Another datapoint - 5 string Coated Slinkies

[natselection]

concerning the standard roundwound slinkies (or super slinkies), do you find that they lose their ballsy sound rather quickly?

 

[shakinbacon]

concerning the standard roundwound slinkies (or super slinkies), do you find that they lose their ballsy sound rather quickly?

I found they'd last about a month and a half with heavy playing. Depends on your acceptance level of loss of zing.

 

[LawDaddy]

I found they'd last about a month and a half with heavy playing. Depends on your acceptance level of loss of zing.

My daughter plays pretty heavy with a pick (thanks Mike Dirnt) a couple of hours per day, and gets 4-6 weeks out of the regular Slinkys. The loss of zing is pretty dramatic on the low E when it happens. Her next set will be the coated set. She's a diehard EB fan and is looking forward to them.

 

[shakinbacon]

My daughter plays pretty heavy with a pick (thanks Mike Dirnt) a couple of hours per day, and gets 4-6 weeks out of the regular Slinkys. The loss of zing is pretty dramatic on the low E when it happens. Her next set will be the coated set. She's a diehard EB fan and is looking forward to them.

Let us know how she likes 'em LawDaddy

 

[shakinbacon]

day 44

still sound/feel great

 

[oli@bass]

Waiting for mine to come in any day

 

[adouglas]

What will be really interesting is your reaction when you change them. Small changes over time are hard to detect and even harder to quantify. The big change when strings get changed is much more noticeable.

Any chance of us getting you to temporarily swap the strings to see how big a difference there is at this point?

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Waiting for mine to come in any day

Good news oli, I am glad I was able to help you find them in Europe

 

[oli@bass]

Good news oli, I am glad I was able to help you find them in Europe

Yep! Thanks! Will report back when I have them.

One set will definitely go on the 25th.
Can't decide for the other. Either my SRHH I play most often (e.g. as a test) or on the Ebony. They all have more or less new sets on them right now... maybe I'll even wait for a bit.

I could imagine that the coated would be bliss in the studio where you can hear the differences when recording from day to day. In the past I had to re-record whole tracks because fixing didn't work for the difference in sound.

 

[shakinbacon]

What will be really interesting is your reaction when you change them. Small changes over time are hard to detect and even harder to quantify. The big change when strings get changed is much more noticeable.

Any chance of us getting you to temporarily swap the strings to see how big a difference there is at this point?

adouglas,
That is an excellent point. I'm glad you brought it up.

I'll think about it but generally I leave my strings on until I can't get a tone I'm after from them. Sometimes I boil strings which I may try here as well. In every case that I've boiled strings they seem to go (temporarily) to sounding brand new.

Also, with the piezo option I'm finding (as Grand Wazoo wisely pointed out), I can coax more sizzle out of the strings then I normally could as they age.

Also, I have a thing about spending money on equipment when I'm making less on gigging... silly economic position I know

 

[Grand Wazoo]

adouglas,
That is an excellent point. I'm glad you brought it up.

I'll think about it but generally I leave my strings on until I can't get a tone I'm after from them. Sometimes I boil strings which I may try here as well. In every case that I've boiled strings they seem to go (temporarily) to sounding brand new.

Also, with the piezo option I'm finding (as Grand Wazoo wisely pointed out), I can coax more sizzle out of the strings then I normally could as they age.

Also, I have a thing about spending money on equipment when I'm making less on gigging... silly economic position I know

I wouldn't boil the coated ones, I suspect you might end up losing the enamel coating at boiling point, remember the coating is something applied to the strings, it is not part of the metal wrapping nor the core wire.

 

[adouglas]

Also, I have a thing about spending money on equipment when I'm making less on gigging... silly economic position I know

Actually it wouldn't cost you anything in the long run. You're going to change strings sooner or later, right?

So get another set now, put 'em on, play for a little while and report. Then take them off and put the ones you've got now back on. Store the second set until it's time to replace the current ones.

AFAIK the act of putting the strings on does not harm them.

 

[shakinbacon]

fading

it seems a lot of the sizzle is gone.

the strings still sound good, but they don't sound new either.

I'll be ordering the normal set soon.

bummer. They seem to have lasted about the same as a normal set to get to this point.

 

[oli@bass]

So, let me get this straight... within 3 days they went from sounding fresh to sounding used?!

Did you play them for all of the last 72 hours?

 

[Powman]

I don't think the way a string sounds in the first couple of days is the normal sound for those strings. I think that once they settle in after a few days is the way they should sound.

I like my coated Slinkies because they sound like a warmer version of a Slinky. This is the tone that I want.

So if anyone does not like the tone of their coated Slinkies after a few days, PM me. I will send you my address so you can ship them to me because I am loving them!

 

[danny-79]

+1

 

[shakinbacon]

So, let me get this straight... within 3 days they went from sounding fresh to sounding used?!

Did you play them for all of the last 72 hours?

No I didn't. I can't explain it but the treble frequencies have died down. Again, it doesn't sound bad, it just doesn't sound new anymore.

I think the treble was dying down over the last week when I was waffling between "their great" to "the treble is dying"... so it isn't that fast. I may have been compensating with technique during this period.

 

[Powman]

Well, as I said I like the warmer tone of the coated Slinky. Feel free to send them my way Shakin, because thats what I like.

There is no question that the tone of coated Slinky is different than regular Slinky. Maybe its just not the right product for you? Maybe you really do need to stick with regular slinky?

 

[shakinbacon]

Well, as I said I like the warmer tone of the coated Slinky. Feel free to send them my way Shakin, because thats what I like.

There is no question that the tone of coated Slinky is different than regular Slinky. Maybe its just not the right product for you? Maybe you really do need to stick with regular slinky?

Powman, I still do like how they sound. I was just commenting that the tone to me has tamed down after about 40 days.

You're right, the regular slinkies may be for me. I'll be keeping the coated on a while longer to try to get more usage out of them (ie. I'm cheap) and to see how they perform.

Again, all of this was imho ime. Your mileage may vary.

 

[shakinbacon]

day 49 - we're back in business folks

See the OP

Summary is I put fresh batteries and the tone came back. Perhaps somebody can explain why (old batteries had 7.9V, new 9.2V - Thus 15.8V vs 18.4V)