How old is this Rotosound packaging?

[20basspilots]

Title says it all but yes i want to know roughly how old is this packaging style.

Apparently this was sold to me by my usual store as they didn't have other strings on stock. And yet despite looking like old stock, they charged me full price! but it's fine i guess because the strings still feels and sounds fresh, albeit with a bi lt of discoloration

 

[GIBrat51]

Title says it all but yes i want to know roughly how old is this packaging style.

Apparently this was sold to me by my usual store as they didn't have other strings on stock. And yet despite looking like old stock, they charged me full price! but it's fine i guess because the strings still feels and sounds fresh, albeit with a bi lt of discoloration

"They charged me full price!" Nah... AFAIK, that's a pretty old set of Roto 66's. What they charged you, is the collector's price. But, now that you've opened them, and - worse yet - put them on your bass? Now, they're just "old strings"...

 

[20basspilots]

"They charged me full price!" Nah... AFAIK, that's a pretty old set of Roto 66's. What they charged you, is the collector's price. But, now that you've opened them, and - worse yet - put them on your bass? Now, they're just "old strings"...

I see! Well they've got a huge stock of this specific set that appeared to be unsold. This specific store has a lot of old stock aside from these brands of strings.

Yes i've put them on my bass and they're just old strings now haha! But they sure sound fresh and don't sound like dead rounds.

hoping if anyone can pinpoint what era these came from. probably 90s?

 

[roccobass]

If all else fails, email Rotosound directly. They might find it amusing too.

 

[mikeswals]

I remember those packages in the early/mid 90's

 

[Iristone]

Looks like a slightly old generation of nickel RS66s - I've seen some in China with the new plastic/aluminium packaging, too.

 

[NotColinGrigson]

That’s the packaging they used before the current plastic.
I pick these up where I can, and they still sound awesome and fresh.

 

[HaphAsSard]

Title says it all but yes i want to know roughly how old is this packaging style.

Apparently this was sold to me by my usual store as they didn't have other strings on stock. And yet despite looking like old stock, they charged me full price! but it's fine i guess because the strings still feels and sounds fresh, albeit with a bi lt of discoloration

Is there a url on the back? This would give us a rough timeframe.
[The Rotosound website was established around 1998 (saved by Archive.com's Internet Wayback Machine starting from 11th November of that year
Wayback Machine )]

 

[John Sparkman]

Rotosound used the lion on their packaging from 1992 until at least 2000.

I scanned their company's archives and looked over a great number of their photos, with date-stamps for each.

 

[groooooove]

totally a guess, but i think they had that packaging around the time i first tried them which would have been early 2000s. Just a hunch, i only tried them a few times back then.

Funny how long certain things can sit on a shelf..

 

[eddybuzzard]

I don't know, that lion looks much younger in that picture

Somebody probably got a good deal, on a couple of old crates, that were discovered in the back corner of somewhere, secluded.

 

[HaphAsSard]

Funny how long certain things can poopie on a shelf..

You mean like elves?

 

[groooooove]

You mean like elves?

TB misinterpreted my typo as profanity, i forgot it changes words like that

 

[20basspilots]

Thank you all for your responses!

as roccobass suggested, i should email rotosound..aaand i actually reached out to their instagram page and they said that these would be from the mid to late nineties. The packaging changed to a figure of a bassist around the turn of the millennium and then to foil packs around 2013.

so that's some fun history/backgrounder right there.
i gotta buy more of these from that specific retailer.

 

[HaphAsSard]

Thank you all for your responses!

as roccobass suggested, i should email rotosound..aaand i actually reached out to their instagram page and they said that these would be from the mid to late nineties. The packaging changed to a figure of a bassist around the turn of the millennium and then to foil packs around 2013.

so that's some fun history/backgrounder right there.
i gotta buy more of these from that specific retailer.

So, internet url on the back yes or no?

 

[20basspilots]

So, internet url on the back yes or no?

yes. it says http:// www.rotosound.com

i guess https wasn't a thing yet back in the 90s.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Title says it all but yes i want to know roughly how old is this packaging style.

Apparently this was sold to me by my usual store as they didn't have other strings on stock. And yet despite looking like old stock, they charged me full price! but it's fine i guess because the strings still feels and sounds fresh, albeit with a bi lt of discoloration

I’ve never seen that packaging before, but it’s been 50 years since my last purchase of that brand.

 

[HaphAsSard]

yes. it says http:// www.rotosound.com

i guess https wasn't a thing yet back in the 90s

Thank you. See my post #8 above: this should mean the set is from the tail end of the big lion's tenure as Roto's face (late '98 to 2000). They couldn't be earlier than '96 anyway:

I wrote to Rotosound. Jason How (James's heir) himself replied. He says Swing Bass nickels were first offered in 1996.

 

[20basspilots]

Thank you. See my post #8 above: this should mean the set is from the tail end of the big lion's tenure as Roto's face (late '98 to 2000). They couldn't be earlier than '96 anyway:

I see!
looking at the old packaging, it's amazing Jason How's email is printed on it. maybe i should write a fan mail

 

[JRA]

i've been using rotosounds for as long as i've been playing bass......i don't remember that packaging at all.....