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Fodera strings, first impression

#61
GTHintz said:
At least you have strings now! That's a small miracle itself. So which one gets strung up first? :hyper:
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Well the Foderas still have a lot of life in them. Especially now I'm playing through an Ampeg SVT-7 Pro head that really has some huge low end and sizzling highs. So I'll keep them going for a bit while I make up my mind. I'm leaning towards fitting the Smiths first as I've never played them. I haven't played Lo Riders either, but Hi Beams were my old go-to. I expect them to be similar but with a bit more pronounced low end growl.

This is shockingly played as I've had 6 weeks without playing my bass due to a series of events. Eq is flat on the head, apart from Ultra Lo switched in. Bass pre is flat. Only recorded with with phone mic, but even then its still got some tone.

 
#62
I feel like you're going to like the Smith strings just a little bit more than the lo riders just because I feel like they are a happy medium. Slightly more flexible than loriders and the character of the smith strings seem to be less polite sounding than the loriders. As far as my memory serves. Your tone with the Fodera strings is great though!
 
#63
GTHintz said:
I feel like you're going to like the Smith strings just a little bit more than the lo riders just because I feel like they are a happy medium. Slightly more flexible than loriders and the character of the smith strings seem to be less polite sounding than the loriders. As far as my memory serves. Your tone with the Fodera strings is great though!
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Thanks! I'll be back into solid practice over the coming days and then when I restring I'll get some properly recorded audio. Will blend an SM57 mic on the 410 cab with DI so it's a better sound than tinny phone mic.
 
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#66
Yeah man you've got tone for days now! What I appreciate is that they are musical and when you dig in they bring out a special overtone that does growl and whatever is in your bass naturally it will tend to make it heard. I discovered that from noodling around unplugged and then plugging in to hear the difference. Not every string sounds like that. I'm glad you are having fun with them! Your bass is sounding damn good! Not surprised one bit but happy you like it!
 
#69
Oh wow! I've been playing a set of Dean Markley Blue Steel strings since around the last time we messaged. These might be my new favorite strings. The way these have settled in and held tune and they seem to work with my humbucker set up. From what I remember with lo riders they lasted a long time and I'm thinking about getting them on a new fretless bass I just picked up. Crazy thing is that I actually put my old Ken Smith strings on it because the strings were garbage that came on it. They still sound good and I have grooves into the strings from all the playing.
 
#74
Labella ghs diaderrio make strings for lots of boutique builders.
Ghs makes Ken Smith, sadowski blue labels, Lakland
Labella makes strings for Fbass, Steinberger headless bass strings.
I forget who diaderrio builds strings for. I know there are some more that I'm forgetting. Out of those 3 they all have their own factory BTW.
 
#77
Screenshot_20211219-175712.png
 
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#79
GTHintz said:
Hey Mike and everyone else I stand corrected. Labella produce Sadowski blue labels. Lol I was mixed up.
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This makes more sense.

I know for a fact La Bella used to make Sadowsky's now-discontinued Black Label Flats. I once tried them back-to-back with La Bella DTFs, and while they had different tonal flavors, there were certain similarities in the way the strings were constructed. They even came with the same warning against thru-body installation.
 
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#80
michael_t said:
This makes more sense.

I know for a fact La Bella used to make Sadowsky's now-discontinued Black Label Flats. I once tried them back-to-back with La Bella DTFs, and while they had different tonal flavors, there were certain similarities in the way the strings were constructed. They even came with the same warning against thru-body installation.
Click to expand...
It's interesting how someone like Roger or Ken Smith would take a set of strings and make some little custom changes to specs. Personally I love having the options of trying out someone's custom spec strings.
 

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