La bellas

[ausf]

I had a chance to sit down with Bill Merchant for about an hour and a half yesterday. He's a great guy, really willing to help on any level and while the visit was primarily about two DBs, I picked his brain a bit on electrics (I'll be revisiting with my P soon).

I asked him about strings and he said, no question, give La bellas a shot. He loved them.

I'm looking at the Slappers Custom, Super Steps Standard or Deep Talkin' Mediums.

Any experience or thoughts on any of those. I'm looking primarily for slap on a P. Bill recommended something around 110, which is the Deep Talkin'.

[GeneralElectric]

I use the SuperSteps on my Mosrite. Very growly and articulate, but not enough mid presence as I'd like.

[RayO5421]

I like the Deep Talkin' rounds. To me their sound is bright like a round should sound yet there is a depth in the tone too which I really dig. I have used them on my Fender P Bass Deluxe and I really liked the slap tone but the bass is active so the sound may be different for you if you've got a standard passive P bass.

Great strings IMO, I'll putting them back on my bass in my next setup.

[Carver]

I use the slappers on most of my basses. LOVE THEM!

[ausf]

Thanks guys.

I was actually in the store about the time you guys were writing, but I came home with the Slappers. Turns out La Bella is right down the street from Imperial, might be fun to see if I can get myself in the door and see how strings are made.

If there's an interest, I may have a solution to the international shipping costs of these strings.

First I have to check them out myself, I hope to string them up today.

[RayO5421]

Originally Posted by ausf

Thanks guys.

I was actually in the store about the time you guys were writing, but I came home with the Slappers. Turns out La Bella is right down the street from Imperial, might be fun to see if I can get myself in the door and see how strings are made.

If there's an interest, I may have a solution to the international shipping costs of these strings.

First I have to check them out myself, I hope to string them up today.

I had slappers on my MIM Jazz a while ago, good strings but they were too bright for me. I still stand by the Deep Talkin's.
IMO you can't really go wrong with Labellas, I've never had any lemons and the different types are just different voices for personal taste.

[metalmariachi]

Quick question.
Are the Deep talkin flats long enough to use with a string through body
like the '51 P reissue?

MM

[Big String]

I pretty sure you can't string through the body with any flats. The more drastic bend over the saddles will probably ruin the string especially the the thicker strings.

[metalmariachi]

Actually I've had no trouble with GHS precision flatsstrung through. I was just thinking of options for second bass (ok more like 6th bass)

MM

[david fitch]

Flatwound strings I have used on my 1997 string through only Fender P-Bass, GHS Precision Flatwound, D'addario Chrome Flatwound , Fender Flatwound. Never had one break.

[GeneralElectric]

Originally Posted by Big String

I pretty sure you can't string through the body with any flats. The more drastic bend over the saddles will probably ruin the string especially the the thicker strings.

My GHS Precision flats didn't break.

Though on the LaBella packaging, it says not to string it through the body, IIRC>

[hbarcat]

I love my La Bella Deep Talkin' flats but they are not a good slap string.

[Big String]

Originally Posted by GeneralElectric

My GHS Precision flats didn't break.

Though on the LaBella packaging, it says not to string it through the body, IIRC>

I didn't say the string would break just ruin it... maybe not. For my Laklands the angle/bend is too much and they do not recommend routing flats thru the body which is a nice options on Laklands for roundwounds.

[GeneralElectric]

I've gotten a lot of compliments on my tone when I use my 08 P-Bass with the GHS flats, which is something I usually don't get.

[Frederickbass]

I used Supersteps and for slapping the sound is awesome. I prefer high frequencies and a clear tone and labella supersteps seems to be perfect just for me .

[ausf]

I've had the Slappers on a few days now and out of the bag they are a bit bright and I seem to have lost a little punch with the switchover. I'm waiting to see if they settle in some before judgement. I do love the feel, so I'll give the Supersteps a shot on the next change for comparison.

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by metalmariachi

Quick question.
Are the Deep talkin flats long enough to use with a string through body ike the '51 P reissue?

MM

As noted above, Leballa does not recommend using their strings on any string-through-body application.