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Post subject: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 9:44 am
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Something has definitely changed with Fender strings in the last year or so. I've just literally put on a brand new set of Fender 8250M 45-110TW (taperwound E) strings on my American Standard P bass, which has the newer HMV bridge. These are the strings that are supposedly 'stock' with the thru body stringing Fender basses, but they have clearly changed.

A little while back, the 8250Ms you used to be able to get were stated as being round core (better flexibility) with a tapered E string so that they make the bend thru the body better and you get better intonation on the E etc. This all sounds (and was) sensible and the strings worked very well on these USA standard basses.

Now with the pack that I've recently bought there are quite a few differences which you will see in my pics below.

1. No silks at any end of the string (like there used to be).
2. Coloured ball ends on some of the strings.
2. No mention of round-core (and I think these new ones feel like hex-core to me)
3. What happened to the really obvious and substantial taper on the E string? There was plenty of tapered portion on the older strings and it was very thin, giving you great flexibility and excellent sustain, not to mention very good intonation. Now there is a thicker taper, which barely reaches the saddle before the full thickness of the string is there! In fact I had to move my saddle back to get the taper part of string on it (see my pic).

Image

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Playability wise although these strings actually sound not too bad, they do feel stiff, especially the E string.

What I would like to know is are these actually the strings that brand new Fender USA models are shipping with, or are they using something else?

Has anybody else had experience of Fender 8250M strings, old and new?

Cheers

Keith


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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 2:27 pm
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fjbass wrote:
Recently I bought a new Am. Std. Jazz. The factory strings appear to be the same as yours. The balls were colored similar to D'Addario strings. The colors of the balls are lighter in color than my regular D'Addario strings.


Hi fjbass. Thanks for this info. On your recently purchased Am. Std Jazz, how did the taper on the E string sit on the saddle? Like on my picture or different (further back or forward)?

Image

Did you like these strings on the bass or did you swap them out for something else?


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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 4:47 pm
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My update to this is short and sweet! Couldn't get along with these strings. Too stiff! and the E wouldn't intonate properly, unless I moved the saddle further towards the neck and basically off the tapered part of the string. It then sounded 'dead' compared to the other 3 strings. Not impressed with these new 8250M strings. Fender, what are you doing - these just don't work now? The taper isn't long enough, or really thin enough anymore to benefit thru body stringing.

So now I have removed the strings and put Rotosound Swing Bass 66 stainless 45-105s back on which happen to work perfectly (and sound great) on my bass. I only fancied a change to nickels for a while, but I'll forget about that for now and stick to what I know!

Rant over...

...but to those trying out these new 8250M strings - good luck!


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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 9:51 am
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i am test driving a new Am Standard right now and it doesnt have the taper on the E string that i see in your photo.... i rather like them except that i find the G string rather "dead" in comparison to the others

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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:49 pm
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Fender have obviously gone to another manufacturer to supply their strings. The internal package looks suspiciously the same as D'Addario and the consistently poor E string I used to find with D'Addario and now with these newly packaged 8250 5Ms might indicate the same factory. If that isn't bad enough I discovered to my horror that there's a fault with the string length whereby on my thru the body strung USA deluxe, the taper winding doesn't reach the bridge saddle on both E and B with the entire string mass passing over both. My normal rapid string change turned into a total nightmare as the setup was instantly lost and I spent ages resetting.

What on earth are Fender up to? The old strings were amazing. These are definitely not! If the quality control and taper winding length problem isn't resolved I'm forced to search for another string brand thus breaking years of an idyllic association between my Jazz and Fender strings. I won't be buying D'Addario of course.


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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 7:20 pm
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Hi martycee' welcome to Fender Land.
I spoke to D'Addario, they don't make strings for Fender. Another string company is doing the manufacture of Fender's strings. I liked the original Fender 8250M strings. Oh well, I found the D'Addario ETB92 Nylon Tapewound strings for my Precision. Gauges - .50, .65, .85, .105


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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:25 am
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About 2 months ago I emailed Fender Consumer Relations asking about this as I was getting inquiries through my website about it. I did not hear back. I still have no idea what has happened. Everyone I've heard from is not very happy the change.

Fender not too long back made a huge investment in state of the art machinery at Ensenada to make all their strings. It would be silly to shut that string operation down and outsource to another company. The quality of Fender strings had really improved in recent history until this.

It really is rare for someone to write me and gripe about anything but I got at least 5 emails wanting to know what was up with Fender bass strings.


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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 12:39 pm
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I myself am no fan of the taperwound design,I dont believe the E string going from a 105 gauge down to a spider-web like 05 gauge at the bridge saddle(?)can transfer the vibration equally as good as a regular wound string and setting the intonation is also compromised I feel with these strings.
I also felt like they created some false overtones and a ringing like sound and I also did'nt like the way my bass played with them,they also did'nt allow the string to follow the radius of the fretboard the same as a string with a consistant winding,how could it?The E string goes from lets say 105 from the nut to almost the bridge then in the matter of 1 &1/2 in. becomes a .05 gauge (an estimation,but close)it does'nt follow the same rules as a one gauge string.
The first thing I did/do with a new Fender bass(or any bass with these crappy taper wounds) is cut the stock strings off with a pair of cutting dykes making sure in desperate times I could never use them(or anyone else for that matter, :twisted: MWAAH HA HA! :twisted: )evil laughter

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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 4:05 pm
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After 40 years as a professional I can confidently report that the old 8250 5M 45-130 Fender strings were nothing short of outstanding when used with all my thru the body strung USA deluxe basses and I've tried everything else believe me! Taper winding is useful once you reach a gauge of 130 on a B string and none of my set-ups ever suffered as a result either in playability or intonation.

Anyway, love them or hate them Fender have changed the spec of these strings and as a result they no longer fit my basses or perform the same so what now?

Incidentally lawsuitbass, 'did'nt' is actually spelt 'didn't'. I'm sure someone who demonstrates such particular attention to detail in his technical analysis will find the correction of considerable value. :D


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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 12:51 pm
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Incidentally lawsuitbass, 'did'nt' is actually spelt 'didn't'. I'm sure someone who demonstrates such particular attention to detail in his technical analysis will find the correction of considerable value. :D[/quote

And kiethrobbo those lighter gauge Fender-flats are good strings,I just put a set on my p-bass yesterday after my 1 y.o.compression wounds finally bid farwell,I was surprised they lasted that long with all the discoloration and rust but they still had a few days left but I have had the flats for a loooong time and needed an excuse to use them
Who rattled your cage,40 yrs huh ? with a mouth like that I'm suprised you still have fingers to play with,do me a favor and keep your comments to yourself,correcting my grammer was'nt asked of you,I love how brave people are over a computer.
I was always told to respect my elders so I will not have a pissing contest in an open forum THIS TIME,keep your remarks to yourself.
Incidentally should you choose not to behave I can assure you this: You Will Get Sick Of Me Long Before I Get Sick Of Tormenting You... :D I WILL comment on every single one of your postings,EVERY SINGLE TIME,I will be there for every comment you make on this Forum to add my opinion,Matter of fact I'm starting to really like you,shall we do lunch tomarrow say 12:00pm ? Does that work for you ?
PS:I'm waiting,just one more personal comment and me and you(or you and I)will be Fender forum bestest buddies for a loooong time or untill you get sick of me,WHICH YOU WILL! :mrgreen:
So Mr 40 yrs exp.Please have a nice day & WELCOME to our forum,we sure are lucky to have ya aboard and please stop back when you cant stay for so long. :wink:
And Thankyou PBassBob for reminding because I almost forgot to mention that if a new member is going to flame someone for spelling please be sure you do it with actual words from the English language,I dont recal the word "SPELT" that you used to be in the dictionary,is it next to axed(like:I axed you a question about strings)or in another section? because I dont recall seeing it :shock:

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Last edited by lawsuitbass on Wed Aug 03, 2011 3:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 1:36 pm
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Woah everyone. Chill... Tit for tat comments just get everyone even more pissed off and the subject just goes way off topic.

Since I initiated this thread back in May, I've eventually settled on using Fender's latest flatwound offerings 55-100 gauge set on my strings thru body P bass and they work brilliantly and the bass just oozes vintage P bass goodness. If Fender have switched their string manufacturer at least the flatwounds are good, unlike the now useless taperwounds.

I've recently bought a Fender Bassman TV 15 combo amp and it is a match made in heaven with the P bass. The no-frills, solid sound actually makes you up the ante in your playing, so that dynamics come through via your style rather than EQ or silly effects.

Anyway, back to topic, Fender's new 8250M strings do obviously officially suck!

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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 7:44 pm
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Petey! Wow, Petey, you got yourself a new name! See Keith, while you may not, or may, be Petey the Dink, you came across that way. If confrontation is what you're looking for, you found it.

We all are known for being very reasonable and helpful when newbies and those asking an honest question come on a Forum. When a new person is attacked by a Dink with an attitude, we will intercede. We have a good reputation and will always help, we also have the reputation that goes with that banner on our signatures.

Now, just maybe all this was a mistake. If it was, O.K., if not, pretend it was and we'll just go about or happy little lives.

If you want to bring a bunch of aggravation on yourself, be my guest!



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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:19 am
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Quote:
See Keith, while you may not, or may, be Petey the Dink, you came across that way.


Hi Oxfan - how you doin?

Think you've got me confused with 'martycee' who made the original petty comment about 'lawsuitbass's grammar. I'm not a newbie. I started this particular thread back in May.

'pbassbob' was simply telling me that sometimes the way to react to these insulting people is to be hostile back to them - when I said that calm should prevail.

I am absolutely not 'Petey the Dink' and am just interested in Fender basses, not insulting people.

Hope this make sense.

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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:28 am
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Thanks for the reply, in a moment of frustration, you got smacked, sorry. "Petey The Dink" is the way I refer to know it all's who think they have all the answers. I'm not referring to you.

I don't think we're being overly sensitive when it comes to rude people. Most people come here for information and relaxation. When someone is attacked it's just wrong.

When we give information, we've done our homework and to the best of our knowledge, it's correct. None of us are ashamed to admit we don't know everything, well, there is this one guy, but that's another story. We do have at our disposal, our resident expert who we refer to ALL the time.

Feel free to join in the fun any time.


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Post subject: Re: People's experience with Fender 8250M strings?
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:49 am
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Cheers Oxfan - Appreciate that, thanks! :D

lawsuitbass - hope you enjoy the Fender flatwounds, they sound so good on my bass and having strung them thru the body has caused absolutely zero issues, so I'm happy all round! :D

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Ashdown ABM 500 EVOIII Head
Ashdown ABM 210T Cab
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