Labella White Nylons: std vs copper and gold? - edit: COPPER RAWKS

Tried all three.

My favorites in order are: Copper, Gold, White.

The coppers have complex mids and a nice amount of warmth compared to the other two. The golds are also nice. More of a mellower white type sound. Less brightness and a hint more warmth. But lacking (to my ears) some of the pretty mids found in the copper set.

Bottom line: they're all really nice strings. Which you end up preferring depends on your own personal tastes, what bass you're going to put them on, the types of music you play, and how you play. I don't like too much brightness most times. And my main players have a lot of midrange output so I'm more likely to want to rein them in rather than throw a set of super bright strings on them. If I want really bright strings I just use Rotosound 66s (which I do like on the right bass) and have done with it.

So anyway, my goto is the copper set. Prior to the white nylons I never really cared for tapewounds. Most sets I tried (and I probably tried them all) lasted an hour or two at most before I was pulling them back off. But whatever LaBella is doing with these has changed my tune about the breed. These strings sing. I have coppers on a PB with an Aguilar AG-4P-60 pickup and it's a marriage made in heaven.

So I guess I'm pretty gung-ho on white nylons. Especially the light gauge copper set.

YMMV.

 

I have not made my peace with the White Nylons - put a set of light gauge Whites on both a Ernie Ball Caprice and a Epiphone Embassy and found these strings to be lacking, particularly on the Epiphone. In both instances the tone was much too thin for my liking. Do you use a larger gauged set?

P.S. I'm sorry I can't comment on the Copper or Gold Whites.

 

Yep! Those are my goto rounds for exactly the same reason. And I don’t like them fresh out of the box either. Also for the same reason.

So I think we’re on the same wavelength here.

 

I have used all of the various flavors of Labella tapes but I've never tried them all on any one bass so it's hard to compare them definitively. Different configurations, pickups, some on fretted and others on fretless, different setups.

That said, I'd say try the coppers. I've had them on a Japanese Hohner P bass since I rebuilt it and haven't had any desire to try anything else on it. Had them on a similar fretless P which uses the same pickup and decided to try the golds on it, which is what are on there now. The golds are brighter and stronger in the higher mids and sound really good but I plan on going back to the coppers due to the stronger and richer low mids. If you've got a fretless and like a lot of mwahh, the golds are probably better but that's not my goal on this bass. It's setup a little higher and the lower mid bloom I got with the coppers was great. I have another fretless J that is setup with lower action for a more pronounced mwahh. It has a set of Fender tapes on it, which sound really good too but I'll probably try the golds on it after they come off the FL P. I also have the coppers on my Sire V7 Jazz style bass. I tried a few different strings on the Sire and was never completely satisfied until I tried the coppers. I'm not a fan of bright. I favor stronger fundamental and low mids, love the flexibility and smoothness of tapes.

 

Be forewarned they seem to run out of stock a lot.

I would be interested in your impressions if you do get a set. I think those are probably one of the most interesting developments in strings in a long time.

 

Why don't they seem to make the Coppers in short scale?!?

 

I have tried the gold and regular, have not tried the copper, and I use the black tapes too. I prefer the gold over the white, but I have to say the blacks are my favorite. I do like that the Gold's were more "round" like than the blacks. The regular seemed a bit too loose to me, but the tone was good. I am switching that bass to La Bella Flats very soon. All in all, I am a big fan of La Bella strings and their support.

 

I have tried the Gold's and Copper's on several basses and for me the Coppers's are much better. I actually liked the Coppers probably as good as any string I've ever used. They are very smooth feeling and sound great in a full band mix.

 

My pleasure. Glad they worked out as well for you as they did for me. I've got them on my modded Matt Freeman Squire and I'm pleased to say it has since become my all-time favorite PB. And after over 40 years of bass playing and over a dozen different PBs I've owned in the interim, that's a pretty ringing endorsement on my part.

Cheers!

 

Could be. I’d like to think dad got around a bit during his salad days.

The Freeman neck is indeed to die for. It’s become somewhat famous for that hence its scarcity on the used market and a steadily climbing price tag.

I just took the simpler expedient of redoing the electronics, adding an Aguilar AG-4P-60 pickup (which is basically just a fuller ranged 60s style sound) - and since I was on a roll also hunted down an elusive 13-hole gold anodized pickguard.

Since it was a sig model I took a minimally invasive approach and pulled the pickup, harness and pickguard out as a single piece in case I ever want to turn it back into a Freeman. All that needs to be resoldered are the two ground leads. Then 4 screws for the pickups and 13 screws for the pickguard and it’s back to its original conformation.

Here it is hobnobbing with its upscale Fender “city cousin.” (That one sports new electronics, a Klein 60s Epic, and GHS Pressurewounds - because I know what I like when it comes to a PB tone.)

Came out pretty nice I think:

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