What scale strings for my Cruisebass?

[Toadroller]

Mrs. Toadroller informed me that I should get some Christmas stocking stuffers for myself.

Having never purchased bass strings before, I have no idea how significant or insignificant the scale would be.

Recommend me some strings for my first gen Cruisebass?

[mc2]

I use Dean Markley SR2000 sets on mine. I generally use light gauge or medium lights (LT or ML on the boxes) or the Will Lee (WL) sets, which are just a hair heavier gauge without getting to fat. You usually have to buy them online. Most stores carry the Dean Markley Blue Steel bass strings, which are pretty similar, except "cryogenically frozen" to supposedly last longer, etc. Either is a great string.

What I like about the Dean Markleys is that 1) the string core goes over the saddles, rather than the thicker wrap section, so they intonate better and you can get lower action and 2) they last longer against my hand sweat because of how they are made.

Whatever brand and gauge you choose, you will need "longscale" 34-inch bass strings for the Cruisebass.

Probably the only other major thing to consider when buying bass strings is whether you want "roundwound" or "flatwound." The roundwounds have tiny ridges of the winds that you can feel if you run your fingernail down the string. They are brighter sounding. Most modern players use roundwounds. Flatwounds feel totally smooth and have a less bright sound....think classic Motown bass, etc. Up until around 1970 all bass string were flatwounds. There is no wrong or right choice, just what you prefer.

There ARE also in-between bass string types, like "half rounds" that offer blends of both the main types.

[velorush]

How about a non-expert opinion ('cuz I ain't nowhere near an expert)? I have only been playing at bass for a few years and the only bass I owned before my Cruise was my Fender P-Bass. It, however, is a Deluxe P-Bass and the only reason that is relevant is that it has string-through-body mounting. "How is that relevant?" you ask. Higher string tension over a top-mounted arrangement - and I like it. The strings bounce back to their starting position quickly and it has a great feel.

Now, the reason I know the difference is when I bought the top-mounted Cruise, I could tell instantly it felt slower. After consulting the real experts, I went with these:

The first thing I noticed is that they are incredibly smooth (after playing compression-wound, I was expecting round wounds to eat up my fingers - absolutely not the case). The second thing I noticed is the added tension made the playing action much quicker (I hope I'm using the right terminology). They sound incredible on the Cruise. I couldn't be happier.

Do check the rest of that thread for other very good suggestions, too, as your preferences might be completely different from mine.

[Studio Custom]

. Flat wounds feel totally smooth and have a less bright

sound....think classic Motown bass, etc. Up until around 1970 all bass string were flat wounds. There is no wrong or right choice, just what you prefer..

Fixed

[Sugartune]

My love for GHS boomers got our bassist onto those very strings. Sound great!

[tbonesullivan]

isn't it 34 scale? or "long scale". "extra long scale" may be too long.

honestly it's hard to find bass strings that aren't long scale.

[chromium]

I like rounds and 100s for the gauge, and so I've been running D'Addario EXL-170 nickel roundwounds on everything for the past ten years or so. They're low cost, I like the sound and feel, longevity is great (years, in my case), I can get them easily in every scale length (I imagine you'd need 34" "long scale" version for a Cruise).

I've also used GHS, DR, and Dean Markley in the past... all nice strings.

The only strings I've experienced that I truly didn't care for are Rotosounds. I used the Swingbass sets for a while, but they went dead on me fast (after a few months or so), and in a couple instances I had dead strings right out of the package. Moved on from those and never looked back.

[Toadroller]

Awesome! That's exactly the kind of insight and education I was hoping for.

...and since it's my Christmas stocking, there's no reason I shouldn't try more than one...

[mc2]

. Flat wounds feel totally smooth and have a less bright

sound....think classic Motown bass, etc. Up until around 1970 all bass string were flat wounds. There is no wrong or right choice, just what you prefer..

Fixed

Oops...thx.

As above....besides my love of the Dean Markleys as my main strings on my 4- and 5-strings since the 90s....I tend to use either GHS Boomers or D'Addarios on my root-octave 8-, 10- or 12-string basses.

Any of those brands are pretty good choices.

[blackfbiv]

What? No Rotosound love? It's all I've used since forever.

RS-66 LD (45/65/80/105)

[tobereeno]

34" scale, yep.

I just went with DR Black Beauties on my 5 string 1st gen Cruise. The black coating is cool in my book, and they do make strings last as long as the coating does; I have an acoustic I strung with Black Beauties 10 years ago and they're still good.

They do however change the acoustic timbre a bit by taking a bit of the edge off. I call it "rounder" because I like it, but I can also see it called "duller" if you need a bright punch.

[HSB0531]

I use Dean Markley SR2000 sets on mine. I generally use light gauge or medium lights (LT or ML on the boxes) or the Will Lee (WL) sets, which are just a hair heavier gauge without getting to fat. You usually have to buy them online. Most stores carry the Dean Markley Blue Steel bass strings, which are pretty similar, except "cryogenically frozen" to supposedly last longer, etc. Either is a great string.

What I like about the Dean Markleys is that 1) the string core goes over the saddles, rather than the thicker wrap section, so they intonate better and you can get lower action and 2) they last longer against my hand sweat because of how they are made.

Whatever brand and gauge you choose, you will need "longscale" 32-inch bass strings for the Cruisebass.

Probably the only other major thing to consider when buying bass strings is whether you want "roundwound" or "flatwound." The roundwounds have tiny ridges of the winds that you can feel if you run your fingernail down the string. They are brighter sounding. Most modern players use roundwounds. Flatwounds feel totally smooth and have a less bright sound....think classic Motown bass, etc. Up until around 1970 all bass string were flatwounds. There is no wrong or right choice, just what you prefer.

There ARE also in-between bass string types, like "half rounds" that offer blends of both the main types.

long scale 34"