Trying again:
Here’s another historical thread for anyone as sad and obsessive as I am about bass strings.
I’ve been diving down another rabbit hole lately, trying to establish a rough timeline for La Bella electric bass strings, sparked by this old thread:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/vintage-labella-flats-will-they-still-work.1359726/#post-21684758
and I was hoping TB members who were using them back in the day or had further background information may be able to provide some clarification.
TB member @dirtbeard in that thread said that based on the packaging he believed that the set of strings he found to date from the 60’s. These are his photos:
and this is an image I found online of the exterior:
Given the fact that the strings were in waxed paper envelopes, the artwork, and that the package is much larger than the “standard” size which became commonplace later, I would have thought this was a pretty good guess. Note the long blue silks at both ends…I’m pretty confident that these are the early JPJ strings.
Then we have this set which the seller on Reverb asserts is “early 1970’s production date”, which again I have no cause to doubt, especially given they feature an endorsement by Dennis Dunaway, are in the “standard” size package and plastic sleeve, and have dropped some early bass model sizes, such as Supro and Valco, from their list on the front of the package:
Following on, here is a 1977 ad for La Bella acoustic bass strings, but the font is similar to that used on electric bass string packages just prior to that used on current packages:
Here are some tricky ones….I’ve seen this package described as originating from both the 60s and 70s….it retains the “old” string sizings for Supro and Valco, but also sports a Dunaway endorsement in some instances, so I’m guessing maybe “transitional” late 60s?
….and then, just when I thought the set I posted at the top was the “earliest”, I find that Dunaway himself posted a pic of a similar set on his Facebook page several years ago, with an insert pic of himself as an endorser….
This doesn’t necessarily mean that this packaging isn’t from the 60’s….the pic is an insert so could have been added when they first used him as an endorsing artist, maybe late 60’s before they transitioned to the later packaging (I asked La Bella about this directly, they were a little vague and said they were “likely” from the 1970s…maybe because they were rounds?)
As an aside, to me they look like some of the earliest La Bella rounds ever, and since Dunaway states that “La Bella made custom strings for me and I traveled with a suitcase full”, I wonder whether La Bella developed their rounds for him after he tried and liked Rotosounds?
Finally, here is a pic of a set posted by La Bella themselves on their Facebook page of a set of 760-J flatwounds which they say are from the 60s…strangely, the packing looks more “modern” than the “large” paper packaging of the “60s” flatwounds posted at the top.
Does anyone have any further info which may help provide firmer dates for these various string sets?
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Here’s another historical thread for anyone as sad and obsessive as I am about bass strings.
I’ve been diving down another rabbit hole lately, trying to establish a rough timeline for La Bella electric bass strings, sparked by this old thread:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/vintage-labella-flats-will-they-still-work.1359726/#post-21684758
and I was hoping TB members who were using them back in the day or had further background information may be able to provide some clarification.
TB member @dirtbeard in that thread said that based on the packaging he believed that the set of strings he found to date from the 60’s. These are his photos:
and this is an image I found online of the exterior:
Given the fact that the strings were in waxed paper envelopes, the artwork, and that the package is much larger than the “standard” size which became commonplace later, I would have thought this was a pretty good guess. Note the long blue silks at both ends…I’m pretty confident that these are the early JPJ strings.
Then we have this set which the seller on Reverb asserts is “early 1970’s production date”, which again I have no cause to doubt, especially given they feature an endorsement by Dennis Dunaway, are in the “standard” size package and plastic sleeve, and have dropped some early bass model sizes, such as Supro and Valco, from their list on the front of the package:
Following on, here is a 1977 ad for La Bella acoustic bass strings, but the font is similar to that used on electric bass string packages just prior to that used on current packages:
Here are some tricky ones….I’ve seen this package described as originating from both the 60s and 70s….it retains the “old” string sizings for Supro and Valco, but also sports a Dunaway endorsement in some instances, so I’m guessing maybe “transitional” late 60s?
….and then, just when I thought the set I posted at the top was the “earliest”, I find that Dunaway himself posted a pic of a similar set on his Facebook page several years ago, with an insert pic of himself as an endorser….
This doesn’t necessarily mean that this packaging isn’t from the 60’s….the pic is an insert so could have been added when they first used him as an endorsing artist, maybe late 60’s before they transitioned to the later packaging (I asked La Bella about this directly, they were a little vague and said they were “likely” from the 1970s…maybe because they were rounds?)
As an aside, to me they look like some of the earliest La Bella rounds ever, and since Dunaway states that “La Bella made custom strings for me and I traveled with a suitcase full”, I wonder whether La Bella developed their rounds for him after he tried and liked Rotosounds?
Finally, here is a pic of a set posted by La Bella themselves on their Facebook page of a set of 760-J flatwounds which they say are from the 60s…strangely, the packing looks more “modern” than the “large” paper packaging of the “60s” flatwounds posted at the top.
Does anyone have any further info which may help provide firmer dates for these various string sets?
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