#2 son has been learning the acoustic guitar for about 18 months now and is still on his first set of strings. There may be an element of insufficient playing though.
On the bass the strings are bigger so last longer, enough that you can forget that they do need replacing.
JefO, congrats on taking the leap. I'm thinking this or next summer to do the same. Prob got to PMT and get a PJ bass by Squier.
You won't be disappointed by the quality of Squier, FD3. There is a really nice one on FB marketplace currently for £265, with some good upgrades. It took the guy 3 days to respond to my messages (so it was too late - I had already bought elsewhere), because messenger is not notifying properly. The guy is in Rayleigh I think.
Don't be scared, if you have an ear that can distinguish one note from another, bass guitar is relatively easy to pick up, and learning is great fun, practice a little every day. Some stuff sounds great and you can learn it in a couple of hours.
Jef