http://www.blackdiamondstrings.com/

I must be old…I remember the strings..loaded them on my first guitar..an old Harmony Archtop(wish I still had it)…I used to get them at a jewellry store in the little Ontario town I grew up in…played until my fingers bled

The boiling up of strings is an interesting subject, is it something Bass players only did / do ? In our first school band, (The Credits, inspired by late 70’s early 80’s TV sci-fi) our Bass player Charlie (his name was very appropriate in later years, sniff sniff) used to boil up the strings on quite a regular basis.
But im sure a lot of that was down to economics, strings were very expensive in those days especially on a pocket money budget.
I had always resisted the temptation to ‘Boil up’ and as a true player, only ever changed strings as they snapped, i used to get on a bus from Poplar to Canning town, rush into the shop and ask for a single B string any gauge please, then go home, string it up, and listen to it ring above any of the other strings as i played a chord.
Charlie did have the coolest guitar though, an Epiphone semi, with the single big pup on the neck, EB something??? and it was in the coolest bright red ever.
But he also had the naffest ever, he had a home made 6 string cricket bat guitar, the neck from a broken Colombus into the cricket bat body, he did’nt even like cricket, and this showed on the overall attention to detail, unplayable beyond the 5th fret (scale problems), and action as high as a circus trapeze wire. And he didn’t half look a right tosser when he played it. Arh those were the days.

Try a search for “Hofner” with just the one “f”. It may come up trumps for you.

Black Diamond strings were available in the the UK for sure.. I had some many years ago.

Yes, I remember them. I had heavy-duty flatwound electrics on my Maton Starline S.A. 70 for 38 years. They certainly were the best available at the time. Whilst in the Philippines in ’69, 70, I couldn’t get flatwound Black Diamonds and was introduced to Hoffner. I bought a set. They were half as thick again as the Black Diamonds. I play a walking bass with hillbilly runs. Boy, they were the ultimate for that sort of style. I haven’t come accross Hoffner in Australia, but I always ask for them. I got a lead on a possible supplier in Canberra the other day out of a casual conversation. Who knows? I may yet land some. Today, I run D’ adario 012 accoustics as most of my playing is no longer solo. One can have too much bass. These strings highlight the clarity of sound which my guitar produces.

I was thinking of James Jamerson as the bass player who never changed his strings. I don’t know whether it bothered him if he had to replace them due to breakage but certainly all the Motown-style players influenced by him would cry buckets if new strings had to be put on their bass. “Two more years before it’ll sound like Jamerson again” 😆

Wasn’t it Herbie Flowers who never changed his bass strings? I wonder if he’s still got the original set on that Precision?

I don’t know if they crossed the pond, 601 but I do remember a brand called “Picato” (I still have one, with a graphic of a hippy in flares kneeling backwards with his axe) and they did exactly that. After a bit of playing my tips would have a series of parallel lines of black gunk on them. I grew up with the “boil your strings” lore. Good idea too when no set of bass strings was below £15.

I remember one of the UK guitar mags in the UK had a spoof gag about some jazz guitar player’s 40th year special anniversary tour, “and I’ll be changing the strings for the 50th” 😆

Never heard of them, guv.

I remember Superwound bass strings where the part of the string that sat on the bridge was unwound. They were great – used to really ring out. No idea why they stopped making them.