Half Round Stings

[maxh]

It looks like it's been a several years since the discussion, "strings", so I'll pose this question. Has anyone tried different varieties the "half round" stings available, and have a preference? I'm looking for that ideal combination of minimal wear on my fretboard and fingers, and maximum brightness. I have an ebony fingerboard, and don't want to coat it -- I like the wood. I'm seeing versions of these "ground wound" or half wound strings by D'Addario, GHS, Labella, and something I'm not quite clear on from SIT.

[FretLessSince68]

I hear you loud and clear on this topic. I have been through exactly the same evolution in strings from Flats to Round Wound to Half Rounds, back to Flats, Half Rounds again and now back to Round Wounds.

Here is what I learned... If the sound/tone/timbre is the primary concern Round Wounds are the best for Mwah. However I don't want to dig ruts under my strings into the Ebony fingerboard. The questions becomes, If I want to have that Mwah sound AND protect the fingerboard what do I do. Coating the fingerboard is a good methodology for Rosewood and other relatively soft woods but when you have an Ebony board it is a darn shame to slather chemicals on such a beautiful piece of wood. In addition Ebony has a sound that any musician will tell you is the most musical. So coating the fingerboard on Ebony is out.

Still I wanted that Mwah sound so I tried lots of strings. GHS Bright Flats are very good as are DeAddario Half Wound and RotoSound RS77's. These helped with the rutting problem but the Mwah sound was not as good as with Round Wound strings. So I decided to look closer at the Round Wound strings I had been using to understand just WHY they caused ruts. It is obvious that friction is the rutting culprit AND the source of the desirable Mwah sound but I had still did not fully understand the mechanics of rutting.

I got out my box of used strings and my 30x loop (magnifier) and looked closely at the strings themselves. Typically on Round Wound strings the wire sort of flakes as it is wrapped around the core creating a miniature rasp. This was the Ahh Hah! moment for me. Then I looked at Flat Wound strings and found no such rasping characteristic. Now I understood the mechanics, microscopic rasps on each turn of a Round Wound string will wear the fingerboard prematurely.

Stainless Round Wound strings are the worst offenders, they have much larger, rougher, and tougher rasps seen under magnification.

OK, now I know what the problem is so what do I do about it? I don't want to go back to Flats or Half rounds because I want the Mwah sound. So what do I do? Then I had another Ahh Hah! moment. I realized that I had put DeAddario EXP COATED round wound strings on my Modulus Q5 tone monster. I did this to reduce the grey metallic discoloration on my fingers. I looked closely at the windings on these strings. Amazingly they appeared much smoother. The rasp like flakes were mostly filled in by the coating process that DeAddario uses.

Problem solved, well almost. With DeAddario EXP Coated Round Wound strings installed on my fretless having an Ebony fingerboard the wear appears to be limited to a burnishing in the area immediately under the strings. I see no lighter colored wood showing that would indicate abrasion. So at this time, I think that the problem of fingerboard rutting from Round Wound strings is greatly reduced. Probably not 100% eliminated but greatly reduced.

Elixer coated strings use a different process and I have not looked to see if they have a similar "filling in" of the rasp effect.

Don't use Stainless Round wounds string unless you enjoy resurfacing the wood fingerboard. For phenolic, Ebonol, Rockwood, Diamond wood and coated fingerboard users. Go ahead and use what ever string you like. Rasping will still occur but those materials are much harder than wood and should not show rutting for an extended period.

I hope this helps.

[maxh]

Thanks FretLessSince68. I appreciate that you've thought carefully about this, and that you've worked out some answers.

My concern is less about the mwah, and more about the highs in general. Would you say that everything you said about the mwah offered by the various types of strings applies equally to the brightness of the sound?

Also, on the DeAddario EXP Coated Round Wounds, can I assume that they feel less abrasive to the touch than uncoated rounds? And are they less squeaky?

[FretLessSince68]

I have found that good pickups greatly effect the high frequency response of electric bass in general. With good pickups Flats wounds can be made to sound excessively trebly, with lower quality pickups when you boost the high frequency EQ all you get is noise. The same goes for other types of strings.

In terms of which type of strings have the most high frequency content, I would venture to say that most player agree on Stainless Steel as being very bright, Nickel round wounds, then flat wounds.

Regarding the feel of D'Addario EXP coated round wound bass string to the touch: To me they feel exactly the same as most other round wound strings. The main difference for the fingers is that the grey metal residue does not get on them. Finger noise is about the same, tone is about the same as D'Addario EXL bass strings.