Bye Bye, Bella!

[Deleted member 271037]

Interesting...

I don't know much about pickups. So, just wondering... Would the CS60 pickup that came stock on my 2014 Am Std Precision be considered one of those "darker" and "aged" ones?

I ask because the La Bella flatwound 104E (760FL) sounded a bit too muddy on it for my taste.

The CS60 is what I would consider a very "middle of the road" P-bass pickup. Personally I think it's a nice sounding pickup that works fine with LaBellas. The Fender Pure Vintage 63 on the other hand is a pickup I find too dark and bloated in the lows for most old school flats.

But the bass itself will matter too of course. Some P-basses are just inherently brighter than others.

Maybe you simply don't like the tone of LaBellas? They are certainly not suitable for all types of music. Or maybe your pots have slightly lower than 250k resistance? That would definitely give the bass a darker and potentially muddier tone. Pots can vary a LOT unless you buy the more expensive ones with tighter tolerances. I often see Fender basses with factory equipped pots that are between 220-230k. The lowest I can remember seeing in a brand new Fender was 218k. The difference between 250k and 220k is definitely audible with a P-bass, especially the volume pot. With flats I usually install pots that are slightly above 250k for a bit more clarity when I lower the tone control to what I consider the "sweetspot" on a P-bass (about 1/3 down when the mids start to thicken a bit due to the resonant peak you get with passive tone controls).

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Can you be more specific? Seems to me everyone here has had success with other brands and that the faulty strings in question have failed on multiple basses. My Lakland, Sadowsky, CS Fender and Maghini are all expertly setup.

Sitar noises would suggest to me that there's a problem with the nut slots or the notches in the saddles. This may not be a problem with other strings if they are a different gauge/tension/construction. Even just a tiny bit of difference can matter.

Buzzing on the 5th to 15th fret would strongly indicate a setup issue. Maybe the relief is set incorrectly or the bass has high/low frets. Other strings may work if they vibrate differently (and yes, this can make a HUGE difference, some strings are far more forgiving than others when it comes to fret buzz).

Or it could be the string of course but these symptoms would normally be a sign of nut/bridge/frets/setup issues.

 

[michael_t]

Sitar noises would suggest to me that there's a problem with the nut slots or the notches in the saddles. This may not be a problem with other strings if they are a different gauge/tension/construction. Even just a tiny bit of difference can matter.

There have been recent posts in another thread, where someone was talking about the "sitar effect" caused by the ball end of the string behind the saddle contacting the intonation adjustment spring just enough to create the high-pitched buzz. The La Bella flats in particular, the way they're finished without silk at the ball end, the part behind the saddle can be a bit thicker and even messy. Note the A and D in this pic...

 

[RudyTardy]

Sitar noises would suggest to me that there's a problem with the nut slots or the notches in the saddles. This may not be a problem with other strings if they are a different gauge/tension/construction. Even just a tiny bit of difference can matter.

Buzzing on the 5th to 15th fret would strongly indicate a setup issue. Maybe the relief is set incorrectly or the bass has high/low frets. Other strings may work if they vibrate differently (and yes, this can make a HUGE difference, some strings are far more forgiving than others when it comes to fret buzz).

Or it could be the string of course but these symptoms would normally be a sign of nut/bridge/frets/setup issues.

Sure, that all makes sense. But not when the string is moved from bass to bass and exhibits the exact same issues.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Sure, that all makes sense. But not when the string is moved from bass to bass and exhibits the exact same issues.

Ah, I somehow missed the part about different basses, sorry. Sound like you got a faulty string. Maybe their quality has dropped recently. All my LaBella sets are several years old and they've never been better.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

There have been recent posts in another thread, where someone was talking about the "sitar effect" caused by the ball end of the string behind the saddle contacting the intonation adjustment spring just enough to create the high-pitched buzz. The La Bella flats in particular, the way they're finished without silk at the ball end, the part behind the saddle can be a bit thicker and even messy. Note the A and D in this pic...

View attachment 4667451

Yeah, looking at the bass in you pic, that could definitely be a problem but I doubt if silk would have helped. I suspect most silked strings would've had the silk on top of the saddles with the saddles adjusted that far back and that's definitely something you would want to avoid.

Is this your bass? The intonation looks way off with the G-string further back than even the E-string??? In fact, ALL the saddles look like they're adjusted too far back, at least compared to how my P-basses are perfectly intonated with LaBellas (or any other strings for that matter). The distance from ball end to saddle in your picture is almost as short as on a 3-point Gibson bridge!

If this is actually how the saddles need to be adjusted for perfect intonation I would have considered moving the entire bridge slightly back because that setup could cause problems with LOTS of strings, not just LaBellas. In a pinch I guess washers between the ball end and bridge could also work (basically what the "mod bar" does for 3-point bridges).

Of course things like action, relief and the height of the nut slots can also affect intonation. Maybe the bass in your picture would intonate differently with a different setup? Looking at the pic something doesn't seem quite right there. The saddles shouldn't have to be that far back on a P-bass for perfect intonation, at least not with any P-basses/strings that I own and the G-saddle should DEFINITELY not be further back than E-A-D with any LaBellas I've tried (or most other strings for that matter).

Or maybe LaBellas QC really has done down the drain??? Like I said in an earlier post, all my sets are several years old and they have never been better.

For comparison here's how LaBella 760FL intonates on my P-basses (the one in the picture is an AVRI 57). The tone I get from this bass is absolutely outstanding and is my number one choice for recordning (unless the song calls for roundwounds).

 

[Deleted member 271037]

There have been recent posts in another thread, where someone was talking about the "sitar effect" caused by the ball end of the string behind the saddle contacting the intonation adjustment spring just enough to create the high-pitched buzz. The La Bella flats in particular, the way they're finished without silk at the ball end, the part behind the saddle can be a bit thicker and even messy. Note the A and D in this pic...

View attachment 4667451

Just to clarify (I think I may have explained what I meant very poorly):

What I meant could be a problem with the bass in your pic was that the overlapping windings at the end of the strings are actually on top of the saddles.

The "sitar" noise from buzzing saddle springs can be a problem with lots of strings/basses and is something I would consider a problem with the bass, not the strings. It's usually worst with the D or G-strings because the spring is normally looser on those saddles. Some basses use really poor quality springs and stiffer springs (and maybe different length) will usually fix the problem. In some cases just wiggling the spring around a bit will help (but the problem will probably resurface after a while). Even stuffing some dampening material between the strings/springs would stop the springs from buzzing and it wouldn't affect the tone of the bass AT ALL.

Still, if the "sitar" noise is really just coming from the saddle springs it shouldn't really be a problem when plugging in. It can be a bit annoying if you're playing unplugged of course but I personally wouldn't drop LaBellas just because the saddle springs were buzzing. I would fix the saddle springs.

 

[michael_t]

Is this your bass?

No. I just happened to come across with the pic previously posted by another TB member thru Google search to illustrated my point about what could possibly cause the "sitar effect".

I only used La Bella flats (760FL) once back in 2015 and didn't have any issues other than the fact I eventually decided they weren't meeting my tonal needs.

 

[subdude67]

I had a very strange occurance a while ago when I strung a bass with RX-N4A strings. As I was tuning up the strings both the D and G string snapped on the tuning post.
Luckily I managed to salvage the strings but only just. Shame, I like the strings but I doubt that I will ever buy them again.

 

[michael_t]

I had a very strange occurance a while ago when I strung a bass with RX-N4A strings....

View attachment 4676142

RX-N4A is NPS Roundwound, which don't come with green silk as far as I know. Maybe you're talking about the 760FX Flats?

 

[subdude67]

RX-N4A is NPS Roundwound, which don't come with green silk as far as I know. Maybe you're talking about the 760FX Flats?

Certainly not flats but of course I could be wrong about the exact model. The package said something about balanced nickel.

 

[michael_t]

Certainly not flats but of course I could be wrong about the exact model. The package said something about balanced nickel.

Balanced Nickels are by GHS, not La Bella, and they do come with green silk.

4L-NB = 40-101.
4M-NB = 44-106.

 

[michael_t]

View attachment 4676142

Looking at the pic, it appears there might be sharp edges and burrs on the tuner posts for G and D, which could possibly be the cause of the breakage.

 

[subdude67]

Balanced Nickels are by GHS, not La Bella, and they do come with green silk.

4L-NB = 40-101.
4M-NB = 44-106.

I put a sticker on the back of the headstock so that I remember what strings I used.

 

[michael_t]

I put a sticker on the back of the headstock so that I remember what strings I used.

View attachment 4676309

Did the package look like this?

As far as I know, La Bella doesn't have strings called "Balanced Nickels" that come with green silk.

 

[subdude67]

Did the package look like this?

View attachment 4676310

As far as I know, La Bella doesn't have strings called "Balanced Nickels" that come with green silk.

It was a set of La Bella RX-N4B I ordered from Thomann in 2020.
There is mention of being perfectly balanced strings on the packet, that's why I have labelled them that way, maybe not ideal but it doesn't change what happened to them.

 

[michael_t]

It was a set of La Bella RX-N4B I ordered from Thomann in 2020.
There is mention of being perfectly balanced strings on the packet, that's why I have labelled them that way, maybe not ideal but it doesn't change what happened to them.

Ok, now I see what you mean by "balanced nickel". I still don't get the part about the green silk, though. As far as I know, the La Bella RX-series rounds (both SS and NPS) have never had silk.