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String ID Help

JehuJava

Bass Frequency Technician
Oct 15, 2002
2,494
153
52
Yorktown, VA
Just bought this Artcore Hollowbody bass and it came with these strings. I’d like to know more about them but I don’t know what they are.

They appear to be black nylon (?) flatwounds. Yellow/gold silk at the top, black silk at the ferrules. The ferrules are red (E), blue (A), white (D), and red (G).
 

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Just bought this Artcore Hollowbody bass and it came with these strings. I’d like to know more about them but I don’t know what they are.

They appear to be black nylon (?) flatwounds. Yellow/gold silk at the top, black silk at the ferrules. The ferrules are red (E), blue (A), white (D), and red (G).
Those color-coded ball ends are definitely Rotosound. They're Tru Bass 88 Black Nylons.
 
Well...
What scale length are they? I ask, because I have medium scale Roto 88M's on two basses, and they have gold silk on both ends. And, I'm pretty sure the one set of short scale 88's that I pulled out of their package - but decided not to use - had gold silks on both ends, too. But, it's been a while, so... I can't be sure about those. 🤔
 
Well...
What scale length are they? I ask, because I have medium scale Roto 88M's on two basses, and they have gold silk on both ends. And, I'm pretty sure the one set of short scale 88's that I pulled out of their package - but decided not to use - had gold silks on both ends, too. But, it's been a while, so... I can't be sure about those. 🤔
They've changed. I've summarised, based on forum-searches, the evolution of Rotosound flatwound string accoutrements here: Roto Tru Bass 88 black nylon tapewounds must have also changed (2016) their ball ends to colour-coded ones, then stopped at the 2019 change to bridge-end black silk, and not undergone the complete removal thereof in 2021 (they do need some kind of silk or outer wrap at both ends, in order for the tape to stay in place).
 
Last edited:
here: New item by Pierfrancesco Sanò

I don't have this bass anymore, but maybe there was black silk at the balls.

those are Jazz77: New item by Pierfrancesco Sanò
Thank you. Maybe you were right the first time, and Roto tapes have indeed been in a one-end silkless phase since 2021 like their other strings. I've remembered this March 2023 post by @thrashingbass which appears to document that Roto tapes now come with no silk at the bridge:
1734366796267.jpeg
TapeWound Club~Anyone?
To this day I'm not sure what I'm looking at there, other than the fact there doesn't look to be silk as we know it.
Is there an additional black sleeve, made of the same nylon as the tape, securing the tape? or have they found a way to glue the tape itself in place near the ball end?

@JehuJava:
are yours different from these? Do they have silk proper? [If so, they should be from the 2019-2021 timeframe.]
Can you take a pic of the stopbar area, since we're at it?
 
Thank you. Maybe you were right the first time, and Roto tapes have indeed been in a one-end silkless phase since 2021 like their other strings. I've remembered this March 2023 post by @thrashingbass which appears to document that Roto tapes now come with no silk at the bridge:
View attachment 7101289
TapeWound Club~Anyone?
To this day I'm not sure what I'm looking at there, other than the fact there doesn't look to be silk as we know it.
Is there an additional black sleeve, made of the same nylon as the tape, securing the tape? or have they found a way to glue the tape itself in place near the ball end?

@JehuJava:
are yours different from these? Do they have silk proper? [If so, they should be from the 2019-2021 timeframe.]
Can you take a pic of the stopbar area, since we're at it?
Sorry I missed this, indeed it's just more of the black tape material, rather than black silks. I do not mind silks at the bridge end, save that in the case of the RS88 strings, they could be a mess/too thick/or require some of the silk part to go above the E saddle. While the newer Rot sound tapes are "less pretty", they are infinitely more practical and easier to use. I highly recommend them if you love tape wounds, there will be no problems at the bridge, and this set in the picture also behaved much better than my previous sets on the same bass (no more blurry tones on the E string, plus it intonates perfectly as it should always have. It should not be deemed a "feature" of tapes when they cannot intonate well, and they do now.)
 
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Well...
What scale length are they? I ask, because I have medium scale Roto 88M's on two basses, and they have gold silk on both ends. And, I'm pretty sure the one set of short scale 88's that I pulled out of their package - but decided not to use - had gold silks on both ends, too. But, it's been a while, so... I can't be sure about those. 🤔
The bass is 30” and they fit as they should. So I guess they’re medium scale.
 
Thank you. Maybe you were right the first time, and Roto tapes have indeed been in a one-end silkless phase since 2021 like their other strings. I've remembered this March 2023 post by @thrashingbass which appears to document that Roto tapes now come with no silk at the bridge:
View attachment 7101289

@JehuJava:
are yours different from these? Do they have silk proper? [If so, they should be from the 2019-2021 timeframe.]
Can you take a pic of the stopbar area, since we're at it?
Mine def look different. Black silks. I’ll take a pic tomorrow.
 
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