want to give those a try sometime.

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12

I’m a big fan of the S.I.T. Foundations. From my experience, they stay brighter longer than the others I’ve tried.

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Foundations really are great strings. I’ve found them to be equal to or better quality than the usual suspects.

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14

In case you don’t know some of these terms, at the risk of over explaining, I’m going to just give a brief explanation of the different major string types.

There are some major categories to know about.
Roundwound strings (pretty much the standard string type) have little ridges. They’re great and bright and lovely.

Flatwound strings have all those little ridges completely flattened out. They’re also great, but not as bright and sparkly - better for more vintage / soul sounds.

There are two main materials used to wind the string that make a difference.

Steel - very bright! They are the brightest strings, but they’re tougher on the fingers and have a tighter string tension.

Nickel - very bright, but not as bright as steel. They’re softer for your fingers and have a bit less tension.

I like nickel round wound strings.
The new strings of any variety are good and bright.

I’ve used GHS, Ernie Ball, D’Addario and DR a lot.
My go to is D’Addario nickel roundwound strings because they’re consistently great and affordable.

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15

The Ernie Ball Cobalts are hard to beat!! Super clear and great harmonics…

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I should try those. I kind of dislike the Slinkys and Super Slinkys (compared to D’Addarios) but the Cobalts might be better.

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I have to chime in and say that Thomastik Infeld Jazz Rounds are the brightest, clearest, most articulate and easy to play strings I have ever played. Honestly, I like them better than the Jazz Flats. I have them on my StingRay Special and they are perfect for it. They require a lighter touch but reward you with great tone and wonderful harmonics and they last for years.

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18

This is a good example of how hard it can be to try and convey our impression of a sound with words.
I can only agree with you on that they are clear, articulate and very easy to play (and they are my favorite strings for sure). But… I wouldn’t call them “brightest”. In fact, far from it.

Each and every stainless steel string is brighter and many Ni roundwounds are as well, but, for me, it’s exactly the not-so-brightness and harmonic richness (that you also mention) of these strings why I like them so much. To me, it’s a “warm sound”.

And… super important for me personally: their texture, i.e., how they feel when fretting and plucking, how they respond to being plucked and bent etc. (which, I guess, is another way of saying how “easy to play” they are).

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My new Sadowsky, which I might name Sadako, came with stainless steel strings, which were quite bright. Too much for my taste so I replaced with TI rounds. Problem solved.

My first set of TI rounds and looking forward to learning with them. I put a set of cobalt flats on my P, but there’s a richness and warmth to the TIs and I am drawn to them at the moment. How can you be bright with an underlying warmth?

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Have to say, I’m intrigued by these. I don’t know if I’m ready to spend $80 on them. For you guys that have played them… are they worth the extra cost?

I hear a light touch is required, so maybe not the best for hard rock? More suited to jazz / funk?

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