Here is Rotosounds guide to scale lengths:
http://www.rotosound.com/bass-string-scale-length-guide/ Rotosound still makes superwound strings (originally Superwound was a separate company, and were merged with Rotosound, who changed the name to PSD = Piano String Design) and they only offer one line (but it's the only one in the world, which is cool).:
http://www.rotosound.com/psd-bass-99/ Here's a pic of *Jeremy Johnson's Alembic with superwounds/PSDs;
Unless you can set up your own action and intonation, it would be worth it to have your SC professionally serviced to take advantage of the superwound's unbelievable sound. (The upper harmonics ring off those babies like nothing else, giving a muscular yet clear tone all the way up into dog-hearing levels and because the fulcrum point is so small it takes a lot less energy to unleash 'em, so they're just insanely responsive.)
Tastes in strings vary, but some of us take advantage of the Alembic tailpiece to quickly change strings (because the strings aren't threaded through any holes, but instead the ball end clips into notches) and keep different types of strings handy, depending on the gig. (I've got the world's oldest, gnarliest tapewounds for an upright bass thud, a 20+ year old set of gold strings for jazz and country (you'd be surprised) and a new ten-dollar set of bright snappy roundwounds from Carvin/GHS):
http://www.carvinguitars.com/group/bass_strings Yeah, ten bucks! Stainless, too. Clanks like kicking a zinc bucket over cobblestones.
One stop string shop:
http://www.juststrings.com/bassguitar.html Juststrings.com doesn't always have the best prices, but they're a good resource for finding out what's available. A lot of us sign up for manufacturer's newsletters, which sometimes gives you whopping discounts (especially DR, Elixir and GHS).
Oh, what the heck. This things turning into a novel anyway. I've worked retail in music stores for years. The hot tip is to set up an account at an online music store and put a little over a hundred buck's worth of merch (I wanna strangle people who use that phrase) in your cart, then close the page without signing off or checking out. SOME sites will email you a computer-generated reminder that there' stuff in your cart, and a coupon for anywhere from 25 to 50% off. That's when to purchase the big-ticket gear.
It's legal, at least. You should also consider Alembic strings, you know. Come on, ya cheapskate. You'll only know what ALEMBIC strings sound like on an ALEMBIC bass if you cough up and get it over with. You'll slap them babies on, stretch 'em a little, dial in a little Q and unleash that GOD OF THUNDER thing you've got lurking down there in the pit of your belly, or you wouldn't be here. It's all about wallowing in the sheer excellence of the BEST.
Besides, look at what we upright (most of the time) bassists have to pay for the BEST, and squawk about prices.
http://www.juststrings.com/spirocorethomastikinfelddoublebass34.html * I know it's Jimmy, I just wanted to see who'd bail on my string lecture (I would, if I didn't have to stick around to write it) and make Jimmy's Yahoo group's collective neck-hairs stand on end.
