Random Ramblings

Just another tricky day for you.

Who said that.

Good grief it's hot here. Summer is getting ridiculous. Humid and hot. I can't even stand to wear headphones so songwriting has come to a total standstill as I slowly melt. My poor guinea pig has run out of grass because my lawn has died off.
I am M-E-L-t-i-i-i-i-i-i-n-g  

Um, did your sister get crushed by a house?

The only good taxes are filed taxes.

I recorded a simple riff on my bass before and after changing the strings. There's a difference in the brilliance. Listen with headphones and you'll hear the difference.

https://soundcloud.com/kompilesoft/changing-bass-strings

Black Rider wrote:

Who said that.

Exactly 

Driven wrote:

I recorded a simple riff on my bass before and after changing the strings. There's a difference in the brilliance. Listen with headphones and you'll hear the difference.

https://soundcloud.com/kompilesoft/changing-bass-strings

Thumping!  I know it's more expensive to buy new bass strings than standard guitar strings.....still they do last longer.  I wonder if it ends of being about the same in the end.

Staybrite wrote:

Driven wrote:

I recorded a simple riff on my bass before and after changing the strings. There's a difference in the brilliance. Listen with headphones and you'll hear the difference.

https://soundcloud.com/kompilesoft/changing-bass-strings

Thumping!  I know it's more expensive to buy new bass strings than standard guitar strings.....still they do last longer.  I wonder if it ends of being about the same in the end.

New bass strings are definitely brighter and have more punch.

When I was practicing and gigging like mad I would change my bass strings once a month.  I didn't want to break one during a gig.

Xid wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

Driven wrote:

I recorded a simple riff on my bass before and after changing the strings. There's a difference in the brilliance. Listen with headphones and you'll hear the difference.

https://soundcloud.com/kompilesoft/changing-bass-strings

Thumping!  I know it's more expensive to buy new bass strings than standard guitar strings.....still they do last longer.  I wonder if it ends of being about the same in the end.

New bass strings are definitely brighter and have more punch.

When I was practicing and gigging like mad I would change my bass strings once a month.  I didn't want to break one during a gig.

Break one!  Holy cow I didn't even know that was a thing, I played bass on occasion in a few bands (even owned a cheap one for a little bit)...but never broke a string.  Now guitar strings I used to break quite often.

I used to break them on a fairly regular bassis (see what I did there?)  Mainly the A, sometimes the E.  But I was playing a lot and probably picking a lot harder than I needed to.  Now when I tried the Dean Markley SR-2000 strings, which tapered off on the ends, I ate those things alive.  They were too wimpy on the ends.

I hadn't changed the old strings in nearly two years. They were a little too dull by the end.

I'm always looking to extend the life of anything musical. With my bass, I always wipe down the strings after every use to help extend the life of the strings. Also, I've found that giving them a good 'ol boil does the trick (about 15 minutes). Brightens them right up. Just don't make the mistake of using a pot that you're going to cook in. Yuck. And always dry them quickly or they'll rust.   : )

I've heard of boiling your bass strings.  Never knew anyone personally who had tried it though.  I remember Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue mentioning it in an article way back in the 80's

I've never boiled 'em but I know that it cleans out the gunk between the winds and brightens them up.

Bass strings last me nearly a year before I feel the need to change them, and I play a 3-4 times a week in front of groups of 500 or more people.
I wipe down my bass before I put it in the case, I NEVER leave it out on a stand overnight, and I happen to not have very acidic sweat, which will corrode strings quite quickly.
I have a friend who plays sometimes, but I never let him play my nice bass, because his sweat is so acidic he'll completely kill a set of strings in one evening.

I just don't have the money to replace strings. It works a treat. Recording before and after you can actually see the sound wave changes. Then if you compare that to a recording on new strings, it's closer to new than the old by far. It definitely cleans them up. 

Man, all this college stuff is a pain in the butt! having to fill out FAFSA (Financial Aid, which we probably will not get), filling out scholarship apps, uploading insurance cards (I never knew you have to have health insurance to attend college. If you don't have it they make you buy it). I've been back and forth daily with FSU trying to get everything taken care of. They've been very helpful and maybe I am an overeager parent but I just want to get all of this taken care of. Will probably have to get a Stafford loan as well. You can pre-pay for college in Florida but I didn't start it until my daughter's sophomore year so that will run dry pretty quick (luckily I started my younger daughter's when she was in first grade).

It is super annoying, the government never makes things simple.

Jen5 wrote:

I just don't have the money to replace strings. It works a treat. Recording before and after you can actually see the sound wave changes. Then if you compare that to a recording on new strings, it's closer to new than the old by far. It definitely cleans them up. 

Trying owning and playing a 6 string bass, Jen!  A set of strings for my Tobias will easily cost me $50! When I was playing in a band and at church all the time, I would change my strings every 6 months.  Now I am lucky to change them annually.

As far as breaking a bass string, I have only broken one and that was while changing a set and overwound the string.  During playing, I have never broken a bass string.

I broke a low E on a bass once, probably because it'd been on there for too many years. It belonged to the high school, so who knows when they were last changed.

Driven wrote:

I broke a low E on a bass once, probably because it'd been on there for too many years. It belonged to the high school, so who knows when they were last changed.

Mine was the C string on my Tobias.  I didn't have any backups, so I just played for a week or two at the church where I attended at the time as a 5 string.

I broke the A string during preservice rehearsal and didn't have a backup so I played as a 3-String.

Why does everyone here play bass?

Black Rider wrote:

Why does everyone here play bass?

Because it's awesome.