Silk colors

[trothwell]

I have a Second-hand Fender Aerodyne Jazz bass (PJ config, Candy Apple red). This one came with The Bass boomers (GHS), but extra heavy strings, and they don't sound as bright as I would like.

The red silk fits perfectly tho with the color of the headstock (also red), so pure esthetic wise, I would like to have a new set of strings with a red silk on the headstock. I looked into some strings, and I read half of this forum about the silk colors and I ended up with Swing bass 66 strings from Rotosound. But I am hesitating to choose between the Nickels standards (45-105) or the stainless steel ones (45-105).

Is there a big difference between Nickels and Stainless steel ones? Or any suggestions for other strings with red silk? I just want the 'basic' strings for a jazz bass that are not too bright, but are not like the ones I have now (Bass boomers). Thank you!

It can vary from bass to bass, but generally speaking, I am inclined to favor the sound of the steel 66 over the nickel 66.

More importantly, given the context of the question, the nickel 66 strings have blue silk.

 

[michael_t]

The red silk fits perfectly tho with the color of the headstock (also red), so pure esthetic wise, I would like to have a new set of strings with a red silk on the headstock. I looked into some strings, and I read half of this forum about the silk colors and I ended up with Swing bass 66 strings from Rotosound. But I am hesitating to choose between the Nickels standards (45-105) or the stainless steel ones (45-105).

Only the stainless steels have the red silk; the nickel version comes with light blue silk.

EDIT: @trothwell beat me to it!

 

[TheBassFreak]

Only the stainless steels have the red silk; the nickel version comes with light blue silk.

EDIT: @trothwell beat me to it!

Is the red silk for every gauge of the steel 66?

 

[michael_t]

Is the red silk for every gauge of the steel 66?

As far as I know, yes. At least for the standard "long scale".

 

[MCF]

Sounds like the same color scheme as the Rotosound Nexus strings, except for the ball-end colors:




View attachment 4815524


View attachment 4815525

I’ve seen that Blackbird somewhere before…..

 

[dafonky]

I bought a 70‘ies P with these flatwound strings on it ( 45-105 i suppose)
Yes, they probably are for a string through bass, as the black silk part towards the ballend is very long, but they sound very, very good like that
The headstock side also has black silk , the ballends are copper
Are these Labella flats ?
The seller added some other used flats with the bass ( see the last 2-3 pics , these have black headstock silk too, but NO silk on the ballend side . Ballend is copper too.

The structure of the E string of both sets seems also to be different ( last pic )
Are these also Labellas ?

thanks for your help

 

[michael_t]

I bought a 70‘ies P with these flatwound strings on it ( 45-105 i suppose)
Yes, they probably are for a string through bass, as the black silk part towards the ballend is very long, but they sound very, very good like that
The headstock side also has black silk , the ballends are copper
Are these Labella flats ?
The seller added some other used flats with the bass ( see the last 2-3 pics , these have black headstock silk too, but NO silk on the ballend side . Ballend is copper too.

The structure of the E string of both sets seems also to be different ( last pic )
Are these also Labellas ?

thanks for your help

The ones that are on the bass with black silk at both ends are NOT La Bella. I'm not quite sure what they are, though.

The ones with the black silk at tuner end only do look like the La Bella DTF 760FS (45-105).

 

[HaphAsSard]

I bought a 70‘ies P with these flatwound strings on it ( 45-105 i suppose)
Yes, they probably are for a string through bass, as the black silk part towards the ballend is very long, but they sound very, very good like that
The headstock side also has black silk , the ballends are copper
Are these Labella flats ?
The seller added some other used flats with the bass ( see the last 2-3 pics , these have black headstock silk too, but NO silk on the ballend side . Ballend is copper too.

The structure of the E string of both sets seems also to be different ( last pic )
Are these also Labellas ?

thanks for your help

The ones that are on the bass with black silk at both ends are NOT La Bella. I'm not quite sure what they are, though.

...La Bella.
Precisely a pre-2022 (brass ball ends as opposed to the new, country-colour-coded ones) set of the -TB, thru-body type (the elongated taper is clearly visible under the silk), which do have silk at the bridge end:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/la-bella-deep-talking-flats-760fs-tb.1417670/
La Bella 760FS - TB flat strings - *SOLD*

As for which set exactly, this one is likely to be the 760FS-TB, since 1- the others (760FX-TB, 760FL-TB, 760FM-TB and 0760M-TB) were discontinued early on, and 2- I would expect those to have had their respective headstock silk colour (read: not black) at the bridge too.

 

[michael_t]

...La Bella.
Precisely a pre-2022 (brass ball ends as opposed to the new, country-colour-coded ones) set of the -TB, thru-body type (the elongated taper is clearly visible under the silk), which do have silk at the bridge end...

Aha! The long silk winding at the ball end confused me. Never even thought of the "thru-body" version. Thanks!

 

[michael_t]

Yes, they probably are for a string through bass, as the black silk part towards the ballend is very long...

It's the term "string through" that didn't click in my head as I'm more used to the term "thru-body". I get what you meant now.

 

[dafonky]

Ok, here in Europe we are more accustomed to name it „string through“
Thanks for your feedback and your help guys, i will keep the strings on it for now, as i have no use elsewhere for them . I have only one bass with „string through body“ , which has half rounds on it for 10 years and it fits , i won‘t change.

I was really surprised that the Labellas don‘t sound too dark now, because the silk only has contact with the bridge saddles, and not the naked string .
It doesn’t have a „ foam under the strings „ sound.

All the best

 

[dwc3690]

Need help with an ID on these round wounds. No silk at ball ends (balls all silver) and only the E is tapered at bridge.

 

[michael_t]

Need help with an ID on these round wounds. No silk at ball ends (balls all silver) and only the E is tapered at bridge.

Those are GHS Progressives, which are Alloy 52 roundwound. Unfortunately, they were discontinued back in 2019. GHS was supposed to come up with an updated version in the spring of 2020, but due to the pandemic, everything got sidelined. It appears they're now defunct after 4 yrs.

The closest thing you can get now is the Rotosound Ultramags.

 

[dafonky]

Hi again,
I have a set of strings which came with a bass i bought, they sound quite good and feel good too!
Plus , the gold color of the strings perfectly matches the gold hardware of this great Fender Precision Special CAR bass from 1980
The ballends are black, no silk on this side. The silk on the headstock side is purple ( 45 - 105 )

thanks for your help

 

[roffe]

White silk in both ends and black balls, anybody know what it could be?

 

[michael_t]

White silk in both ends and black balls, anybody know what it could be?

Sounds like an older version of Dean Markley Blue Steels.

 

[roffe]

Sounds like an older version of Dean Markley Blue Steels.

Thanks, I was thinking the same thing but just wanted to make sure. They came on a bass I just bought and I liked them.

 

[OneNut]

So as a brand new bass player, I managed to score myself a used Fender P wound with flats. Deep purple silk at the head, nothing at the ball end, with brass balls. Anybody can let me know what they are? Love the feel of the flats, just the tension feels a bit higher than I'd like.

 

[michael_t]

So as a brand new bass player, I managed to score myself a used Fender P wound with flats. Deep purple silk at the head, nothing at the ball end, with brass balls. Anybody can let me know what they are? Love the feel of the flats, just the tension feels a bit higher than I'd like.

Those are GHS Precision Flats. I've used the light set (45-95) on my P bass in the past and liked them a lot. If you find them a bit too stiff, they're probably the 45-105 set.

Yours look just like mine... (Take note of the full winding on the E wrapping around the post due to 38" winding length.)

 

[OneNut]

Those are GHS Precision Flats. I've used the light set (45-95) on my P bass in the past and liked them a lot. If you find them a bit too stiff, they're probably the 45-105 set.

Yours look just like mine... (Take note of the full winding on the E wrapping around the post due to 38" winding length.)

View attachment 5354703

Thanks for that as it gives me the baseline of what I've got. I'm too new to really tell alot but I do notice that these are stiffer than some other stings.

I did notice the full wraps around the E post. I know it's not the best.