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Moving away from Rotosound Tru Bass 88 nylons, recommendations?

3toes

3toes

Aug 30, 2006
2,398
942
Denver, Colorado
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#1
I've been using some Roto TB 88 nylons on my 78 Ibanez P for a while (mainly because there was a fresh pack in the gig bag when I bought it). But I'm finding that while I like the sound, it's just not what I want out of that bass at the moment. It sounds a little too "woody" if that makes any sense. I really just want a more standard flatwound sound. I prefer heavier gauges as I like tighter tension in my strings, so what would you all recommend? Chromes? LaBellas?

Also, the Rotos are cut to size for this bass, and I do like them, so I can just coil them back up and save them, right?
 
#2
Since you said you like higher tension strings whynot try the Roto Jazz 77 flats. Go for the rs77ld set (45-105) i think. La bella's are great strings too. The 760 FL (43-104) has desent tension not flopy. There is also the 760FS(45-105) and 760 FM (49-109). The labella's have a more traditional flatwound tone. The Rotos are very bright when new but mellow nicely but I have found there output somewhat low on my passive P.
 
#3
mario222 said:
Since you said you like higher tension strings whynot try the Roto Jazz 77 flats. Go for the rs77ld set (45-105) i think. La bella's are great strings too. The 760 FL (43-104) has desent tension not flopy. There is also the 760FS(45-105) and 760 FM (49-109). The labella's have a more traditional flatwound tone. The Rotos are very bright when new but mellow nicely but I have found there output somewhat low on my passive P.
Click to expand...

See I'm really wanting that nice growly flatwound p-bass sound.
 
#8
3toes said:
I hope so, that's what I'm wanting.
Click to expand...

Ahh ok... I can't remember if those are the LaBellas that have enormous tension though...

It might be a good idea to give the truss rod a quarter of a turn to the right before you put the LaBella strings on...

I'd like to know what you think of them when you string them up.

And yes, one thing I've found with the TruBass 88 strings is that you can basically take them off and put them aside, when you want to put them back on they will re-string fine...
 
#9
frankie5string said:
Ahh ok... I can't remember if those are the LaBellas that have enormous tension though...

It might be a good idea to give the truss rod a quarter of a turn to the right before you put the LaBella strings on...

I'd like to know what you think of them when you string them up.

And yes, one thing I've found with the TruBass 88 strings is that you can basically take them off and put them aside, when you want to put them back on they will re-string fine...
Click to expand...

I'm actually wondering if I won't need to LOOSEN the truss rod a bit with the LB's... The Rotos are pretty freakin taut. The low E is a whopping .115 gauge!
 
#10
3toes said:
I'm actually wondering if I won't need to LOOSEN the truss rod a bit with the LB's... The Rotos are pretty freakin taut. The low E is a whopping .115 gauge!
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on the neck... i find that they're very low tension myself...

But I think it's pretty easy to tweak the Ibanez truss right? Or do you have to take the neck off?
 
#11
frankie5string said:
I guess it depends on the neck... i find that they're very low tension myself...

But I think it's pretty easy to tweak the Ibanez truss right? Or do you have to take the neck off?
Click to expand...

It's not too bad, I can do it with the neck still on. Have to take the pick-guard off though. Not bad, just annoying.

And yeah, now that I've been playing on them a while, they seem to have loosened up, but when I first threw them on they were crazy tight.
 
#13
frankie5string said:
So am I right to assume you've "lived" with the Labellas for a few days now?
If so what do you think of them?
Click to expand...

Haha not yet. By mistake I had JustStrings send them to the billing address on my card, which happened to be my parent's address (granted I probably should have that changed since I haven't lived there in about 6 years... but I'm lazy :smug: ). I'm going to head up there on Friday and pick them up and see some old friends.

I should have some experiences to report by MLK Day :)
 
#15
3toes said:
Ok so I'm loving the La Bella DT Flats with one exception... The A-string just doesn't have the same oomph or output as the rest. I tried raising the pickup for it but doesn't seem to help much at all. I mean, I know flatwounds sound best when "dead" but the difference in output kind of annoys me.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the wonderful (and sometimes defective) world of Labella...

Give it a few more days and see if the other strings even out....
 
#16
Sometimes one string in a set of LaBella flats will be dead or defective. But also check your nut slots to see that the strings are all seated properly in the nut. Make sure you have enough break angle as the string heads from the nut to the winding post. And make sure the string is wound properly around the post.

If the string is bad, contact LaBella directly and they will take care of you. They will replace a bad string and they don't freak out when someone gets a bad string because their strings are more of a labor intensive handmade item than the strings made by some other companies on totally computer controlled machines. So LaBella expects some deviation now and then.

Good news is when you get all the strings in the set behaving properly, they'll sound great and hold up well for years.

The LaBellas are not as high tension as Roto flats. But they're closer to Rotos than to TI flats.

The set with the 104 E string is nice. I was amazed to find how much difference there is between the 104 and 105 E strings. The 104's sing with depth and clarity; the 105's are more thuddy and less responsive. Especially above the 10th fret. Just one tiny incremental increase in string diameter can make a noticeable difference.
 
#17
Whoops, also just remembered - very important - how you mount a LaBella flat is critical. You have to make a 90 degree bend in the headstock end of the string before you cut the string to length.

By making that bend, you lock in the integrity of the winding layers. If you don't make that bend, you could kill the string or separate the winding layers as you mount the string and bring it up to pitch. I've done that before.

Ask Bob or Richard at LaBella - they'll give you the full sermon on this. I don't know if LaBellas are the only strings that need this kind of pre-installation attention, but once I found out about it and thought about it a bit, it made sense to me, so now I make a 90 degree bend with any new string before cutting it to length and winding it around the tuner post as a matter of habit.
 
#18
Yeah, I'm well aware of all the "proper" techniques to stringing a bass, however silly some of them might seem ;)

I sent an email to LB about it, we'll see what they recommend. Furthermore, I was playing around with my pickup height some more just to see if I can get it sounding somewhat similar across all strings and I happened to hit the string against the poles of the pickup...

There was hardly any magnetic attraction between the string and the poles, atleast, not nearly as much as with the other strings. I then tested the poles with a highly sophisticated testing device (screwdriver :hiding: ), and they're all fine. So yeah... dead string.
 
#19
Since you guys have some experience with the Tru Bass strings, I figured I could ask this here instead of making a new thread. I just did some modding to an 80's J bass special. changed the pickups, pickguard, and upgraded all hardware. I used a black pickguard and all Gold hardware (Gotoh Bridge, Shaller Tuners, brass tugbar and nut)

I almost always play flatwounds on this bass and would like to put the black nylon wound Tru Bass strings on it. I can't find any reviews. Did you guys like 'em? Hate 'em.

I know it's kind of silly to pick a string by it's color, but I do want a string that sounds good too.
 
#20
TC2112 said:
Since you guys have some experience with the Tru Bass strings, I figured I could ask this here instead of making a new thread. I just did some modding to an 80's J bass special. changed the pickups, pickguard, and upgraded all hardware. I used a black pickguard and all Gold hardware (Gotoh Bridge, Shaller Tuners, brass tugbar and nut)

I almost always play flatwounds on this bass and would like to put the black nylon wound Tru Bass strings on it. I can't find any reviews. Did you guys like 'em? Hate 'em.

I know it's kind of silly to pick a string by it's color, but I do want a string that sounds good too.
Click to expand...

I really liked them, just not for what I had in mind for this bass. They had a very "woody" sound to me, granted that was on a P-bass. Almost upright-ish.

They were also THICK! The E-strings is a whopping .115.
 

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