Roto 77s / P Bass

[SurferJoe46]

Well - I got the right strings now.

Before I got the Roto 77s (45-105) I was about ready to lock this MIM-P in the closet with my Beatles coat and my golf clubs (which I don't play any more either).

I finally got the sound I was looking for. Let's call it "Rocky Road Chocolate Grunt". Yup. What I wanted was that sm-oo-th Motown bottom and I just knew I could find it.

At least my P can get to see daylight again - still in the shadows of my SR500 of course!

[Pilgrim]

(cue gentle background asian music...)

You have found wisdom, grasshoppa!

(fade out music...)

[BassmanAd]

It's a sweet, sweet sound...

[SurferJoe46]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

(cue gentle background asian music...)

You have found wisdom, grasshoppa!

(fade out music...)

Originally Posted by BassmanAd

It's a sweet, sweet sound...

I feel like I snatched the pea from The Master's hand.

Now I can get down to some serious Motown backs.

Kinda wonderin' though - did that 'Motown Sound' just come from fat-thumpy strings or old ones? The Funk Brothers sound so sweet on the recordings for all the Motown groups.

Funny - there was this really tall, swarthy-complected guy at GC yesterday who played some amazing slap and ultra funky stuff on a $2300.00 Fender Marcus Miller through a Little Mark 800 on top of a MB 104HF, and he sounded great - but he advised me on the right strings to rescue my Fender.

He also tried the new Gen-II Acoustic 810 cab and pronounced it pretty good - not upper-echelon, but very good. Nice to know - I am waiting for my own 810 at this moment.

Strange though - since he's such a brilliant-tone player that he'd know that about the chocolate sounds I wanted and even tell me how to get it. Maybe Motown was just a phase he went through on the way to his new pedestal? This guy was impressive.

Anyway - I got them, stretched them on and they are without doubt the nicest strings I can ever remember on anything I've owned so far. When the Elixirs die on my SR500, then maybe there's a set in the future for it too.

[SurferJoe46]

UPDATE (it's all good)

I've been playing my Fender P again (Gasp!) and it's like a reunion with a good old friend who beat his wife years ago and now has made amends and all is repaired now.

So-o-o the Rotos are great and I took a break and decided to just try something.

I plugged in my tuner and tried an intonation test. It was all over the place! Really!

It was quite sharp on all strings at the octave and I did some serious bridge adjustments with the sliders and finally with the height adjustment.

All is well now but this leaves me with a question.

Did the Rotos alone make this big change in intonation? I can see the individual string height from the thicker E (.100 now to .105) and I believe that the difference was about equal to half the string's thickness minus the adjustments already made for the thinner, older strings from before.

Maybe I never noticed the bad octaves before though - I don't think so - but I'm old and it might've gotten past me somehow.

Is that a general rule of thumb - the "1/2 the string diameter is equal to the bridge string height differential adjustment" part?

[Agito]

I've got a spare set waiting for my MIA 95 P-Bass (77 Rotosound flats)
For now I'm kinda fine with my Ernie Ball flats but I can't wait for the 77's (I'm a big Pink Floyd fan and Roger Waters used these strings)

[SurferJoe46]

Originally Posted by Agito

I've got a spare set waiting for my MIA 95 P-Bass (77 Rotosound flats)
For now I'm kinda fine with my Ernie Ball flats but I can't wait for the 77's (I'm a big Pink Floyd fan and Roger Waters used these strings)

At this point all I can say is you should not wait too long to really find that your Fender is really a good guy after all.

The strings made me re-evaluate my P and it's up front with the rest of my basses right now.

Didn't Clapton sing about "Old Love"?

[Meatrus]

Originally Posted by SurferJoe46

UPDATE (it's all good)

Did the Rotos alone make this big change in intonation? I can see the individual string height from the thicker E (.100 now to .105) and I believe that the difference was about equal to half the string's thickness minus the adjustments already made for the thinner, older strings from before.

Maybe I never noticed the bad octaves before though - I don't think so - but I'm old and it might've gotten past me somehow.

Is that a general rule of thumb - the "1/2 the string diameter is equal to the bridge string height differential adjustment" part?

Most probably it was just the strings, but its not their fault, it can happen with any set, especially different gauges. If you didnt check the intonation before putting the strings on, it could have just been out before changing anyway. Intonation really isnt that noticeable IMO until playing higher up the neck.

[SurferJoe46]

Originally Posted by Meatrus

Most probably it was just the strings, but its not their fault, it can happen with any set, especially different gauges. If you didnt check the intonation before putting the strings on, it could have just been out before changing anyway. Intonation really isnt that noticeable IMO until playing higher up the neck.

Day 3 - still love the strings. This isn't a fluke and I wonder why I went off on the P-bass like I did. Looking back I know it wasn't fair to hate that Fender all that much; after all it was just wearing the wrong strings.

The P had .105s Nickels on it and then the replacement Nanos were .100s and then back to another set of (seriously much better) Roto 77s with the .105 again, so I am still wondering where the intonation went - but it's all OK since it was adjustable anyway.

Tomorrow I'll give the truss a 1/4-turn and just get the last tweak done. I don't like to turn a truss too fast or too far in 48 hours or so - and I give it time to settle in.

Now "If You Want Me To Stay" by Sly sounds great!