James Jamerson actually played roundwound strings (!)

[petrus61]

It's adorable when guitarists write bass articles.

 

[Pandastylebass]

I recently built a time machine, so I traveled back in to get the real scoop on this once and for all. It turns out Jamerson's strings were a hybrid of unicorn horn and leprechaun hair.
The company La Bella is based out of a tree in Upstate NY and continues to make strings although that do not use the unicorn/leprechaun formula any longer due to problems over the years with activist groups, their strings still seem to contain a little "magic" to this day. So...case closed

 

[nerkoids]

Jamerson? Whiskey?

 

[GretschWretch]

Rotosound Swing Bass strings - the very first roundwound string for bass guitars - actually weren't invented and sold until 1966.

Correct on the date; incorrect on the "very first." I recall, long before 1966, seeing Dano/Silvertone U1 basses at my local Sears & Roebuck -- all loaded with roundwound strings sporting the Black Diamond label.

 

[MaxJJK]

Certainly not on his own bass, which proudly sported at least a couple of the strings that were originally on it when he first got it. They might have felt cruddy enough to be mistaken for old, dead rounds.

Eeeeewwwwwwww.

 

[One Drop]

It's a ridiculous assertion without any proof or justification, and is contradicted by every anecdote, reminiscence, and fact that we know about Jamerson, who was famously known for his string preference and his insistence on old LaBellas for his own use.

 

[One Drop]

It's a ridiculous assertion without any proof or justification, and is contradicted by every anecdote, reminiscence, and fact that we know about Jamerson, who was famously known for his string preference and his insistence on old LaBellas for his own use.

 

[One Drop]

It's a ridiculous assertion without any proof or justification, and is contradicted by every anecdote, reminiscence, and fact that we know about Jamerson, who was famously known for his string preference and his insistence on old LaBellas for his own use.

 

[MaxJJK]

Y'know, we heard you the first time.

 

[cnltb]

James Jamerson actually played roundwound strings (!)
Ok...and?

 

[lmfreeman9]

There's a possibility that James may have used old rounds on another bass rather than the Funk bass, but that would have been later in his LA years. James Jr. would be the one to ask about this.

I agree with this. Roundwound strings were not invented by James Howe (Rotosound) until about 1966 and were not widely used until the 70's.

 

[One Drop]

Nope, old LaBella flats by all accounts, and famously so.

 

[johnp352]

When he relocated to LA..he MIGHT have used borrowed basses for a session or 2, which prolly had rw's..so there's that.

 

[groooooove]

i doubt it. he always sounds like flats to me..

even if they're dead rounds, to get that sound i'd go with flats.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

In, his article, On Bass: The Wrecking Crew—Basses You Need to Get the Job Done, Victor Brodén states (parenthetically):

"James Jamerson actually played roundwound strings that were simply so old and dead that they sounded like flatwounds."

Huh? Any truth to this?

You will be attacked for this heresy by the Cult of the Flatwound. Just watch!

 

[bass12]

I heard that Jamerson actually used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter even though, by all accounts, he was a butter guy!

 

[JTE]

Considering that there eas an interview by Dan Forte in Guitar Player while Jamerson was alive where he said he used LaBella flats (so no, none of the original strings were on it- another pointless myth), and that it's reported that other bassists bought rounds and gave them to Jamerson but he never opened them, this is a ludicrous assertion.

Well before Anthony Jackson's story regarding lard on strings, Stephen Stills (ca January '77?) said he put grease on his bass strings to kill the new sound. And one of the Fame studio bassists said he used petroleum jelly on his fingers while recording.

But none of the Jamerson informtion that's credible talks of him doing anything like that.

John

 

[Spirit of Ox]

Old Roundwounds don't sound like flats. They don't have the warmth and the sustain due to the windings. Rounds have too much space in the windings which allows excess corrosion and moisture in.

 

[SirMjac28]

I heard he only drove Ford Mustangs because as a child he always wanted a horse but his family couldn't afford one. I also heard in late 68' Mr Gordy offered to buy him any car he wanted and he picked the Mustang but Mr Gordy got him a new Lincoln instead which caused a feud that lasted for over a year.

 

[TheCrimsonKing]

I heard he only drove Ford Mustangs because as a child he always wanted a horse but his family couldn't afford one. I also heard in late 68' Mr Gordy offered to buy him any car he wanted and he picked the Mustang but Mr Gordy got him a new Limcoln instead which caused a feud that lasted for over a year.

...What.