Roto 77 flats w/ blue tapering?

[Precision101]

Hey guys I'm trying flats out for the first time and I got the 77s sadly enough I ordered a medium scale set on accident and I took the E out of the package and it didn't fit. I'm sending them back and my new long scale hybrid pack with arrive in 2 days but what I was wondering is I thought the roto 77 flats had a red tapering like the rounds usually do? And also how bright will they be when I first put them on? They feel really smooth.

 

[SLaPiNFuNK]

The Medium and Short Scale sets have an aqua / turquoise silk. Long and Extra Long have Red silk on both ends. However, not to confuse things, the new Steve Harris flats are ground a little smoother and have Red Silk by the balls and Aqua Silk by the tuning posts.

Short Scale / Medium Scale 77's

Long Scale 77's

Steve Harris 77's

 

[Precision101]

The Medium and Short Scale sets have an aqua / turquoise silk. Long and Extra Long have Red silk on both ends. However, not to confuse things, the new Steve Harris flats are ground a little smoother and have Red Silk by the balls and Aqua Silk by the tuning posts.



Short Scale / Medium Scale 77's

Long Scale 77's

Steve Harris 77's

Aha! Thanks! I was wondering why. Steve Harris gets creative with his flats I see. How bright are they when you first out them on? I like would like them bright for a bit but also I have another bass with brand new rotosound funkmasters so I want these to mellow out eventually and get a deep fat tone. I want a type of roger waters tone if you know what I mean.

 

[SLaPiNFuNK]

They are bright but nothing near as bright as funk masters. they will thicken and warm up as you play them.

 

[Precision101]

They are bright but nothing near as bright as funk masters. they will thicken and warm up as you play them.

Sweet and yeah I wouldn't expect piano tone from flats anyhow. I just want them bright enough that i can get a versatile tone from Harris to waters to jamerson.

 

[Jungy]

I used the 77s regular version, and when they went dead they went too dead for me. Not in a nice way like LaBellas, Chromes and Fenders that I've used also. They seemed to lose a lot more than just the highs, but then again they might be worth trying on a different bass as I just took them off when it happened.

 

[Precision101]

I used the 77s regular version, and when they went dead they went too dead for me. Not in a nice way like LaBellas, Chromes and Fenders that I've used also. They seemed to lose a lot more than just the highs, but then again they might be worth trying on a different bass as I just took them off when it happened.

How long did it take for them to "die"?

 

[HaphAsSard]

The Medium and Short Scale sets have an aqua / turquoise silk. Long and Extra Long have Red silk on both ends. However, not to confuse things, the new Steve Harris flats are ground a little smoother and have Red Silk by the balls and Aqua Silk by the tuning posts.

Short Scale / Medium Scale 77's

Long Scale 77's

THANK YOU for the pics! For a long time I thought I was sold duds from a dud-batch, but I'd started to suspect otherwise...

Allow me to explain:
the short scale 77s (and, I already suspected from the identical gauges, the mediums too) are unlike the long scalers in more than one respect. For starters, they're verrry smooth as Precision 101 said, not the coarse flatwound feel many posters here regularly describe. Secondly, they sound pretty muffled right out of the package, so not at all bright as people usually say the 34" are (at least in the beginning).
Two years ago I put together a mixed bass VI set out of the five wound strings from the D'Addario 7 string guitar Chromes set, and one bass .090 Rotosound flatwound low E (actually I bought two and got to use both in time). The D'Ads' sound I loved, the Roto's wasn't bad at all but comparatively too dark.
[I've since tried a Pyramid set also made of guitar and bass singles, and the low E, before it broke on me (ok, 14 months of use aren't bad in roundwound terms, but I expected flats to last decades in theory!), had turned dead as a doornail, way farther gone than the old Roto I've had to put back on to replace it.]
NOW I finally have evidence that the shorters and midders look and (I assume) feel and sound practically like another type of string altogether!

EDIT: I obviously can't comment on the A, D and G strings in either short or medium length, I haven't tried them (as I haven't the long, superlong or SH versions). They might be somewhat less dark than the E, or not.

 

[Precision101]

I thought I suspected something weird with the texture. I usually saw flats as if I could see the winding still but more ground down than rounds. But when I felt these there was no winding haha.

 

[HaphAsSard]

Yeah, these are literally glassy-smooth: it felt so weird reading about (long scale) Jazz 77 users complaining about their roughness!

 

[Precision101]

Yeah, these are literally glassy-smooth: it felt so weird reading about (long scale) Jazz 77 users complaining about their roughness!

I've used some of the roughest rounds on the earth. My fingers are fine! Flats are rough?!?!?

 

[Jungy]

How long did it take for them to "die"?

Lost the highs but sounded nice after about a fortnight to a month. Real dead maybe about a year +/-.

 

[HaphAsSard]

I've used some of the roughest rounds on the earth. My fingers are fine! Flats are rough?!?!?

I guess some are less even than others, like Orwell's animals...

 

[Jungy]

I've used some of the roughest rounds on the earth. My fingers are fine! Flats are rough?!?!?

Not like rounds, but the 77s long scale you can feel the wraps as opposed to say LaBella which is much smoother.

 

[SasquatchDude]

After playing GHS, Chromes, LaBellas, and Roto 77s, I'll attest to the fact the Rotos are the roughest textured of the flatwound lot. Wide spacing between wraps, and seemingly minimal and uneven polishing.

I've played stainless rounds that were easier on the fingers.

 

[Precision101]

After playing GHS, Chromes, LaBellas, and Roto 77s, I'll attest to the fact the Rotos are the roughest textured of the flatwound lot. Wide spacing between wraps, and seemingly minimal and uneven polishing.

I've played stainless rounds that were easier on the fingers.

Is there any string noise??The roughness doesn't bother me.

 

[SasquatchDude]

Is there any string noise??The roughness doesn't bother me.

Nah, no more noise than other flats.

 

[Precision101]

Nah, no more noise than other flats.

Good. I need a bass to record with flats and what would be more perfect than to record a version the entire wall with flats on my p bass.

 

[Root 5]

They are bright but nothing near as bright as funk masters. they will thicken and warm up as you play them.

I'm amazed how smooth the short/medium scale Roto 77s look! They're nothing like the long scale 77s!

 

[HaphAsSard]

Yep. As I said, only having experience with a short scale E and reading about rough texture and bright (initial) tone made me feel like I lived in a parallel universe...

I'm not aware of any other example of strings of the same manufacturer and line being so different between scales.