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LaBella IMA Super Polished Strings for Post Punk on my P-Bass?

M

Marcedeus

Mar 17, 2026
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#1
Hello, I currently have 43-104 LaBella's Deep Talking Flats on my Squire Affinity P Bass, black finish, maple neck.

And I want something less subby and with more attack for playing The Cure, Interpol styles.

I play with a 1.00mm dunlop grip pick

I heard these IMA sound like broken in rounds right out the pack and they feel smoother than other rounds but not as smooth as flats obviously.

I plan on keeping these on my bass for as long as I can since coming from flats I don't like changing my strings unless they break.

My other options were Roto 66s but I heard they're too harsh to touch coming from flats I wont like the texture and I don't like too much clank or zing.

GHS boomers since I heard Carlos D used them on a Jazz Bass and they're darker rounds from what i've heard.

Has anyone tried these LaBella's IMA Super Polished Strings?

If so i'd really like to know your experience with them since I just need that final nudge to commit to trying them out, changing my 6 year DTF flats is not an easy choice to make. (I will keep them of course)
 
#2
999Brent

Thread 'La Bella Super Polished Ian Martin Set'

Just become available in La Bella's site.
I like the guage that is offered and the fact that Ian is very much about the sound and gear, so high hopes…
IMG_6396.jpeg
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#4
Sounds essentially like OP wants bright strings that aren't roundwounds. This is relevant to my interests so I'll brain dump a little...
michael_t said:
999Brent

Thread 'La Bella Super Polished Ian Martin Set'

Just become available in La Bella's site.
I like the guage that is offered and the fact that Ian is very much about the sound and gear, so high hopes…
IMG_6396.jpeg
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Click to expand...
OP should also read up on the (non-IMA) Super Polished. Same price, slightly heavier gauge, mixed opinions about how bright they are but that seems partly due to LaBella changing the product a few times while trying to dial it in when it was first released. LaBella also has the Olinto strings which like the IMA SP and (non-IMA) SP are groundwounds, but apparently a bit thuddier.
Bernie Connors

Thread 'Labella Super Polished'

I'm intrigued.

Olinto Super Polished Bass Strings - La Bella Roadie Club
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Almost every string company that makes flats also make groundwounds like the Super Polished, it's worth researching if you're curious. If there's a downside to groundwounds it's that they usually don't sound either like rounds or like flats. If you're hoping for something that sounds like GHS Boomers but without the finger noise, either adjust your expectations or stop here and consider something else.

OP can also look up pressurewounds which are kind of like rounds but the outer wrap wire has an oval profile rather than circular, so they have a softer touch and usually less thud than most groundwounds. Ken Smith Compressors are popular, made by GHS and similar to GHS Pressurewounds but have some slight differences in construction.

And then there are weird strings like EB Cobalt Flats which are technically flats but with a gappy outer wrap to keep it flexible and bright sounding. And the Thomastik-Infeld Jazz series which have multiple layers (core wire, silk, outer wrap) rather than a simple core-plus-outer-wrap.

As flats/groundwounds go, Super Polished are on the cheap-ish side for bass strings, about $36 at Sweetwater. Pressurewounds are often cheaper. If I wasn't happy with TI Jazz Flats (which are currently priced at around 5x as much on Sweetwater, glad I imported mine via Thomann a while ago before US tariffs were imposed), I would be trying Cobalt Flats or one of the LaBella SP strings.

On the other hand, if OP can budget for TI Jazz strings (or if OP lives in the EU and can get TI's strings for about a third of what Americans pay), the TI Jazz Rounds might be what they want; they're rounds but the outer wrap wire is very small so they have a texture more like groundwounds. $150-plus is a lot to throw at an experiment, on the upside they can easily last over a decade if you like them, which can actually mean they're pretty cheap. Spend a lot up-front or spend even more in small increments.
 
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#7
I have the La Bella Superpolished on my Squier Jazz. I'm about to put them on my Sire P5 5 string (P pickup) and my Maruszczyk Frog fretless. (These are the standard SuperPolished with the .107 E string, not the IMA signatures with the .103 E string. But close enough for comparison). My other basses have either La Bella DTFs, Olinto Flats, or Tapes.

They sound a lot like rounds that have already been broken in, but still have plenty of life in them. They're very balanced tonally across the spectrum. Not too-too bright like some rounds; not too dark like flats.

In theory they shouldn't go dead nearly as fast as regular Rounds because they've been polished down so there's less places for finger grime and sweat and oils to build up and seep into the core. But they're not flat-flat like Flatwounds. So you'll just have to play them for a while and see if they go dead before you break a string. I haven't played mine hard enough, often enough, for long enough to give a life-expectancy. Most likely they'll last longer than rounds, but maybe not quite as long as flats.

There's another thread here where we talk more about them. I have a picture of what they look like close up.

Will they work for Post Punk like the Cure or Interpol? Absolutely. Basically you can use them for anything you'd normally use Rounds for, for some things you'd use Flats for, and for when you want something just a little different from either of those two.
 
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#9
These are my favourite "round wound" string.

I'm a big fan of flats but I wanted to have both flavours of Ric. These are by far the best groundwound string I've tried (which to be fair is only a few) but more than that the best roundwound string (for which I've had ALOT of rounds).

All the bite and zing and none of the finger noise.

I think they're also fairly reasonably priced especially for La Bella's but I highly recommend them.

Everyone I know with a set loves them
 
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#11
I played in a shoegaze / post-punk band with two VERY loud and effects heavy guitar players and oddly enough the only thing that cut through and worked for me sonically was playing the darkest flats. GHS P flats.

Carlos used GHS Boomers and EB Slinkys. He was not a gearhead. He used his brother's US J bass for the entirety of his stint in Interpol. Used no effects. Just plugged straight into an SVT 8x10 rig. I got to see him play live twice. Killer player.
 
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