Many instruments rely on strings to produce the sounds we are all familiar with. We take the actual strings for granted sometimes because we are so worried about the music we play that we forget about how the sound is actually made. There are many different kinds of bass strings, from nylon tapewounds to roundwouds; you can achieve a wide variety of sounds on the same instrument with just the strings. Almost every player goes through an experimental phase with strings, but once they find what they like, they only think about strings every 6 to 12 months when it’s time for a change.

The history of bass strings actually starts all the way back in the 15th century, way before the invention of the first electric bass in 1935, with the invention of the viola da gamba (gamba for short). Gamba strings were traditionally made out of catgut (tough cord made from the intestines of certain animals, particularly sheep.) The gamba was a member of the viol family to which all modern-day string instruments can trace their roots. For our purposes, we can see that a bass gamba was first invented in 1542 by Silvestro Ganassi. This instrument was regarded as the “progenitor of the double-bass.” The double bass followed the string making trends of the violin because, after all, it is called bass violin for a reason. There were many ways people tried to tune this instrument, and it wasn’t until the early twentieth century that the E-A-D-G tuning shared with the electric bass was solidified. String makers and players alike found that this tuning was best suited for the instrument’s catgut strings. It seems that a lot of time went by before string makers started to transition away from catgut to synthetic or steel. One source said that it wasn’t until the 1990s that this transition started to happen, although steel strings were invented in 1910 and synthetic in 1970 (https://www.givensviolins.com/violin-strings-history).

So at this point, you might be a little confused because we have been talking about violins and violin strings for a long time. This is exactly how deep the history of these strings is. When you pluck the typical roundwound bass string of today, you are playing centuries of innovation, which is crazy to think about because the electric bass has only been around for just under 90 years. When the first electric bass was invented, they used steel “flatwound” strings, which had been pioneered by steel violin strings and made popular when lots of double bassists started using them. Steel strings grew in popularity among double bassists as the instrument began to find itself in many different genres of music. As the pizzicato technique became more percussive and need to cut through the mix in louder ensembles, such as jazz groups, bassists needed strings that were louder and easier to play. The popularization of steel strings was perfect for the electric bass because the magnetic pickups needed something “pick up” to produce the sound.

Here we are, finally, at the era of the ELECTRIC BASS! That sure took a while. For the first 10 years or so that the electric bass was widely commercialized and accepted (which started in 1951 when Leo Fender made his precision bass), the only strings available were flatwounds. Roundwound bass strings, which are found on most basses today, weren’t invented until 1963 by British string maker Rotosound, formerly known as “Orchestral and Jazz Strings,” until they changed their name to fit the new invention. This seems pretty counter-intuitive to musicians today because guitars have been using roundwound strings since as early as 1659. It seems like we commonly associate the guitar and the electric bass together because they are so similar, but it really wasn’t until the invention of the roundwound bass string bridged the gap between electric guitar technology and electric bass technology.

As it stands today, the bass string industry has completely exploded. There are all sorts of types, from the two dominants (flatwound and roundwound) to a hybrid of the two (half round); they even make glow-in-the-dark bass strings now. One interesting development in more modern times is the technology of electric bass strings influencing the upright world. This would be in the form of nylon tapewounds which “were invented in 1962 by James How because of a demand by double bass players who wanted to play electric bass and couldn’t quite get that double bass sound.” (https://www.thomann.de/blog/en/flatwound-bass-strings) LaBella, one of the dominant string manufacturers, now makes nylon tapewounds for the upright bass and Ron Carter, arguably the most prominent jazz bassist to ever live, swears by them. 

As you can see, there has been a lot of development to get to where we are regarding bass strings. Now players have all sorts of different options to get their desired tone. It’s a lot of fun to think about trying new strings and getting sounds, but it is important to realize where all of this came from. I’m sure the 15th-century string makers using only catgut for viols could never have imagined where the whole profession of string-making would go.