Rotosound Thru Black Nylon string and Washburn ABG

[kas_lar]

Hi Everybody.

I've switched from regular acoustic strings to these nylon strings and have problems with these following things:

I think there's a buzzing sound - could it have something to do with the string not having metal in them to keep the contact with the metal in the bass? I talking about the sound in a normal electric bass with magnetic pickups and steel strings. If you don't touch any metal on that normal bass a buzzing sound appears. This happens all the time on this Washburn AB-40 bass, even if I touch the strings. But I though that Piezo pickups didn't react the same way as regular macnetic PUs.

The E string is having alot of overtones and it feels different than the other A D and G strings in this set. there also a lot more fret buzzing on the E string than the other strings. Maybe I haven't mounted the string the proper way. Does Nylon strings have to "set in" before they become more playable?

Best regards

Kasper

[markdavid]

Originally Posted by kas_lar

Hi Everybody.

I've switched from regular acoustic strings to these nylon strings and have problems with these following things:

I think there's a buzzing sound - could it have something to do with the string not having metal in them to keep the contact with the metal in the bass? I talking about the sound in a normal electric bass with magnetic pickups and steel strings. If you don't touch any metal on that normal bass a buzzing sound appears. This happens all the time on this Washburn AB-40 bass, even if I touch the strings. But I though that Piezo pickups didn't react the same way as regular macnetic PUs.

The E string is having alot of overtones and it feels different than the other A D and G strings in this set. there also a lot more fret buzzing on the E string than the other strings. Maybe I haven't mounted the string the proper way. Does Nylon strings have to "set in" before they become more playable?

Best regards

Kasper

The buzzing is as you thought, due to the strings beign wrapped in nylon and therefore the strings are not cancelling the buzz when you touch the strings. I dont know about the E string having a lot of overtones though, i have always found the E string on the roto trubass to be slightly more dead sounding than the others

[kas_lar]

Yeah. "dead" is maybe the best way to describe it. Is there anything to do about it? The G string is slightly less loud than the other strings. This is maybe just the piezo pickup amplifing the bass the wrong way.

[markdavid]

Originally Posted by kas_lar

Yeah. "dead" is maybe the best way to describe it. Is there anything to do about it? The G string is slightly less loud than the other strings. This is maybe just the piezo pickup amplifing the bass the wrong way.

Unfortunately I dont know what to suggest. I found that the E is a bit more dead sounding than the other strings but not so much that I found it a problem. May be worth trying another brand of tapewound nylon strings as the rotosound nylon strings are known to be more dead sounding than most of the other brands which means that the rotos are very much an aquired taste ,also a lot of people seem to have trouble with the E string with intonation/tuning.

May be worth having a look at this thread , has lots of info on the different nylon tapewounds

The Comprehensive List of Black Nylon Tapewound Strings!!!