Dead Slinky 'A' Strings?

[BobKos]

Hi All:

I'm pretty new to the EB Forums and recently new to EBMM basses. I have a question regarding the EB Slinky bass strings. A few months back, I bought a used Bongo 4 bass. The seller told me that the strings were new Slinkys. After a good checkout of the instrument, I noticed tht the 'A' string was very 'dead' sounding. It did not ring very well and it had almost no sustain compared to the other strings. I figured the seller stretched the truth on the string claim. I restrung the bass with a different brand I had on hand & it was fine. About a month ago, I bought a BRAND NEW Bongo 4 which of course came with Slinkys from EBMM. After about a month of low to moderate use, the same thing has happened! The 'A' string has died! No ring and no sustain. The 'E', 'D', & 'G' strings are fine. It's only the one string. Two in a row DEFINITELY has me wondering - has anybody else experienced this phenomenon with either the Bongo Bass or the Slinky strings? I am definitely not lining up to buy more Slinkys till I figure out what's going on.

FWIW - I take really good care of my basses and there are no other people using (Abusing) them.

Please share any thoughts as to what could have caused the dead strings.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[TNT]

Interesting situation. Sounds like you're careful with your instruments.

This may help:

One thing you can "troubleshoot" out of the equation is the quality of the Strings -doesn't matter which one either!!!

So from that position, you need to look first to another factor, i.e., the possible wearing out the A string pre-maturely. 1. Check bridge, nut etc. . .anything connected to the string in question; if not there check the pickup. You can do this by pulling off the A string and putting it on another bass to test the string.

Good luck - you'll find it!!

 

[Big Poppa]

Honestly roundwound strings after a month or two are pretty much useless..flats get better with time....

 

[jinithith2]

Same thing happens to me but on my D string... on my bongo AND my other 5 string not EBMM

 

[BobKos]

Honestly roundwound strings after a month or two are pretty much useless..flats get better with time....

Thanks for your reply. Truthfully, I get at least a year out of a set of Ken Smith or Fender rounds. I have several basses that I use regularly, so none sees a really extensive amount of use.

I feel that the dead strings in these cases are a bit premature, but that just may be the way Slinkys are.

 

[INMT]

A year out of a set of bass strings?????.....Damn, mine get about 6 weeks then in the can they go. I do not like a bright sound but I do like it to be nice and clear.

 

[BobKos]

A year out of a set of bass strings?????.....Damn, mine get about 6 weeks then in the can they go. I do not like a bright sound but I do like it to be nice and clear.

I hear you. I'm a hobby player. I don't play that much. My new Bongo has only about 10 or 20 hours of play time on it. The A died pretty quick me thinks.

The used Bongo I bought had about the same on the strings according to the seller ( newly restrung for the sale of the instrument ).

I judge a string by how it sounds AFTER break in. The Fenders and Smiths are very consistent after break in and will remain that way for a long time. I was honestly very disappointed in the Slinky A strings dying so quickly. I guess consistency is not their virtue. No big deal.

The Bongo seems to sound best with the Slinkys so I was hopeful that this was an abnormal situation. I guess not. I'll shop elsewhere for strings, but the EBMM basses are very nice.

 

[strummer]

Consistency isn't theur virtue? Wtf

I string my Bongos with Slinkys and the sets age very consistently. I have no idea why you have problems, at first I thought maybe you were using the A like 95% of the time, but that doesn't compute with your other basses being fine.

I have just the one suggestion, and it may be totally wrong, but how do you string your basses? If the core of a string is twisted during string-up it'll die pretty quickly.