Black Nylon Tapewound Strings for Bass

[crunchee]

I tried out a used bass in a music store not long ago, it had these strings on them. I liked the sound, I thought it was better than plain flatwound bass strings overall, and I like the feel. I'm thinking about getting a set for one of my basses, are there any users of these out there? Any recommendations regards brand and gauge? Also a report on longevity and use? TIA!

[polara]

I have 'em on my fretless Veillete Citron. I think they were GHS, but forget... they never go dead, so they are kind of "set 'em and forget 'em." Gives a nice thumpy old school sound, especially on a fretless.

[Brooks]

Gives a nice thumpy old school sound, especially on a fretless.

yep. i had 'em on my doubleneck gtr/bass when i was doing the hightech jazz trio, i love the sound.

[LostArt]

labella

[unfun75]

They ain't cheap. http://www.juststrings.com/labellaelectricbassguitarblacknylon.html

[JohnnyB]

I've tried several brands and many have different sounds. Some are just too rubbery and thumpy sounding for me, such as the RotoSounds. However, the strings that have a nice balance between old school body and some lively overtones are the LaBellas and the GHS. In fact, they're kind of hard to tell apart except at the checkout counter. The LaBellas are around $43-45/set of four and the GHS are about $24-27. The LaBellas are 60-115 and the GHS are 50-105 meaning you won't have to get your nut recut for them to sit in the slots.

I've heard demos on TalkBass of both and they sound very similar. I have GHS on my G&L ASAT fretless semihollow and they sound fabulous for a wide variety of music. I gigged with them to good effect several times. In general tapewounds hold up for a long time because they block your sweat from the string metal. For an acoustic bass sound from a fretless, these tapewounds and the Tomastik-Infeld Jazz Nickel Flatwounds do the best job, but the GHS have higher tension and are easier to play faster.

[carfish7]

Sorry to derail but that G&L makes it move a little....

[JohnnyB]

Sorry to derail but that G&L makes it move a little....

Yes, it has an enormous sound. It also serves as a high-res platform to really show what's going on with various strings, especially when played through an Eden Nemesis 2x10. Not the biggest rig in the room, but lets you know what's going on upstream. Like I said, even on this, the RotoSounds sounded like oversized rubber bands with no upper harmonics whatsoever.

These GHS strings also tamed an otherwise incurably bright G&L Lynx I have, with big single coil MFDs and a maple or poplar body and very thin rosewood fretboard.