Hi Folks:

First off, thanks for publishing such a great mag. The work you guys do is truly appreciated by many of us!

I've got a few comments and questions regarding the String Review from 2004. First off, great job...I know that was a massive undertaking. I still refer to that string review 2-3 years later when I'm looking to pick strings for some particular characteristic...talk about getting your money's worth out of a magazine!

Suggestion: I have one area of disappointment with it though...there was no assessment of string tension (or more accurately, elasticity). Now, we can safely assume that within the same brand and model, a lighter guage will have lower tension...but across brands and even models within a brand, it's impossible to make any assumptions. Please, please, please...the next string review that you do, include an assessment of string tensions, even if it's just a 3-4 category blurb. (Even better, measure it and include that number!)

Question: IIRC, every sampled string was recorded. Are those clips still available? Can they be posted to the BassPlayer.com site where we could download them? Sounds and tonal characterstics are difficult to describe in words (although you did a great job with it)...but, being able to actually hear it takes the guesswork and interpretation out of it...at least in a relative sense across the strings you tested. Please post and let me know if this is available or possible!

Suggestion: As I understand it, there was a String Shootout in 1996 that DID list string tensions. I've searched online at BassPlayer.com, and I can't find it. Is that shootout available electronically? If so, what's the URL? I'm thinking it should be possible to cross-reference the 2004 and 1996 reviews to put some tension numbers to the strings in 2004...if I can get my hands on the 1996 review, I'll definitely try that.

One other comment...I rarely have any luck finding anything from past mags using the BassPlayer.com search function. I know the 2004 String Review is available online...but if I search from the search box on that site, it returns nothing (unless I'm doing it totally wrong, which I don't think is the case). Is there any way to make that a little more friendly in terms of finding past articles?

Please keep up all the good work.

Cheers guys!
Dave
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Old bass players never die, they just buy lighter rigs.
- Tom Capasso, 11/9/2006