Please HELP ID'ing strings!

[kenny ames]

First, THANK YOU in advance for your time and expertise in figuring out what the heck these strings are....

I picked up a Moollon JV a couple of years ago. It came with a lighter gauge set of strings on it. I've ha a La Bella endorsement forever. So, once I received the bass I put my normal go to strings on it. And it lost some of the magic. Put the original (to me) strings back on it and BOOM there it was again. Have run this same scenario with at least 4-5 different brands of strings. Every time the original strings win out. It's a good bass w/ any other string on it. But a great bass with the original (to me) strings. If I had to guess I would say they are nickel.

I reached out to the person I bought it from. They said they got the bass from some one in S. Korea and they had no idea what was on it. So, no help there.

There is no silk wrap at the nut end of the string. Standard brass ball ends at the bridge end of the string. The low B has no taper. I may be wrong but when I enlarge a pic of the string it looks like it could be a "coated" string IE: Elixir But I have zero experience with Elixirs.

Looking for any help as to what these great strings (at least on this bass) are.

If anyone can figure it out, it's this community.

Many thanks, gang!!!

 

[michael_t]

There is no silk wrap at the nut end of the string. Standard brass ball ends at the bridge end of the string. The low B has no taper. I may be wrong but when I enlarge a pic of the string it looks like it could be a "coated" string IE: Elixir But I have zero experience with Elixirs.

Can you measure either the E or the B from the ball end to where the taper is at the tuner end? They appear to be 37.25", but I need you to confirm that if possible.

If they're in fact 37.25" or at least close to it, they're not Elixirs because the "long scale" by Elixir would be shorter at 36.5".

Thanks.

 

[michael_t]

I picked up a Moollon JV a couple of years ago. It came with a lighter gauge set of strings on it. I've ha a La Bella endorsement forever. So, once I received the bass I put my normal go to strings on it. And it lost some of the magic. Put the original (to me) strings back on it and BOOM there it was again. Have run this same scenario with at least 4-5 different brands of strings. Every time the original strings win out. It's a good bass w/ any other string on it. But a great bass with the original (to me) strings. If I had to guess I would say they are nickel.

Could this be a case where your ears are partial to the sound of "nicely broken in" strings instead of fresh new ones out of the package, and that's why original strings always sound better to you than new ones? Just a thought...

 

[kenny ames]

Can you measure either the E or the B from the ball end to where the taper is at the tuner end? They appear to be 37.25", but I need you to confirm that if possible.

If they're in fact 37.25" or at least close to it, they're not Elixirs because the "long scale" by Elixir would be shorter at 36.5".

Thanks.

With a tape measure with the string on the bass it looks really close to 37".

 

[kenny ames]

Could this be a case where your ears are partial to the sound of "nicely broken in" strings instead of fresh new ones out of the package, and that's why original strings always sound better to you than new ones? Just a thought...

That would be a big no. Im 56yrs old. Have played in 63 countries. Have gone down the gear rabbit hole way further than I would care too admit. There is just a tonality that everything else is missing. An openness. Hard to put into words. The bass speaks with these strings.

I forgot to add, I had em scoped and the gauges are: 40, 60, 75, 100, 1.25 Lighter than the 45-1.28 Im used too. Have tried Curt Mangan, SIT and Ernie Balls in this guage.

 

[michael_t]

Nickel rounds with no silk and brass ball ends with 37" winding length... I'm afraid those features are too generic to pinpoint to any specific brand. And I've never come across with a set of strings with those specific gauges, 40-60-75-100-125, while 40-60-80-100-125 would be more common.

 

[michael_t]

I was going to suggest Ernie Ball or SIT, but you say you've tried them in the past. So...

 

[kenny ames]

I was going to suggest Ernie Ball or SIT, but you say you've tried them in the past. So...

Thanks for your input. Im stumped. So, Elixir is probably a no?

 

[michael_t]

So, Elixir is probably a no?

37" winding length is a bit too long for them to be Elixir.

 

[Tommy Szell]

Kenny, those may be Thomastik nickel wound. Let’s have coffee.

 

[Jefus]

Does anyone know the winding length on R. Cocco strings? Everything else seems to line up.

 

[BobKos]

I agree with @Jefus. When I saw your 1st photo I immediately thought of R. Cocco nickels. I use them on one of my basses and they really are 'magical' as you describe on that bass. Just something about the way they look reminded me of them. I have a 5 string set here and the B does measure 37" ball to taper. The gauges I have are different but I would think they could be had in different gauges. Also - the R. Coccos I have used are not coated they way yours appear in the later photos. I have to wonder if that is some kind of artifact from a cleaner product?

 

[BobKos]

Kenny, those may be Thomastik nickel wound. Let’s have coffee.

I have TI rounds and they have purple silk. Do they come sans colored silk now? I would say that the TI rounds are ridiculously great, but I'm not sure that is what the OP has.

 

[Dynacord]

Can you measure either the E or the B from the ball end to where the taper is at the tuner end? They appear to be 37.25", but I need you to confirm that if possible.

If they're in fact 37.25" or at least close to it, they're not Elixirs because the "long scale" by Elixir would be shorter at 36.5".

Thanks.

With a tape measure with the string on the bass it looks really close to 37".

Thanks for your input. Im stumped. So, Elixir is probably a no?

This may or may not be of help but this got me curious... I have a 5 string set of Elixirs that I bought in April and I have a much older 4 string set on a bass (a set I probably bought 15+ years ago) and I compared them. Older set has brass ball ends and the E measures 37" from string side of ball end to where it first tapers (it goes down in two steps). The recent set has silver colored ball ends and measures closer to 36.5".

At first I thought this could mean the OP set could just be an older set of Elixirs - HOWEVER, it looks like there is one difference (or I don't see this in the headstock photo - and it's fairly subtle even in hand), on both sets of the Elixirs it tapers in two steps, about half an inch apart on the E strings. This is the same on both the old and new sets. It's more obvious on the B string (I only have that on the newer set) though slightly shorter at 3/8".

 

[Timothy Brosnan]

I was going to say Ernie Ball too. Is there a DR set in that gauge maybe?

A mystery indeed.

 

[kenny ames]

Kenny, those may be Thomastik nickel wound. Let’s have coffee.

Tom!

Yes, coffee soon.

I’ve only owned a couple of TI sets. Don’t they have silk wrapping on the nut end of the strings?

 

[kenny ames]

Does anyone know the winding length on R. Cocco strings? Everything else seems to line up.

R. Cocos are great. Haven’t played a set in years. Are they still made? Does Richard do a coated set?

 

[kenny ames]

I agree with @Jefus. When I saw your 1st photo I immediately thought of R. Cocco nickels. I use them on one of my basses and they really are 'magical' as you describe on that bass. Just something about the way they look reminded me of them. I have a 5 string set here and the B does measure 37" ball to taper. The gauges I have are different but I would think they could be had in different gauges. Also - the R. Coccos I have used are not coated they way yours appear in the later photos. I have to wonder if that is some kind of artifact from a cleaner product?

Thanks for your input.

Definitely not residue from a cleaner product. Have had the strings on and off the base the last few years. Also the coating/residue is too evenly distributed.

 

[kenny ames]

This may or may not be of help but this got me curious... I have a 5 string set of Elixirs that I bought in April and I have a much older 4 string set on a bass (a set I probably bought 15+ years ago) and I compared them. Older set has brass ball ends and the E measures 37" from string side of ball end to where it first tapers (it goes down in two steps). The recent set has silver colored ball ends and measures closer to 36.5".

At first I thought this could mean the OP set could just be an older set of Elixirs - HOWEVER, it looks like there is one difference (or I don't see this in the headstock photo - and it's fairly subtle even in hand), on both sets of the Elixirs it tapers in two steps, about half an inch apart on the E strings. This is the same on both the old and new sets. It's more obvious on the B string (I only have that on the newer set) though slightly shorter at 3/8".

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Thank you for your input. I’m totally fluxomed.

Worth exploring the Elixir avenue.

Thanks for your pics in time.

 

[Dynacord]

Thank you for your input. I’m totally fluxomed.

Worth exploring the Elixir avenue.

Thanks for your pics in time.

Just a thought - as the bass came from South Korea, where Moollon is from, maybe they're stock strings of some sort? I looked at their European FB page and while recent basses have silks of various colors, most of those from around 2020 and earlier do not. Perhaps worth asking them what was used as stock then (?)
Moollon Instruments Europe