After spending much time in the studio, I will stipulate that there are many varied techniques in the music world and I personally will not automatically dispel anyone's methodology as being impossible or untruthful.
We tend to use bass strings a long time at the studio on the house equipment. I have always felt (personally anyways) like a round wound string mellows with age, but the biggest reason for using older strings is tuning stability. At studio rates, the less you have to fiddle around with tuning the better. In fact, we never change strings immediately before a project.
On the more extreme end of the spectrum, when I bought my Ibanez bass, nearly two years ago, it had roundwounds on it and the strings/ball ends had literally rusted/turned green. Took this shot this morning:
Those strings spent over a year working 4-5 nights a week as a $450/week + 15% contract bassist in a blues group, then went on to record several demos here in my home studio and they haven't broken yet. I do have a new set of strings on hand, but I just haven't gotten around to changing them yet. As long as it still gives good tone on a recording, I am going to keep using them.
I could post an isolated bass track here, but there are plenty over in 'Member's Performances' and the tone doesn't sound bad at all from these old strings.
My Mom always liked flatwounds because it was easier on your fingers, so all the basses in her studio were string with flats...
