Anyone Slap their LaBella Black Tapewounds?

[funkytoe]

I have played La Bella Black Nylon Tapewound strings on my Guild Acoustic/Electric bass and I LOVE them. I like both the tension and the feel of these strings. Now, I'm considering putting them on a fretted jazz bass for some 70's Larry Graham funk. However, given this Jazz has only worn 40-100 gauge strings in its life, I will likely have to widen the nut slots a little to accomodate the LaBellas. No big deal, except in this case the nut happens to be brass. Before I go to the trouble, I have to know....

Has anybody put these on their fretted electric basses for funk? Do they slap/pop well? I know Raphael Saadiq plays these and loves them. Anyone else? Thanks.

[62bass]

Originally Posted by funkytoe

I have played La Bella Black Nylon Tapewound strings on my Guild Acoustic/Electric bass and I LOVE them. I like both the tension and the feel of these strings. Now, I'm considering putting them on a fretted jazz bass for some 70's Larry Graham funk. However, given this Jazz has only worn 40-100 gauge strings in its life, I will likely have to widen the nut slots a little to accomodate the LaBellas. No big deal, except in this case the nut happens to be brass. Before I go to the trouble, I have to know....

Has anybody put these on their fretted electric basses for funk? Do they slap/pop well? I know Raphael Saadiq plays these and loves them. Anyone else? Thanks.

I got mad and slapped them once and immediately felt bad about it and apologized.

Seriously, I don't slap but a friend of mine who is really into that tried on a bass I briefly had the LaBella tapewounds on. He didn't like the sound, but he was into that brittle glass breaking sound. I didn't care much for it either. I don't think they're all that suited for slapping, at least not if you want the standard slap sound.

[funkytoe]

Thanks. I appreciate the input. I don't personally like a lot of highs in my slapping. My hope is not to sound like Marcus, but more like Larry Graham back in the day or ideally, like Lequient "Duke" Jobe from Rose Royce. I like that rubbery slap sound. Thoughts anyone?

[blowfly]

Take my opinion with a grain of salt because I 'suck at slap', but I think tapewounds aren't very good for slap. I really like them a lot on fretted as well as fretless basses for fingerstyle. It would be nice if you could try them out on someone else's bass before making the investment. Hope this helps.

[PilbaraBass]

I have the labellas on my Yamaha RBX170 right now as a test...and they do not slap well at all...

I get a nice, mellow fingerstyle with them...but there's not anywhere NEAR enough scoop in these strings to produce a nice slap tone, IMO.

I love the labellas for acoustic and jazz tones, and for fretless..but for a rock tone, a pick tone and a funk tone, it's roundwounds for me...

[funkytoe]

Thanks. That's what I needed to know. For you curious types, I have decided to go with DR Black Beauties instead. Same general look and I know from experience that you can slap those!!

[danomite64]

I have four Soundgear 800's, so I put a set on one of them, and it sounds fantastic. The slap tone is interesting; not what I'm used to (I'm a big-time nickel roundwound guy), but something I can definitely work with.