Taperwounds

[bigd4207]

What precisely are taperwounds, i've heard of them but never seen them. Pics?

[wiro]

Here are some pictures of taperwounds. You can always recognize them at the bridge: No windings there. They produce lots of harmonics compared to roundwounds.
These are F-bass strings:

[markdavid]

Originally Posted by wiro

Here are some pictures of taperwounds. You can always recognize them at the bridge: No windings there. They produce lots of harmonics compared to roundwounds.
These are F-bass strings:

What do you mean by that? Are you saying that they are brighter than standard roundwounds?

[Shoewreck]

These are actually exposed cores - taper wounds brought to extreme.

[wiro]

Originally Posted by markdavid

What do you mean by that? Are you saying that they are brighter than standard roundwounds?

Not so much brighter. Well, how can I discribe sound? You can hear and feel that this kind of string is more responsive, more alive, less rigid than roundwounds. Which sometimes, but not always is an advantage.

I liked the feel of these F-bass strings very much. But I found especially the high C too thin. That is in sound. Now I have Fodera roundwounds on this bass (hard to get here in Europe) because these have the most fat high C I could find.

[mccartneyman]

Take a look at the B.E and A strings in the picture above. See how, just in front of the bridge, there are different layers of windings? Now, extend the inner windings back over the saddle -- That's taperwound. Theoretically, tapering the winding allows thicker strings to vibrate better. The exposed core theory goes one step farther. I prefer a taperwound B if the thickness goes much over .125. Also theoretically, taper winding helps with pickup balance, tuning and height profile -- so the B isn't much higher than the other strings.