TubaForum.net

At first read of the topic, it sounds stupid, but someone might have a bass guitar or two with no strings on it/them (perhaps that someone gave them?) that needs to have the truss rod adjusted or the electronics worked on a little bit or the bridge adjusted or they just want to play it and they don't want to spend any money on it, or all of the above.

What you're looking at here are three full scale sets which I just removed from three basses:

- four string flat wound
- five string roundwound
- six string round wound

Before I put them in the trash, I'm offering them to anyone who will pay the postage.
I'm thinking that the cheapest domestic postage for one or all three sets might be $5 to $7 (??) and if you step up to priority (and I'm not sure it's worth doing that...) postage might be 8 to 13 dollars. The postage amounts depend on distance and it might depend barely on weight, but probably not so much on weight..

I'm willing to send all three sets to one place, or all three to different places, as well as being perfectly willing to throw them in the trash.

It seems like somebody could use these for the suggested purposes at the top of the post. (I actually prefer to put strings on a bass when adjusting the truss rod. I loosen the strings, flop them off to the sides - after analyzing the neck, do an adjustment, and then tighten the strings back up and see what the resultant adjustment did. (Others seem to think that they can adjust the truss rod without any string tension as a test, but whatever.)

I've stuck them in the packages that the new ones I purchased were in, but (though no memory of buying any of these discarded sets) it's sort of looks to me like I bought the same brands of strings that came off of the basses. The six string set wasn't color coded like D'Addario, but they still look very similar, and I believe D'Addario does supply strings for a lot of guitar makers -:whereby they supply them to the instrument makers without the color codes on the ball ends.

I believe I would prefer - if anyone is interested at all - that someone just take all three sets.

Dead bass strings? Pshh

MShores wrote: Sun Sep 27, 2026 7:11 pm

Dead bass strings? Pshh

He didn't need ANY strings to play great.
That said, at least he knew what brand of axe to play:
Mirafender

@bloke I always keep a spare set of strings in my gigbag just in case. I also bring a second bass to every gig. I like to be prepared. If you don't have a backup/emergency set, I'd consider keeping at least 1 set. Also, and I've not tried this myself, some people swear you can boil a set of round wound strings and it brings new life into them. I have a half dozen sets of strings at home I should try that with.

tubatodd wrote: Mon Sep 28, 2026 6:44 am @bloke I always keep a spare set of strings in my gigbag just in case. I also bring a second bass to every gig. I like to be prepared. If you don't have a backup/emergency set, I'd consider keeping at least 1 set. Also, and I've not tried this myself, some people swear you can boil a set of round wound strings and it brings new life into them. I have a half dozen sets of strings at home I should try that with.

I thought about it, and I've always done this as well, but I've never used any of those, and putting one of these on would sound like a totally different instrument...so I've decided to stop carrying old strings.

After the Miraphone 98 tuba got all settled in, I quit carrying a tool kit with it.

Currently, I'm only playing bass guitar with one band. I threw away some old electronic equipment - one piece of which had an identical power cord to the one that plugs in to the back and then into the wall that fits my Ampeg amplifier. After making sure that the band leader always has extension cords and spare phone jack guitar cords, I wound up that power cord and handed it to him as well, just in case I ever forget my power cord. I'm going to try to not haul around a bunch of junk all the time - particularly when the band leader is willing to carry a bunch of junk around with them.

If a bass guitar string ever breaks on a gig between now and when I croak, I'll let everyone know that I made a bad decision. (I'm thinking I can probably get through a gig playing on three strings...)

question:
With my old D'Addario flatwound G string, it had a false vibration (which is almost always caused by uneven diameter or some similar issue). Of course the higher on the neck I played, the faster the frequency of the false vibrato. The identical replacement is doing the same thing brand new. The tone of the string rings nicely like a new string, but it's got this issue. I sent a note off to the manufacturer about it. I wonder if (when/if they send me a replacement string) it's going to do the same thing. If so, I'll put up with it and change makes the next time I swap strings out.

bloke wrote: Mon Sep 28, 2026 8:45 am question:
With my old D'Addario flatwound G string, it had a false vibration (which is almost always caused by uneven diameter or some similar issue). Of course the higher on the neck I played, the faster the frequency of the false vibrato. The identical replacement is doing the same thing brand new. The tone of the string rings nicely like a new string, but it's got this issue. I sent a note off to the manufacturer about it. I wonder if (when/if they send me a replacement string) it's going to do the same thing. If so, I'll put up with it and change makes the next time I swap strings out.

Is it like you turned on a chorus pedal? If so that usually means the pickup(s) is/are too close to the string(s). Try lowering the pickup slightly and see if it goes away.

I've got them at the recommended distance which is roughly 1/8 of an inch
2.8mm distance (with the g-string depressed on the last fret) is recommended for my vintage Jazz. That's about 90% of an 1/8 of an inch.

I guess it could be that...
There's no harm in experimenting with lowering it.

Thank you.

UPDATE:
@tubatodd I dropped the neck pickup down below recommended height by approx. 3/4 mm, and the symptom stopped.
Thanks so very much for your knowledge/expertise. I cancelled my note to D'Addario with an apology.

I figured I could leave the bridge pickup alone, as it's so close to the bridge and (I just seemed to me) unlikely to pull significantly on the string, simply due to leverage considerations.

bloke wrote: Mon Sep 28, 2026 10:01 am UPDATE:
@tubatodd I dropped the neck pickup down below recommended height by approx. 3/4 mm, and the symptom stopped.
Thanks so very much for your knowledge/expertise. I cancelled my note to D'Addario with an apology.

I figured I could leave the bridge pickup alone, as it's so close to the bridge and (I just seemed to me) unlikely to pull significantly on the string, simply due to leverage considerations.

Sweet! Glad that worked out for you. Yeah I experienced this several years ago and found a thread on Talkbass that explained that it was likely the magnets. Pickup windings were a best guess up until recent decades. Pickup height is like pirate's code. It's more of a guideline really.

bloke wrote: Mon Sep 28, 2026 10:01 am I figured I could leave the bridge pickup alone, as it's so close to the bridge and (I just seemed to me) unlikely to pull significantly on the string, simply due to leverage considerations.

On a jazz bass, I typically (and this seems to be common) have the bridge pickup higher than the neck pickup. I'm a Jaco Pastorius fan so I like a tone that favors the bridge pickup. I used to play with the bridge pickup soloed, but have since gone with more of a balance.

bloke wrote: Sun Sep 27, 2026 7:16 pm

MShores wrote: Sun Sep 27, 2026 7:11 pm

Dead bass strings? Pshh

He didn't need ANY strings to play great.
That said, at least he knew what brand of axe to play:
Mirafender

He didn’t even need to be upright.

Motown piano player Joe Hunter told The Guardian: "Jamerson could drink. Man, he could drink. He used to say he played better when he was loosened up. That's when he'd go right out there. One time Berry [Gordy] had to go and carry him back from a drinking club to a session. That bassline you hear on What's Goin' On by Marvin [Gaye] – Jamerson played that lying flat on his back, right there on the studio floor."

yeah...widely known... but political/constitutional conservatives recalling unseemly stories - in regards to anyone considered to be some type of minority - are subsequently targeted as bigots or whatever... so there are certain things that conservatives simply may not post or discuss.