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Need educated about tapewound strings

jessicabass

jessicabass

Dec 22, 2009
575
291
38
ohio
#1
I am a flatwound user and interested in giving these kind of strings a try out on a bass of mine.
I know nothing about these strings.
Im a pick player if it means anything.
What do they sound like from E-G?
How are the gauges and tension compared to the same in flats?
What do they feel like?
How are they volume wise?
Any suggestions of certain brands and why would be fantastic.
 
#2
D'Addario



GHS


Labella white tapewounds:


Rotosound tapewounds:


As for how tension compares to flats, it depends on which flats and which tapes. A 45-105 tapewound set is generally gonna be a little looser than a 45-105 flatwound set.

They're volume is I suppose slightly lower? But the difference is negligible.

I couldn't find any clips of labella black tapewounds that weren't on a Hofner. That bass has such a specific sound that wouldn't be a fair comparison to the other clips. But they're my favorite.

Here's the black vs white tapewounds but on a fretless:
 
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#3
Gorn said:
D'Addario



GHS


Labella white tapewounds:


Rotosound tapewounds:


As for how tension compares to flats, it depends on which flats and which tapes. A 45-105 tapewound set is generally gonna be a little looser than a 45-105 flatwound set.

They're volume is I suppose slightly lower? But the difference is negligible.

I couldn't find any clips of labella black tapewounds that weren't on a Hofner. That bass has such a specific sound that wouldn't be a fair comparison to the other clips. But they're my favorite.

Here's the black vs white tapewounds but on a fretless:
Click to expand...

Thank you sweetheart!
That is some education.
 
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#5
jessicabass said:
I know nothing about these strings.
Im a pick player if it means anything.
Any suggestions of certain brands and why would be fantastic.
Click to expand...

I've had LaBella 760N's on two basses for ~5-8 years. I'm a finger player, but wonder how the tape wrap will stand up the hard plastic of the pick. There's a "tape wound club" thread a ways down the page, you might want to ask about that. The best site for the 760N's is Carvin.
 
#6
I got talked into demo'ing a set of GHS Black Tapewounds this weekend since they weren't carrying my DR Black Beauties. Outside the fact that both strings are black, the similarities end there. Stupid suggestion considering my string of choice but I'm stupid for biting. Seeing how I don't like flatwounds, can't imagine what I was thinking other than wow, i'm getting $10 off to demo these strings. Bad move. I hated them, and yanked them off not 5 minutes after I put them on and now i'm out $20. But then again I'm not a Flatwound user. If you like flatwounds, then moving to a tapewounds wouldn't be that big of a jump in feel, tone, etc in my opinion.
 
#7
RandalPinkFloyd said:
I got talked into demo'ing a set of GHS Black Tapewounds this weekend since they weren't carrying my DR Black Beauties. Outside the fact that both strings are black, the similarities end there. Stupid suggestion considering my string of choice but I'm stupid for biting. Seeing how I don't like flatwounds, can't imagine what I was thinking other than wow, i'm getting $10 off to demo these strings. Bad move. I hated them, and yanked them off not 5 minutes after I put them on and now i'm out $20. But then again I'm not a Flatwound user. If you like flatwounds, then moving to a tapewounds wouldn't be that big of a jump in feel, tone, etc in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I may be wrong but I think ghs tapes are unique among tape wounds in that they're semi flat underneath whereas all other tapes are round underneath.
 
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#8
Gorn said:
I may be wrong but I think ghs tapes are unique among tape wounds in that they're semi flat underneath whereas all other tapes are round underneath.
Click to expand...

You may be right. I have no idea, as I didn't do any research. I probably shouldn't have chimed in on this thread period since I'm not a flatwound user. I think I just wanted to vent my frustrations over letting myself buy something without proper research.
 
#12
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I bought these from Carvin a few months ago and put them on a Squier VM Jazz. They are very smooth, because of the gage 60/70/94/115 they had higher tension. I also had to file my nut to accommodate the larger strings. I like them overall but I lost the Jazz growl that nickels give it. It was worth the 21bucks from Carvin but If I had to do it again, I would get a lighter gage. They are definitely worth trying, regardless the brand.
 
#13
Been using the Rotosound Tru Bass 88Ls for decades on all my Frettless basses and even on a Dean Pace upright bass. I have tried every other nylon tape wound that I know of and always go back to the Rotosounds. Can't beat 'em.
 
#14
The only Tapewounds I'm familiar with are the LaBella Black tapewounds. I have them on 2 of my basses; a Rogue VB-100 violin bass (60-115s), and a Carvin LB20, strung BEAD with 65-135's. I like them, myself. On the Rogue; well, Sir Paul wishes his Hofner sounded like this - deep, woody, and LOUD. The Carvin? I'm still getting used to the tuning, but I'm likin' the sound; should be a good bass for jazz. I will say that, IMO, tapes are a specialist string; not a general-purpose string like, say, Hybrid Slinkys (which a lot of my basses wear). As far as playing them with a pick; I almost always play the Rogue that way, and haven't had a problem. The thing with the LaBellas, I've found, is that you don't need to play hard to get a big sound. You should definitely give tapes a try.:)
 
#15
I have La Bella black tapewounds on a fretless jazz and they're really nice strings. Fat and woody sounding. I have heard they're more susceptible to ground buzz because you don't really ground out when touching the strings, but I have Aguilar 4J-HC noiseless pickups in that bass and haven't noticed any undue buzz.
(FWIW, most of the ret of my basses have flatwounds on em -- either Thomastiks (very soft) or Chromes very tight).
 
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#16
devnulljp said:
I have La Bella black tapewounds on a fretless jazz and they're really nice strings. Fat and woody sounding. I have heard they're more susceptible to ground buzz because you don't really ground out when touching the strings, but I have Aguilar 4J-HC noiseless pickups in that bass and haven't noticed any undue buzz.
(FWIW, most of the ret of my basses have flatwounds on em -- either Thomastiks (very soft) or Chromes very tight).
Click to expand...

Noise is one of the caveats with tapewounds if your instrument isn't well shielded; you'll hear static if hands taken off the strings.

But it's worth it, IMO! Tapes are great.
 
#18
I put black labella tapes 50-105 on my pbass yesterday. With the tone rolled up, they're bright and crunchy almost like nickel rounds but without fingernoise. The tension is just a tad too low. It would be nice if there was a gauge btw the 115 and the 105 set. The 115's are just a little too stiff.
 
#20
D Bopp said:
If your pickups have any kind of grounding buzz, you won't be able to stop the buzzing by putting your hands on the strings since you won't be touching metal. I learned that the hard way.
Click to expand...
I'm mildly concerned about that. On my little bitty ampeg at home there's no buzz, but tomorrow night I'm going to rehearsal with that giant ampeg. If there's any buzzing I'm gonna have to take them off.
 

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