By Matt O’Donnell

Lots of people get ahead of themselves and say that coated instrument strings aren’t for “real players”. This is mostly because existing sets of coated strings don’t feel natural at all, despite the fact that they last longer. Some smaller string companies won’t even consider making coated sets, because they won’t compromise the feel of their strings. It seemed like there were no good options until…

Ernie Ball threw their name into the coated bass string market.

Ernie Ball Coated Bass Guitar Strings

Let’s get right to it. I put this set of strings on my left-handed 5-string Acacia bass. Lots of players love the sound of nickel strings after they’ve been on for a week or so. Seriously, these strings sound just like that when they’re fresh out of the package. The set comes in an interesting gauge set (45-65-80-100-130; the three 4-string sets exist as 45-65-80-100, 45-65-85-105, and a thick 50-70-85-105), but the .130 B string is tight and punchy. The low end strings sound great, and don’t seem to lose anything at all as you move up into and through the upper-midrange.

These strings sounded great throughout 2 gigs with singer/songwriter Reed Turner spaced out over a week. This gave me the great opportunity to let them settle down for a few days and see how they played. I was really happy with the way that “new string clang” went away really fast, and made the bass sound pristine for the whole set. Another really impressive feature was the way that lines played on the D and G strings in the middle of the neck really cut through the mix during some of Reed’s more rock-heavy songs.

Overall, there are a few facts that boil this whole thing down:

1. Ernie Ball strings are historically awesome in general.
2. The coating on their new strings don’t alter the feel or sound versus normal strings.
3. Coated strings are made to last longer.

Essentially, what that means is that you have a set of strings made by a historically reputable company that sound and feel just as good as their existing strings, but they’ll last you longer.

Any questions?