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Rotosounds change over the years?

If you have a Geddy Lee J bass, install these to round out the package. For some reason my strings seem to last longer but I wipe down the bass when finished with playing for the day and also bought a string cleaner. Change out every couple of months, rotos are cheap $20ish dollars a set. I use the light gauge 35-90 and that combined with relaxing while I play I can obtain good technique and lots of speeed. Anyway I really like these strings.
 
It was totally true! I bought 4 sets of strings to try out on that bass. Fender, D'Addario Reds, GHS and the Rotosounds. The Fenders and GHS were OK. I remember really not liking the Reds. They did not last more than a day or two. The Rotos were last. They looked and felt very different. They were brutal on the fingers and had a completely different sound that I loved. Not real bright in the top like the others but they punched and growled in the mids in a way that recorded so well I remember thinking, I get why these are so popular. They were almost like flats in a sense (They were not flats. Yes, I'm sure). If I could ever figure out what those were and if they could be had today I would be all over that. They were the best strings I have ever played


They weren't the "Solo" set were they?

They sounded just like 66SS rounds, but were actually flat wound.
 
Yeah, actually now that I think about it, they were like that in the 90's too.

It must have been very late 90's - early 2000's when they switched to the cardboard box.

They've been in the foil pouch for at least a decade.

I definitely remember the box packaging, too. IIRC it was what they were using in the mid 90’s. I bought a set of SB66’s to put on one of my P-Basses for some recording that I was doing at that time.

I also tried the Billy Sheehan Signature set at that time, but I can’t remember if it was in the box packaging.

It was eons ago, but I’m pretty sure both the SB66’s and the BS66’s were the dull gray, “Unfinished” versions. The reason I say this is that I remember Rotosound stainless steel roundwounds had a “tacky” feeling, especially when they were new.


Also, back in the mid 00’s, I bought a few sets of Dean Markley “Blue Steel” stainless steel roundwounds. They also were gray, and had a tacky feeling to them when they were brand new.
 

They weren't the "Solo" set were they?

They sounded just like 66SS rounds, but were actually flat wound.


s-l500 (3).jpg



Sorry, took me ages to find a photo of the early 90's era packaging.

The RS55 sets are still available, but the packaging is different now, which is why I didn't recognise them (and I forgot that they're pressure wound).
 
What back in the old days means is relevant. Not the 90’s. I was a Gibson or Fender flats user in 1968-. Rotos appeared soon there after. They were a game changer. The sound was distinctly new and fresh.

I don’t know if they changed since the ‘90s because I had long since stopped using Rotos. They died very quickly. As we said ate frets especially cheddar. :) I found D’Addarios, DR and Elixirs that last three months of summer outside gigs. If I was touring and the budget was new strings each gig I might but why waist money and metal when my bass sounds the same every day?
 

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