Help identifying Paul McCartney's strings on Get Back

[thatjazzbassguy]

Hi

I was just watching The Beatles documentary and was wondering if the strings on Paul's Hofner is what looks to be Black Nylon? Or is it just regular flatwounds? Anyone know which brand he played those days? Thanks!

 

[marchone]

Rotosound Tru Bass 88 String Set/black nylon bass strings 65-115

 

[thatjazzbassguy]

Rotosound Tru Bass 88 String Set/black nylon bass strings 65-115

Thanks marchone!!!

 

[Luckydog]

So…not “long shiny ones”?

 

[marchone]

So…not “long shiny ones”?

Those were Pyramid flat wounds.

 

[Petethebassman]

Rotosound Tru Bass 88 String Set/black nylon bass strings 65-115

Those are pretty hefty gauges, a 65 G? Wow! I have watched the Get Back documentary and I like it a lot.

 

[Luckydog]

Those were Pyramid flat wounds.

Yeah, I was just referring to a McCartney interview in which he was asked what kind of strings he used, and he replied, “Long shiny ones”.

 

[marchone]

Yeah, I was just referring to a McCartney interview in which he was asked what kind of strings he used, and he replied, “Long shiny ones”.

It’s anecdotal but the story has it while the Beatles were in town for the Ed Sullivan Show McCartney went to Manny’s 48th Street for strings. When asked what kind he said he didn’t know, just “long shiny ones?” but a store employee recognized him from TV the night before and gave him the Pyramids.

 

[thatjazzbassguy]

It’s anecdotal but the story has it while the Beatles were in town for the Ed Sullivan Show McCartney went to Manny’s 48th Street for strings. When asked what kind he said he didn’t know, just “long shiny ones?” but a store employee recognized him from TV the night before and gave him the Pyramids.

Hah great story, didn't know that!

 

[GIBrat51]

Those are pretty hefty gauges, a 65 G? Wow! I have watched the Get Back documentary and I like it a lot.

Don't be fooled by the "gauge" of tapewounds - any tapewounds. A lot of those scary high numbers are just the plastic/nylon/whatever tape - not the actual metal string inside. For the most part, tapewounds are fairly light gauge round wounds, under there. The "Tape" adds little/nothing to the actual pull-to-pitch tension of the string - but does add to the stiffness. I use the medium scale Roto 88 tapes on one of my violin basses (a '90s MIK Rogue VB-100), and have done so for years. Partly for the deep, woody sound; partly because these floating bridge/trapeze tailpiece basses are crabby about the strings they like (the Rotos intonate perfectly on that bass - which is fairly rare, IME); and partly because, as a lefty, it makes me happy to sound like Sir Paul once in a while...

 

[iiipopes]

What GIBrat51 said. ^ On the 65-115 set of Roto tapes, the nylon adds @ 15 thou to the diameter of the string, but because it is plastic, adds negligible mass and therefore no tension to the strings. So the set is actually comparable to a 50-100 set of conventional round wound strings. I will say that I do not like the G string, as to me it is noticably tighter than the rest of the set, so the bass I had a set of these on I changed out the G string for a La Bella 60 black tape. I do like the short scale set better than the long scale set because the A string on the short scale set is a 90, where on the long scale set it is a 100. Why Roto doesn't "normalize" the set and put a 60 as the G string and a 95 as the A string on all the sets I will never know. That is what La Bella and D'Addario do: same "standard" gauges on both the black and white tapes for all four scale lengths: short, medium, long, x-long.

To expand on what GIBrat51 says: the Roto tapes are designed to emulate a double bass tone. That could be one reason that they work well on Hofner and similar basses. But...that bridge does float so you do have to make sure it is properly set before final tuning the strings to pitch. Listen again to Sir Macca's bass lines, and they go sharp up the neck because the bridge is not in the correct place generally. I do concur once you get the floating bridge to the right place they intonate well.

 

[thatjazzbassguy]

What GIBrat51 said. ^ On the 65-115 set of Roto tapes, the nylon adds @ 15 thou to the diameter of the string, but because it is plastic, adds negligible mass and therefore no tension to the strings. So the set is actually comparable to a 50-100 set of conventional round wound strings. I will say that I do not like the G string, as to me it is noticably tighter than the rest of the set, so the bass I had a set of these on I changed out the G string for a La Bella 60 black tape. I do like the short scale set better than the long scale set because the A string on the short scale set is a 90, where on the long scale set it is a 100. Why Roto doesn't "normalize" the set and put a 60 as the G string and a 95 as the A string on all the sets I will never know. That is what La Bella and D'Addario do: same "standard" gauges on both the black and white tapes for all four scale lengths: short, medium, long, x-long.

To expand on what GIBrat51 says: the Roto tapes are designed to emulate a double bass tone. That could be one reason that they work well on Hofner and similar basses. But...that bridge does float so you do have to make sure it is properly set before final tuning the strings to pitch. Listen again to Sir Macca's bass lines, and they go sharp up the neck because the bridge is not in the correct place generally. I do concur once you get the floating bridge to the right place they intonate well.

Some great advice here, thank you!!

 

[Scottie T Hutt]

So what size (set) of rotosounds would one get to fit a German hofner v63/v62? Do you have to make mediums work? Weird that they wouldn’t make a set specifically for the Hofner.

 

[michael_t]

So what size (set) of rotosounds would one get to fit a German hofner v63/v62? Do you have to make mediums work? Weird that they wouldn’t make a set specifically for the Hofner.

Rotosound Music Strings Bass String Scale Length Guide

 

[Scottie T Hutt]

Rotosound Music Strings Bass String Scale Length Guide

Thanks Michael for the chart. So this would call for long scale for a Hofner v63/v62? The reason I am asking is because of conflicting information.

 

[michael_t]

Thanks Michael for the chart. So this would call for long scale for a Hofner v63/v62? The reason I am asking is because of conflicting information.

The La Bella Hofner set is 34” in winding length. The Rotosound “medium scale” with 35.25” winding length is what you would need.

 

[GIBrat51]

Thanks Michael for the chart. So this would call for long scale for a Hofner v63/v62? The reason I am asking is because of conflicting information.

No; with very few exceptions, short scale basses with trapeze tailpieces and floating bridges - of which I have several - need either the 'short scale" strings from Hofner, Pyramid, or Thomastik-Infeld (which are made specifically for those basses), or other string company's medium scale strings. There are exceptions - short scale GHS strings come to mind - but medium scale strings are usually a safe bet. A safer bet, though, is to measure your bass from the ball anchor point to the nut; go to one of the string length guides; and be sure...

The La Bella Hofner set is 34” in winding length. The Rotosound “medium scale” with 35.25” winding length is what you would need.

Exactly so. The medium scale Roto's are what my MIK Rogue VB-100 has worn for years. Curiously, I have an... inexpensive... Chinese Starfire violin bass that actually needs normal short scale strings. A combination of a 29" scale length and an unusually long trapeze tailpiece, I think. Those longer tailpieces, by the way, are available from parts companies, and have been used more than once by people who would prefer the wider availability of "real" short scale strings to pick from...