A few things need to be evaluated - 1) what general texture (soundwise) do you like from a string? 2) what general feel do you you prefer? 3) what orientation is your playing style?
Firstly - your style of music - you wouldn't really need that bright or tough of a string if you do not do a lot of slapping.... (ie - fretless jazz player)... and by the same token you wouldn't want a flatwound fretless arrangement if you wanted to be like Flea.
So, once you know this, then you can begin to narrow down the search - I tend to go from playing (something) like Rocco to (something) like Victor Wooten in just about the same song - so for the most part I need a string that is durable, relatively bright, and can withstand a lot of manhandling (I tend to break a G string in about 10 hours of playing time due to my agressive and strong attack with slap). Otherwise, I would have a much wider range of string products to choose from. But I am left with a strategy that calls for cost effectiveness, appropriate gauge and durability for my heavy handed slap style.
I went through D'Adarios, Ernie Balls, Pyramids, Thomastiks, Blue Steels, Rotosounds, DR's, GHS' and heaven knows what else.
In the end - there was far more to choose from that produced a relatively similar texture (soundwise) - but when it came to feel, very few had the desirable pliability.... and when it came down to what could handle the constant thumping (without going flat or breaking) I always found myself going back to Rotosounds... they had the longevity (without going flat), they had the durability (didn't break in the first 4 hours)... but I had a very hard time finding what I call symetrical gauges - I find it rather difficult to play strings that are disparate in the difference in thickness from one string to another.... Hence - I strongly have an affinity for playing strings that have as close of a graduated mm increment/decrease in thickness from string to string as possible.
On a 4 string for instance - I prefer nothing smaller than a 40 for the G - or they break too easily.... and on the E string I prefer not to have anything heavier than 110 - or it is not responsive enough (as in recovery time after striking) for slap style. And if the increments in thickness are consistent it makes for the easiest and smoothest playability (for me... this is highly subjective). So despite the fact that for the most part I find Rotosounds to be the most pliable (flexible) while still bright enough with logevity, AND also can withstand the constant pluck and thump while also being cheap - I also found that the fact that their standard roundwound gauge (long scale swing) was 45-65-80-105..... that 80 on the A string made it extra hard to get the same kind of envelope (attack decay sustain release) when I slapped on it - and the better I got, and more finesse I developed the bigger the problem became.
So I had to migrate over the the DR Low Riders (45-65-85-105) beause there is even gauge increments (of 20) between strings even though I find that they are not as pliable, and more expensive.
Food for thought on the process of selection......
(Message edited by kayo on November 11, 2003)
