I did ask you for an image of your actual bridge so I could see the exact type, I never received one. You only said the pickup was in the saddle. There are ones that work and ones that do not. Yours works and I am happy to hear that!
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La Bella Copper White Nylon Tapewounds:
- Thread starter SLaPiNFuNK
- Start date
Actually I sent you the pics. They probably went to your spam folder or something. Here they are again!
They are called the Pow'r Bass WLK saddles, by RMC. Hipshot makes a special version of the A-style bridge to accommodate the saddles, but they don't advertise it because they are selling their bridges with the Graph Tech piezo saddles. RMC is far superior. They are the same ones on the Alain Caron F Bass and Conklin uses them quite a bit too... My bass has custom Villex pickups and the RMC Hybrid B preamp. It's very quirky...
http://www.rmcpickup.com/products.html
http://www.rmcpickup.com/products.html
I am going to order a set of copper white tapes for my fretless Rob Allen 5er and a set of the regular white tapes for my fretted 1974 Precision.
Do y'all think this is ideal, or should I do the reverse (copper on the P and standard whites on the RA?
Thanks!
Do y'all think this is ideal, or should I do the reverse (copper on the P and standard whites on the RA?
Thanks!
My RA Mb-2 4 had the original,4 yr. old , La Bella Black tape strings on it and it felt like it was time for a change. I feel with Rob Allen basses there is a subtle coaxing of tones available through my hands and the gradual loss of string response was making this slightly harder. When the original White nylons came out I gave them a try , hoping to see if there was any chance to improve upon the black tapes. I really liked the smooth feel of the string surface but did not care for their overly bright sound. They seemed to change the deeper,darker complexity of the Rob Allens character in a way that didn't work for me.Back on went the black tapes....Fast forward to the Copper whites. Ever searching for the "sound", I decided to try the Coppers.This time though I thought I would try the lighter gauged set ,which at 50-105,didn't seem very "light" at all.Ahh...the seemingly never ending need to experiment...Same great surface feel.Much improvement in tone,being considerably warmer,richer(than the first Whites) and bringing back out the character and complexity of tone I hear in the Mb-2.Only catch is that they were too light and much lower tension. I could not adjust well to the change in feel,although I wouldn't have minded a little less tension than the Blacks....After some research and discovering the Coppers generally are a softer feeling string tensionwise,I am now ready to order the Coppers in the "standard" gauge....we shall see.Mayhaps you can try one set of Coppers on the RA and judge from there...tonal expectations are soo personal.
Great info. Thanks.
I think the white tapes on the Precision is a good idea as I do want some of that roundround zing. The coppers will be perfect on the RA I would think.
If you don't mind me asking, what scale is your RA and what length Labellas did you use?
The Mb-2 4 is 34" scale and I used the long scale set. Jason at Basstrings online may be a help determining string choice if yours is 35"....best of luck.
Thx. I sent all measurements to Jason.
I am also going to order a set of tapes for my Fodera. Really want to try that bass out with flats but I haven't got around to it.
Just placed my order with Jason. Painless, great pricing and easy to order into Canada.
I ordered white copper tapes for my Rob Allen, white tapes for my precision and black tapes for my Fodera. All light gauge.
Strangely enough, I am not generally a big fan of flats. I really do love them on my Rob Allen but am only using them on my Precision as the frets are toast and need to be replaced. The flats on the Fodera is just to try something different.
I ordered white copper tapes for my Rob Allen, white tapes for my precision and black tapes for my Fodera. All light gauge.
Strangely enough, I am not generally a big fan of flats. I really do love them on my Rob Allen but am only using them on my Precision as the frets are toast and need to be replaced. The flats on the Fodera is just to try something different.
I wouldn't do the tapes on the precision. You'll lose volume, they are less magnetic with the nylon wrap. Get some bright sounding flats if you want to keep the zing--D'Addario Chromes or Sadowsky Black Labels (the Chromes are brighter). I would highly recommend the coppers for the RA. The lights are very light. So now you're informed, the rest is up to you.
I must respectfully disagree on both statements. I have tapes on my custom half-fanned P/J, and I have all the top end I can use. A string is not less magnetic with nylon wrap. Because of the nylon wrap, the bass may have to be set up so that to get the same distance of the strings to the polepiece of the pickups, the metal core of the string ends up being just that few thou of the thickness of the nylon farther away from the pickup. That is what loses output, the increased distance of the core from the polepiece, as output varies as the square of the distance from the pickup. And the lights are not that light; to me they feel more like a 40-100 conventional set of rounds. YMMV.
As for the lights, are you talking about the coppers? That's what I'm referring to. The previous post mentioned that the coppers are more flexible/lighter in feel. The lights feel more like 95-40 rounds.
Volume isn't a concern as I would use a booster with my P no matter which strings are on it as it would backup an 18v active bass on gigs.
The P has had a set of a Chromes on it for years and I really don't like them. The feel bugs me and the tension is too high. I really dislike the feel of flats in general but do like the feel of LaBella tapes.
I will report back after stringing the 1974 P with the white tapes, my Fodera with black tapes and my Rob Allen with white copper tapes.
Thx!
Actually I sent you the pics. They probably went to your spam folder or something. Here they are again!
I remember seeing these images, I thought I replied about them? Forgot who was who sorry...
Anyway, looks like you should press down on the strings just in front of the saddle.
Nylon does not block any of the strings magnetic properties... It is such a small amount of nylon. Really the only magnetic part of the string anyway is the core wire. Most Stainless Steel alloy's are not magnetic and Nickel is not magnetic... So it is really just the core wire that is magnetic and the outer windings just help "shape" the tone. The nylon can effect grounding on some instruments.
Tapewounds in general can be brighter than flats. They can snap and twang as much as rounds without the fingernoise.
I'm with Jason on this one. Looks like your heavier strings are "soaring" over the bridge saddles. You need to set the witness point.
You're incorrect. It's set. If you don't have an RMC bridge then you don't get it. I'm not a novice, trust me. The strings will not sit low in the saddles, that's just the design and what you think you see, but I've already set the witness point.. Taper cores will sit lower, these don't need to .
It's not about taper core, or "sitting low" in the saddles (whatever that means), nor any particular make or manufacture of bridge saddles. It's about helping heavier strings bend over the saddles (and nut) so they don't arc over the saddle.
Perhaps it's a camera/perspective issue. If you say you're good, you're good. Enjoy the bass.
-Alex
I assure you, there's no issue with the witness point or how the strings pass over the saddles. Thanks for your advice.
