Rectangular Strings?

[Tpi]

My very first bass (a used Rick clone) was acquired while as a soph in college, back in 1988.

The bass came with two different string types on it. One of four strings was a normal GHS Boomer round wound. The other three were black, had a thread-like texture as if wound, but most distinct of all, they had a rectangular cross-section. Guessing now, I would say the string was 1/8" (3/16) wide by a 64th (32nd) tall by neck length. They must have had a standard tie-off to set in a bridge. They were not metal and I do not recall a rubber/plastic nature to them. They made a flat, thumpy sound.

A college bass buddy of the time said they were flat wounds. So I got my first pair of flat wounds only to find those were simply round wounds coated in plastic.

~35yrs later having found this site the other day, this old question popped back into my head. What were those strings? I've looked at every flat wound I've ever come across, I've looked at viola strings and nothing. I can't even think of a non-guitar string-like object that would fit the bill. Could they have been actual cat or horse guts? Wow, if so as I would have thought 1988 would be decades after such practices were already gone.

Any ideas anyone? Just a novel quirk of some kind? Thanks!

 

[michael_t]

String type mystery

 

[Tpi]

Wow. Thanks for that link. Yeah, that dude is not crazy. Hey DrewKore, you are not crazy, man!

From age 19 to now 54, these strings were the most distinct things I have ever seen and they have never been far out of my mind for their odd nature. Further, as commented in the first post, I had at least one contemporaneous bassist among witnesses. Whether he or any of them would remember such minutia now is another matter entirely.

I've always wanted to find, replicate or at least know what those strings were to the extent that every few years I'd ask around at various shops and no one ever knew. The Rick was bought at a Daddy's Junky Music, Manchester, New Hampshire is the only other clue I can lend to the mystery.

As that thread did not resolve an answer, neither may this one. The most salient point to address from that thread was that the rectangular nature made the string sit flush in the nut and across the saddle. They were not ground down. They were definitely not square profiles. They were definitely rectangular, black and wound.

That means my best guess is DrewKore and I are:
: The ones who wandered into the Twilight Zone and it is you all who are crazy. No offense to you all, of course.
or
: The two chosen of all humanity and did not recognize the magic strings in our hands for what they were, for better or worse.

Crud. Really wish I kept them. And only three, not even a set. Pretty sure they were all the same width. Must've been homemade gut of some kind as sinew would conform to a rectangular shape and even perhaps need be wrapped in thread for added strength.

Mystery maybe solved. I hope you all make it out of the twilight zone there and join me and drewcore in the real world. Or maybe we should be over in your world? Oh crud, this might even be a "Mirror Mirror" situation! lolz.

Oh well.
The mystery continues.

 

[hogy]

[...]They were not metal and I do not recall a rubber/plastic nature to them. They made a flat, thumpy sound.[...]

[...] Could they have been actual cat or horse guts? [...]

How would that have worked with the Rickenbacker's magnetic pickups? Did it make a sound plugged into an amp? If so, they were metal, at least the core.

That is, if they existed.

 

[Tpi]

How would that have worked with the Rickenbacker's magnetic pickups? Did it make a sound plugged into an amp? If so, they were metal, at least the core.

That is, if they existed.

I only speculated that gut potentially fits the form factor.

Having joined two day's ago, I had no idea about DrewKore's post from years ago. That most replies in that thread were mockery and derision from the ignorant with few genuine insights to offer is duly noted by this fresh face. That the trend just leaked into this thread is most comical.

Whatever these strings were, if they were even the same as Drew's, their existence was fact. Folks are free to gaslight all they like, don't make no difference to me even after the blatent brow-beating I read over in that other thread that left Drew questioning his very reality in the end. That thread is a fine display of a most noble pig pile.

If no one here knows or has insight on the topic, cool enough. With the assembled knowledge base here, I thought sure some wisdom would be had. All else is just noise looking for a ground, any ground.

A pleasant day to all good readers. This forum has been mostly enjoyable so far.

 

[J Posega]

There is simply no way a non-metal string would make any sound through an amp unless the pickups were microphonic, at which point you'd have heard every noise of your hands on the bass through your amp, too.

A college bass buddy of the time said they were flat wounds. So I got my first pair of flat wounds only to find those were simply round wounds coated in plastic.

What you purchased then were either A) nylon tapewounds or B) coated round wounds like Elixir or DR's colored coated strings (Black Beauty was the model name). If you thought those were flatwounds, then I think your limited knowledge of bass gear and the unreliability of human memory have lead you to imagine some rectangular strings that did not exist.

Also, rectangular strings would have been so out of the ordinary that more people would remember them, have used them, and be able to speak to their existence.

You said the rectangular strings were black. They were probably tapewounds and the wide nylon wrap may have given the visual impression that they were rectangular.

Gut strings are also round. And non-magnetic so they wouldn't have made a sound through your amp.

There have been threads about the non-viability of non-round strings from a physics perspective.

EDIT: Consider also that there are no Google results for square or rectangular guitar or bass strings. Surely if they existed there would be others like yourself talking about them, even if it were on message boards from the late 90s, by which time such a product would have likely been long discontinued.

 

[HaphAsSard]

They may have been literal weed wackers, i.e. weed trimmer line. There is a (not sure how minor) tradition of using it for rockabilly slap upright bass (and now there are purposefully made double bass strings made with similar materials). They come in a variety of section shapes; well, not rectangular, but square is one of those.
Only,
- they were the wrong kind, from a musical standpoint: for a string to vibrate properly, it has to have a round section;
- as repeatedly pointed out, for a string to be sensed by magnetic pickups on an electric bass it needs to be entirely or mostly made out of magnetically-active metal. If what you saw is true, those things were only installed in order for the neck to be kept under tension. Or as a joke.


[And by the way, yes: what you got wasn't flatwounds but black nylon tapewounds.]

 

[SulzerType2]

I'm wondering if they were some sort of tapewound-style string made by putting a regular roundwound through some sort of plastic extrusion process that fitted a square-profile plastic casing onto the string. Possibly reusing an existing production technique from another industry.

The 1960s and '70s saw a lot of weird and wonderful stuff either touted as a tone improver or clearly a desperate grab at a slice of the market via a daft gimmick. A square-profile string sort of fits that bill. A total novelty, a bit bizarre and probably marketed with some vague spiel about how the corners improve tone.

 

[Tpi]

then I think your limited knowledge of bass gear

Indeed at the time that was my first bass as said and the bass buddy who helped me select said they were weird and not to worry as I'd be buying new ones immediately anyway. I threw them out and never saw anything of them ever again at any shop or search , only now thinking these decades later that if ever anyone had heard of such a thing it would be this authoritative body. The answer appears these things were outliers. Or perhaps in another two years, some senile fool will post again for their first time and be pointed to this tread and the previous thread and told they are an ignorant, senile fool just like me and DrewKore are. lolz.

You said the rectangular strings were black. They were probably tapewounds and the wide nylon wrap may have given the visual impression that they were rectangular.

I also said they were wrapped, so who knows. Maybe. That sort of minor quibble could easily be the memory gap you ignobly point to. The fact that the strings were the rough dimensions previously described is also rough memory but does not negate the oddity, the distinct rectangularity, nor allow others to kick sand.

Surely if they existed there would be others like yourself talking about them, even if it were on message boards from the late 90s, by which time such a product would have likely been long discontinued.

Indeed yes and surely true. Yet, the mystery continues.

 

[SulzerType2]

I'm in the camp that these strings existed, rather than randomly being a total dick to OP!

 

[Tpi]

They may have been literal weed wackers,
Or as a joke.

lolz. Could be the guy who sold it to the shop felt he had to put something on it, so found whatever they were. The shop would have known it was a Rick clone (as yet to be identified by the Rickerfakers here) and I'll guess clones weren't so valuable back then, so they took it for maybe $50-$75 resell to me for $125. The shop had no reason to restring for those kinds of margins when customers typically buy new strings anyways.

Just some dumb luck by some shmucks that me and DrewKore happened upon. A weird coincidence in its own right.

The oddity of it was stuck out is all there was to it. Certainly this has become a novel discussion added to the historical absurdity of it all.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Memory can be an odd thing, especially when it's a period of unfamiliarity with something. There are lots of features or aspects to basses I'd swear I remembered clearly, only to find them and see I was mistaken. Might have just been that or it could have been a really jacked-up set of improperly made nylon tapewounds. Whatever they were, anything with an edge like that would probably hurt someone's fingers after a little while

 

[Tpi]

I'm wondering if they were some sort of tapewound-style string made by putting a regular roundwound through some sort of plastic extrusion process that fitted a square-profile plastic casing onto the string. Possibly reusing an existing production technique from another industry.

The 1960s and '70s saw a lot of weird and wonderful stuff either touted as a tone improver or clearly a desperate grab at a slice of the market via a daft gimmick. A square-profile string sort of fits that bill. A total novelty, a bit bizarre and probably marketed with some vague spiel about how the corners improve tone.

That sounds just as likely a potential as any. That is the kind of nitpick that hits the granular memory level of a thing seen long ago now. That being said, the rarity of such a thing as mentioned by others comes into play.

Perhaps some kind of homebrew notion that was floating around the early-mid 80's or 70's as you suggest in the trade mags or hobby zines if those were a thing for musicians in the pre-BBS days of reality. One of those small ads in the back of whatever Musicians magazine of the era. Some wonder strings of which only a few dozen/hundred sets were ever made and never took off to fame or, apparently, infamy either. lolz.

 

[Tpi]

Memory can be an odd thing, especially when it's a period of unfamiliarity with something. There are lots of features or aspects to basses I'd swear I remembered clearly, only to find them and see I was mistaken. Might have just been that or it could have been a really jacked-up set of improperly made nylon tapewounds. Whatever they were, anything with an edge like that would probably hurt someone's fingers after a little while

Yeah, for the afternoon they were on the neck, they caught my finger tips, so didn't make sense to me. Getting the metal rounds on and them slicing into the skin was a revelation by comparison.

And I certainly agree on all that memory stuff. In this case, the frosh college buddy that had been playing since frosh high school (and being a massive Gene Simmons fan) did know something of what he was saying which I base on the gear he had, his demonstrated skills and subsequent years of college era friendship. I questioned the strings at the shop. He dismissed them as novelties and we bought me some Boomers. By that night I was clumsily playing those first few guitar notes of 'Smoke on the Water'. lolz.

 

[HaphAsSard]

I'm in the camp that these strings existed, rather than randomly being a total dick to OP!

False dichotomy: one can suggest the OP misremembers without being a "total dick" to him. Besides, most replies concede he may remember correctly, and offer hypotheses on what those strings might have been. In short, get over yourself.

 

[trothwell]

Not rectangular, but Mapes makes strings with both hex cores (as is typical) and octagon cores (I'm not aware of. anyone else who does octagon cores):

Bass Electric Guitar Strings – Mapes Strings

Obviously not rectangular, but just one known example of something unusual in this regard.

I think it has been postulated before that a square or rectangle-shaped core would just not physically work. But maybe it did work -- at least long enough to sell a few sets of strings before people realized it didn't work?

 

[Tpi]

Black and white text removes the intuitive understandings that come from body language, inflection, cadence and such cues that tell others what is really being said. Some amplifiers go to '10', some go to '11'. Both views argue the same result.

It's difficult to avoid passing judgements.

 

[Tpi]

I think it has been postulated before that a square or rectangle-shaped core would just not physically work. But maybe it did work -- at least long enough to sell a few sets of strings before people realized it didn't work?

right? lolz. I bet the maker even enfused extra doses of denigration for those that would ever speak of these strings, like some witches spell that when unleashed sows division, strife and bitterness. It was all the previous owners could do to unload themselves of the curse and dump these two basses. lolz. DrewKore sounds shattered by the end of that other thread.

I happen to be watching Star Trek's Day of Dove. They're about to start laughing at the alien that's causing a battle between Klingons and Star Fleet. So defeated, this alien that thrived on anger and bloodshed had to flee for the good humor and comraderie that ensues. Possibly one of Trek's top story lines and more than a dash of a lesson in what the world needs.

 

[jefkritz]

I tell ya, people don't read the whole thread, and still comment! (I do it too...) Definitely solved in the original thread. But will anyone read this? Lol

 

[trothwell]

right? lolz. I bet the maker even enfused extra doses of denigration for those that would ever speak of these strings, like some witches spell that when unleashed sows division, strife and bitterness. It was all the previous owners could do to unload themselves of the curse and dump these two basses. lolz. DrewKore sounds shattered by the end of that other thread.

I happen to be watching Star Trek's Day of Dove. They're about to start laughing at the alien that's causing a battle between Klingons and Star Fleet. So defeated, this alien that thrived on anger and bloodshed had to flee for the good humor and comraderie that ensues. Possibly one of Trek's top story lines and more than a dash of a lesson in what the world needs.

Indeed, I think the world would be a better place if we learned more lessons from Star Trek. Preferably earlier incarnations of Star Trek, though I was quite pleased with Picard Season 3.

Early in my bass playing days, I remember going to the local music shop and trying to describe that I wanted this rubbery sound... what can I do to get a rubbery sound? This was back in the time of real music stores, before Guitar Center, so the employee was actually knowledgable about music. He told me about the Ashbory bass, that used literal rubber strings, but he didn't have one of those basses in the store, nor any of the rubber strings. He said the next best thing might be nylon tapewound strings, so I bought a set of the old-style Fender nylon filament strings.

I loved those strings, and used them for years. I eventually sold the two basses I had the strings on, selling the strings with them. Kinda wish I had kept the strings.

But! Those strings, as much as I liked them, still didn't get the sound.

It wasn't until years later that I thought to research where I was hearing the sound. What I really loved was the sound of Joe Osborn, which of course, here on TalkBass is easily recognized as the front pickup of a Fender Jazz Bass, played with a pick, on flatwound strings. That's what I was trying to describe as "rubbery". It was actually probably a very easy quest for me to complete, if I could have just told the guy at the store, "it's like Joe Osborn, I want to sound like him". He probably could have set me up right away. But instead, I kept calling it "rubbery", and it took me years to get even close to the sound I really wanted.