As stated in the home page, the character of a string is primarily based on the winding (roundwound, flatwound, etc.) and the material used. We will explain the most common materials and windings, which probably account for 95% or more of every bass sound you have ever heard.

Roundwound Strings

Roundwound strings have a bright, clear, often metallic sound with longer sustain. They are the most commonly used today, capable of producing a wide range of tones that are distinctive to many styles of music.

Roundwound strings are critical to the clear, percussive effect of slapping and popping in players like Wooten, Marcus Miller, Larry Graham, etc.

Jaco Pastorius had a legendarily expressive sound, which was the result of roundwound strings singing directly against the wood of his fretless bass.

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, John Entwistle of the Who, Geddy Lee of Rush , Chris Squire of Yes All and countless others used roundwounds.

Note that roundwound strings *can* be tougher on frets and particularly on fretless, due to the textured metallic wrapping.

Roundwounds are typically made of either stainless steel or nickel.

Stainless steel

Stainless steel roundwound strings fall furthest on the bright, "metallic" end of the sound spectrum. You often will hear the buzz, grit, clang (or whatever you would like to call it) in the sound, which is desirable in many styles. Observing the comments of numerous players online and offline, the consensus seems to be that stainless steel are the clearest, brightest strings out there, often increase the perceived output in sound from the bass, but also tend to be more rough on the fingers and instrument.

The aggressive, cutting, sound in hard rock and metal is generally the sound of stainless steel roundwound strings played aggressively with a pick.
Bassists Brian Bromberg and Steve Swallow also use stainless steel strings made by LaBella.

Nickel

Nickel feels a little softer on the hands and has less of the metallic high end treble in the sound than steel strings. This also equates to less finger noise coming through and a smoother, mellower sound than steel while still falling on the bright/clear end of the spectrum.

Victor Wooten uses nickel roundwound strings.

Flatwound Strings

Flatwound strings are very smooth, with a much darker, muted or "dead" sound, and generally more low-end "thump."

One of the best examples of the flatwound sound is from 1960s Motown, particularly that of bassists James Jamerson and Carol Kaye. Flatwounds are also popular when looking to emulate the attack, shorter sustain and essence of a more old-school upright bass sound.

Halfwound / Groundwound Strings

Halfwound or groundwound strings are a nice compromise between round and flat. Halfwounds are essentially roundwounds that are partially ground-down and smoothed out, to providing a middle ground between brightness vs. deadness in sound, and metallic roughness vs. smoothness in feel.

What are "Taperwound Strings"?

Do not get confused between Nylon Tapewound, which is an actual winding type, and taperwound or tapered, which is something that could technically apply to any winding or material type. A string that is "taperwound" gets either progressively, or suddenly smaller as the string gets to the bridge (where the strings rest at the bottom of the bass.) The idea is that more, or all, of the core wire is making direct contact with the "saddles" at the bridge.

If you have ever looked inside of a piano, you will see that string is very thin (just the core) at the end, with the full thickness of the winding appearing after the saddle. Take a look at the picture of the strings on these LaBella SuperSteps for an example:


The effect of this tapering is a longer sustain and a brighter sound.

String Gauges

String guage refers simply to how thick the string is, and the diameter is measured in inches. The standard is .105 for the E string and .45 for the G string- any names such as "light," "extra-heavy" etc. are assigned by the makers and are not industry standard markings, but the measurements in diameter are almost always clearly marked.

In general, the thicker the string, the fuller the tone, but this also can increase tension and require more endurance to play.

If you like to tune your E string down to D, definitely go for a thicker string.

Lighter guage strings are very popular in players who use a lot of slapping/popping.

If you are unsure, go with "medium" guage which would fall within the standard .105 E string to .45 G string range as a starting point. One of the benefits of this site is that you can easily find very cheap sets of strings in order to test a few different sizes.

Scale Length

Scale refers to the distance between the bridge (where the strings rest at the bottom of the bass) and the nut (where the fingerboard meets the headstock)
Most basses are 34", 35" is not uncommon for 5 or 6 string basses.

The string length for these standard basses (which you most likely have) is referred to as long-scale -- this can be confusing, as it sounds like it refers to some sort of special, extra-long bass- but no, long-scale is the norm.. much like the vast majority, if not all, acoustic upright basses you have ever seen are actually "3/4 size" basses.

Long Scale (MOST COMMON) - 34"
Super / Extra Long Scale - 36"
Medium Scale - 32"
Short Scale - 30"

Some basses like Steinberger, the Hofner Beatle Bass or Fender Mustang, require short scale strings. A quick google search of your particular bass should answer the question if you have any concerns, but chances are you have a "normal" bass that requires long-scale strings.

String Tension

Tension, or how stiff or loose the string feels, is determined by a variety of factors.

Gauge - Thicker strings have more mass and therefore more tension, but it is only one of the factors in the overall feel-- two different brands the same size can and will have different tensions, and even one brand with the smaller gauge could feel more tense after the other components come into play. However, if you are dealing with the same type of strings on the same bass, buying a thicker set will = more tension,

Scale Length - Longer scale = more tension. The same brand of strings will feel more or less tense if the scale length is longer or shorter.

String Height or Action - Higher string height or "action" will make strings feel more tense. This can be adjusted by adjusting the truss rod and changing the height of the saddles on the bridge.

Core - A string with a "hex" core will have more tension than one with a "round" core. The core is the wire in which the wrapping (nickel, steel) etc. wraps around, "hex" or "round" refer to the shape of that wire and thus how the contact with the string is made.

Sorting through the brand names

You will encounter a lot of catchy but ambiguous names for strings, which can be confusing especially if you have already decided on what type of general string you want (flatwound for instance).