Did you have to special-order the tapewound high F? Or is it available at some online store?
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TapeWound Club~Anyone?
- Thread starter .BumeStik.
- Start date
- Apr 29, 2003
- 9,077
- 9,798
- Disclosures
- Contributor- Bass Musician Magazine | Marketing Manager- Trickfish Amplification
I don’t know much, but I believe you can only order them direct from Labella with a minimum quantity of 10ish. You’d have to contact labella directly for more information.
Update - I ordered a second set of Gold White tapes for my Fender P today. I'm excited for them to come so I can take off the old pressurewound strings that are on it now.
Update #2 - I also ordered a set of the La Bella (regular) White tapes for my other Ric. All my basses but my piccolo will have tapes, so I think I have been converted fully!
RS88S: with all the modern tapewounds, these are generally not well-liked nowadays, but I love the quirky tone, and manage good string balance by lowering the bass side of my pickups a bit. The G&D are especially awesome, the A is a happy medium between the character of the E and G&D, and the E is the super deep, low sustain, bassy beast (these are my second set ever, after "fixing" this particular bass with another bridge that better allowed the tapewounds to shine-so to speak, as they are not super bright.)
I do not mind trying the other modern tapes, but I like these a lot!
I tried the Rotosound 88s on an acoustic bass that I used to own and the E string was too thick! I didn't want to file the nut either, so I sent them back and got a refund. The 88s are the tubbiest tapes on the market and they're great for getting a double bass sound (hence the name "tru bass"). The great irony with the 88s is that they're made by Rotosound, which is known for their bright and clanky bass strings.
Nonetheless, I'm glad that you're enjoying them. Play them in good health and have fun!
Still having fun with the recent RS88S Roto tapes. The tension is really comfortable, especially so because they are for short scale bass. Have been even using a Hipshot Xtender on the E without problems-since they are traditional hexcore strings, they are never overly floppy and respond well to speedy strikes, though they do *bloom* quite nicely.
I like the "clickiness"; it is part of what I do, so love them even though my bass is not fretless. For this bass, they are staying.
Worth noting that they now thankfully do not have silks on the ball end-only on the tuners end do they have their classic yellow silks, which I love. This used to be a setup problem for me back when I first used these strings on this very bass, especially with the now replaced, often inconvenient 3-point bridge.
With the new Babicz bridge, everything can be perfectly intonated, and the Roto tapes can sound as perhaps intended. I have read many times that they cannot be properly intonated, but that hasn't been my experience-though I admit I wasn't able to do so with the beat up, replaced bridge.
(I had someone make me a brass nut many, many years ago for these very strings, so their thickness never bothered me and is part of their charm. Really great strings, IMHO.)
I like the "clickiness"; it is part of what I do, so love them even though my bass is not fretless. For this bass, they are staying.
Worth noting that they now thankfully do not have silks on the ball end-only on the tuners end do they have their classic yellow silks, which I love. This used to be a setup problem for me back when I first used these strings on this very bass, especially with the now replaced, often inconvenient 3-point bridge.
With the new Babicz bridge, everything can be perfectly intonated, and the Roto tapes can sound as perhaps intended. I have read many times that they cannot be properly intonated, but that hasn't been my experience-though I admit I wasn't able to do so with the beat up, replaced bridge.
(I had someone make me a brass nut many, many years ago for these very strings, so their thickness never bothered me and is part of their charm. Really great strings, IMHO.)
Wait, really? Can you take a picture of the bridge area? I'm curious if there's still something (like a short black sleeve, or similar) preventing the tape from unravelling.
HaphAsSard, see if this helps. If you wish I can take a close up picture when I arrive home. I think this is OK. Was setup a bit further (very slightly moving the saddles), but looks similar now to the above picture.
The silks at the ball ends used to interfere with the 3 point bridge saddles-especially the E. I remember I could not get the G past a point I needed as well. So for some strings, the stock bridge wasn't ideal. Still, in the case of the E, it was the silk that made it harder to set the intonation, if I recall correctly. They do sound similar (ever slightly brighter, but it could be they are new), so the only "modernization" Rotosound did-in addition to the packaging-is removing these yellow silks.
(Edit-I notice something black colored there, though it looks short-will make sure later. These tapewounds do require less string length to be intonated-notice how far up the E and A are on my bridge. It is not user error, but very different than most other "normal" strings.)
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Very helpful, thanks. It would appear as the beginning of the tape is glued to itself, or that an extra loop of the same material binds said starting section of the tape. It is indeed an improvement. Just as a further example, lots of people have trouble fitting tapes to acoustic bass guitars because the silked part is too bulky for the bridge pin hole to accommodate both it and the pin.
Interesting about the silks. I have the D’Adds on all 3 of my basses including a Michael Kelley ABG. I guess I am fortunate that the strings are run through the bridge from the ‘bottom’ similar to a solid body’s bridge rather than holes with pins a la my acoustic 6 strings….The D’Adds have blue silks at both ends. Here are all 3.
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I haven't read all of the pages for this thread so since it is still going I'd like to get some thoughts on tapewound versatility. I put a set on my first bass which is a gsr200. I know some may find this an act of heresy and it now looks like an adult version of a kid's toy but I've actually recorded some stuff with it. The sound is good for rap bass tracks but I couldn't really see slapping with them. They're also black and you can see the skin on them. I see flats as the versatility champs. I'd like to hear a case for tapewounds in metal for sure. I just got into metal band and my new bass came with rounds. I ordered some Elixirs for it. I got TI's on my 6 string bass. The TI's feel a bit too low tension for me though. The search for the perfect string set continues. I've only been playing for about 1 and a half years so I haven't really had much time to find these illusive strings.
Tapewounds are inconsistent between brands. Some are more mellow than others. Most are roundwound with nylon wrap, but some have a flatwounds under the nylon. I dont remember which. Labella uses roundwound under the nylon.
I find Labella's tapes to be more versatile than their flats (I do love the flatwound sound tho.... I may have to get a second bass). Labella's white tapes sound like nicely aged nickel roundwounds. With tapes, if you dont like floppy I'd recommend getting bigger gauges. Personally I like the black nylon the best, but I may end up going a step brighter to the copper white. Idk... these blacks have a good bit of life yet.
Quick question: Will tapes buzz on a passive Precision bass? I tried them a while ago on a passive Jazz bass and they were too buzzy for my taste. Thanks.
Depends on how noisy the bass is in general. The only difference is there is no ground going into the strings. So if you go and ensure everything else is shielded/grounded properly you should be good. I say "should" because sometimes odd stuff pops up. FWIW I have someone else's MIM Fender P with white tapes at my house right now, no buzz. And I hate buzz, so I'd notice.
It also depends on how you set the bass up, the gauge of the strings, and which tapes you purchased.
As above, if by buzz you mean electronic, that should all be in your grounding. If you mean buzzing on the frets, that is all in the set up. I have three basses with taped strings, Jazzbass, My home built single cutawa JB, Michael Kelly acoustic bg. I just adjusted the truss rods recently to get the action correct on the fretless 2 JBs and then on the acoustic due to fret buzzing. All good now.
I meant electronic. I remember reading some basses didn't buzz with tape wounds, but I don't recall if it was because they were active or because they had hum buckers.
If extra time is taken to ensure it's shielded, then the only difference is the player is not part of the ground side of circuit (I suppose it's possible the string ball ends are still grounded, but the player isn't). I hate hum, so I dropped in Bart 9J's into mine after shielding everything and dropping in a audere. With black tapes it's completely quiet. What's your setup?
The metal ball end of tape wounds touching the bridge should provide an earth contact. If the bridge is not earthed properly, buzzing can occur.
It can also occur where dimmer lights or fluro lights or 3 phase power or electromagnetic interference or a fridge on the same circuit or an electric motor or (insert a miriad of things) happen.
At a gig in Europe, nothing got rid of the buzz. To fix it, I taped copper wire to the bridge. The other end, I taped to my belly. By becoming the earth, I stopped the buzz. (Removing the tape afterwards ripped a few belly hairs but was a small price to pay for a fun gig)
I recently did the same in a friend's studio with a similar problem.
The bass doesn't buzz in my studio or at most gigs.
