The most expensive strings you'll ever buy!

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ric

Posts: 84
Joined: Dec. 27 2010

The most expensive strings you'll ev...

$58 for a set of strings, are you f**king crazy!
Curiosity got the better of me and my pocket book, but hey, if you're not starving, why not? Of course the danger is if you love them you will not want to be without them and if you hate them, then you just wasted your money--either way not the best.
For those of you that think all strings sound the same, it doesn't matter, etc., go to another post and please don't bad mouth one man's opinion, based on cost alone.
I have about three weeks on the basses (and the basses are what's expensive) and I love the sound, BUT! First of all, it takes about a week (not a day or two) for the bass strings to mellow out, during that time the D string was bugging me a little bit, as it would ring and be a little more bright than the other two strings, which are BRIGHT. But also clear and punchy. If you like the sound of bass strings when you first change them, these are like that, on steroids!
Also, the silver wrap on the bass string is very smooth which meant when I did a fast rasqueado it was FAST, very easy as there was less drag on my thumb.
The bass strings, to my ear, on my Ethan Deutsch guitar are bright, but also deep with less of a mid range punch, similar to changing bass strings as mentioned. The silver provides a clarity in bass tone that is unrivaled. Now whether these will work for you is another question.
What is surprising to me is that people spend thousands of dollars on a guitar because of it's tone, and then don't give a **** what kind of strings are on it. Right now I'm waiting to see how long the basses last and I'm hoping they last long enough to justifiy getting another set--I may anyway!
As far as the trebles are concerned, I had already used Knobloch's carbons and I like them. They also blended very well with the basses. The "proof in the pudding" with these strings, is when I take them off and go back to the Royal Classics flamenco basses that I like, with the Oasis carbon's. If I notice it just doesn't sound right, then there goes my retirement fund! If interested, I will post back when the strings are changed. Lastly, it is interesting to notice that as the bass strings wear, there is no copper/bronze coloring underneath. I guess these really might be sliver! YMMV!!!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 26 2021 15:24:16

ric

Posts: 84
Joined: Dec. 27 2010

RE: The most expensive strings you'l... (in reply to ric)

Sorry, (eejit!) the strings are Knobloch sterling silver classical guitar strings!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 26 2021 15:25:47

JasonM

Posts: 2055
Joined: Dec. 8 2005
From: Baltimore

RE: The most expensive strings you'l... (in reply to ric)

For the first week, I thought the regular Knoblock bass strings had a lot of sizzle. They eventually calmed down. They lasted a really long time. I wonder with the silver basses if you could wipe them down with a silver polishing cloth to take the tarnish off and just keep doing that until they no longer stay in tune

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 26 2021 19:13:39

agujetas

Posts: 60
Joined: Mar. 9 2021

RE: The most expensive strings you'l... (in reply to ric)

They may be expensive but if they last 2-3 times longer than a regular set of strings they’re probably good value.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 26 2021 20:07:40

AndresK

Posts: 309
Joined: Jan. 4 2019
From: Patras, Greece

RE: The most expensive strings you'l... (in reply to ric)

Please let us know how it goes when you go back to RC. Are the Knoblochs easy to legato on your guitar in comparison to other basses? To me the Knobloch were very stiff let's say for a taranta legato, in comparison to Luthier, Solera, La Bella, D 'Addario or Savarez Cantiga basses.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 23 2021 10:08:25

ric

Posts: 84
Joined: Dec. 27 2010

RE: The most expensive strings you'l... (in reply to AndresK)

OK, well, I finally changed the strings after 7plus weeks (the basses) having changed the uppers a few weeks earlier to Oasis GPX carbon trebles. Of course I was hoping the bass strings would last forever, but they, like other strings seemed to run out of gas over time--just not as responsive, a bit duller.
The odd thing was that I changed the trebles to Oasis and to my ears they never did gel with the silver basses and I much preferred the original Knobloch carbon trebles. When I did put on the Royal Classics flamenco basses (which come with an extra D string!) the RC's sound good but compared to the silvers they sound a little muddied but still good enough as your ears tend to adjust to the sound over time.
As far as legato, I really can't say, except that it seems the silvers are louder and may lend themselves to legato because of that.
Overall I found the the Silvers to be the best strings I have tried AND the most expensive. I will definitely try them again and I recommend them to anyone who has the money and is willing to take a chance. Hell, if anyone wants to try them and hates them after a week, I will buy them from you provided they cost less than the new price!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 1 2021 15:21:25

Echi

Posts: 1132
Joined: Jan. 11 2013

RE: The most expensive strings you'l... (in reply to ric)

A couple of years ago I had an intensive go with strings of different brands and also tried silver plated bass strings (of a different brand) but couldn’t arrive to a definite conclusion: I also tried to record myself but the necessary time span and the time required to the strings to settle didn’t work for any reliable data.
I also own different guitars and eventually I decided to keep the same strings in each of them working a little on the set up to compensate for the different top stiffness.
Knoblock are definitely good strings. Eventually in my case I went for D’addario because of their reliability/loudness/neutrality/ to price ratio.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 11 2021 18:22:24

ric

Posts: 84
Joined: Dec. 27 2010

RE: The most expensive strings you'l... (in reply to Echi)

Another update, I'm on my second set of the strings now, and what can I say, I'm loving the sound. A lot of times it's not until you try something a second time (food) when you go hmmm, not as good as I remembered. This wasn't the case.
The question then is, for the price of a good meal is it worth trying some expensive strings. IMO, YES!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 7 2021 14:28:19