LaBella LTF-4A Low Tension Flat love thread

[dfp]

Noticed my E and A string sounding pretty dull after about a year… G still a little brighter than I would like, but close enough, D just perfect IMHO. Took the E and A off and wiped them down real good with rubbing alcohol, put them back on, wow night and day difference. Clean and clear sounding again on the E and A. Cheaper than a new set!

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Decided to give these strings a go for E standard tuning, which I haven’t used for awhile. Looking fwd to it when they arrive. Another adventure in stringland

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Noticed my E and A string sounding pretty dull after about a year… G still a little brighter than I would like, but close enough, D just perfect IMHO. Took the E and A off and wiped them down real good with rubbing alcohol, put them back on, wow night and day difference. Clean and clear sounding again on the E and A. Cheaper than a new set!

Is an initial wipe down warranted before putting on? Polishing crud?

 

[Holdsg]

just a light coating of corrosion inhibitor. it wears off in a few hours of playtime. that's my experience. others, may vary.
not as much coating as say, the EBMM Cobalt Slinky flats. those are downright sticky out of the package. but that also wears off eventually.

 

[Prodigus Filius]

just a light coating of corrosion inhibitor. it wears off in a few hours of playtime. that's my experience. others, may vary.
not as much coating as say, the EBMM Cobalt Slinky flats. those are downright sticky out of the package. but that also wears off eventually.

Cheers

 

[Froski]

I just put a set of these on my Sire P5 and we have a winner. I tried them on my player ii precision bass and didn't like it but they work on the Sire

 

[woodyng2]

Is an initial wipe down warranted before putting on? Polishing crud?

I’ve Always done it with every new string swap, regardless of brand,type,etc.
I recently wiped down a new set of ghs balanced tension roundwounds I was installing ,and was surprised
to not get any black residue at all. That was a first!

 

[woodyng2]

just a light coating of corrosion inhibitor. it wears off in a few hours of playtime. that's my experience. others, may vary.
not as much coating as say, the EBMM Cobalt Slinky flats. those are downright sticky out of the package. but that also wears off eventually.

Blechhh!
It ain’t wearing off ON ME!

 

[Holdsg]

everybody has their trigger point about something!

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Strings arrived this arvo.
Even 37.25”ball to silk for each string. Wipe down with some metho. Not much crud at all.

Nice smooth strings.
These strings are replacing some Magma nylons. Tapewounds were a detour from flatwounds for me. But I’ve returned to flats. Tapes just not for me in the end.
Had to do some minor setup tweaking for the LTF’s. The G string does seem a lot brighter than the EAD. Hopefully that will settle down a bit. Tension about right for where I’m at in the odyssey

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Love me some LTF. Great strings.

 

[Ricky Rioli]

Because the pathetic trussrod on my G&L SB-1 couldn't even cope with the LTFs, I sadly took them off after a couple of months. I hoped I would get used to a higher action, but eventually I admitted to myself that that wasn't happening.

On another thread people were wondering if LTFs have some non-metal element to them, like TI JFs. I decided to take apart my set, and see what I could. Yes, the E+A strings have something thread-like, but as far as I can see, the G doesn't:

 

[Holdsg]

TBers are awesome

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Because the pathetic trussrod on my G&L SB-1 couldn't even cope with the LTFs, I sadly took them off after a couple of months. I hoped I would get used to a higher action, but eventually I admitted to myself that that wasn't happening.

On another thread people were wondering if LTFs have some non-metal element to them, like TI JFs. I decided to take apart my set, and see what I could. Yes, the E+A strings have something thread-like, but as far as I can see, the G doesn't:

View attachment 7261439
View attachment 7261440View attachment 7261441

Now that’s ‘taking one for the team’. I’m pretty sure the strand of stuff I saw hanging off the ball end of a string was the D string. And you’ve confirmed E and A have thread as well. I wonder if the brighter sound of the G string ( that’s my LTF newb experience so far) is related to it having no synthetic stuff around the core.
If they are shots of the head stock end of the strings. You can superglue to stop any unwrapping. And re use the strings on a shorter scale. Done this with tapewounds and hexcore flats. If it’s the balls you cut off, than either make a superglue blob as a new ball or use tiny wheel collars, or even slip a ball over where you want and solder it in place or use superglue which is just as secure. Use bicarb to cure the glue real quick.

See soldered version here post #174 The Official Short Scale Bass Club -- Part 2

Thread 'DIY: Making Short Scale Strings out of Long Scale Strings'

Feb 3, 2022

With the limited options for short scale strings, especially for short scale 5 string sets for a short scale Low B, I’ve just recently figured out a way how to make my own short scale string out of a long scale.

I have only tried this on a .130 B string, but it seems like it will work for tapered springs in general. I also cannot speak for any long term results with this method, as this is my first time trying it myself and it worked out well for me on my miKro.

I used the following commonly available materials and household tools:

1. Heat-Shrink Tubing
2. Pliers
3. Sharpie
4. Super...

• ray_castro
• Replies: 56
• Forum: Strings [BG]

• 

 

[Ricky Rioli]

I totally destroyed them

 

[Prodigus Filius]

I totally destroyed them

Dang!

 

[Ricky Rioli]

Dang!

Don't worry, I had a good time doing it When you bend a La Bella flat, it really does crack in a satisfying way

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Don't worry, I had a good time doing it When you bend a La Bella flat, it really does crack in a satisfying way

Lol. Expensive crack. Advancing string knowledge none the less. Wonder why La Bella doesn’t mention the the core wrapping with the white stuff in the product description. Secret sauce
If he was still around you could have sent the strings to Michel Lotito for dinner as metal spaghetti

Michel Lotito - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Mike Vee]

Has anyone else come to find these to be too flexy after time? I am the OP but these days I find these strings to feel a little bit too puny for me now.

 

[Holdsg]

I for one do not. But my tastes in strings are constantly evolving.