TapeWound Club~Anyone?

[el_Bajo_Verde]

Just put some Labella Black tapes on my ESP 5-string. I love em!

There's a Schecter at my GC that I traded in a few months ago, it's got GHS tapes on it. I got a call today from one of the GC employees asking me what kind of strings I put on it

I'm surprised the tapewounds warranted such curiosity that they'd call me months later to ask what they were! They must be more uncommon than I thought.

 

[Diddywah]

Late winter I got on the tapewound bandwagon too. Tried D'addario, GHS, Roto Trubass black nylons. The D'addario D string broke from switching it too much between basses. GHS was OK, but I was looking for more of an acoustic sound. The Rotos were too stiff. Then I think I read beate_r recommend the Pyramids:

I tried them and really liked them. I tried them on my Fender PJ, my Tacoma Thunderchief, and my Wishbass JB. Currently they reside on the Wishbass (with a Haeussel mag and Pickuptheworld Piezo pickup). But I'm going to get another set for my Tacoma. The Thunderchief has a set of TI flats on it now, for a modern acoustic sound. But I have a Takamine TB10 due tomorrow, so I'll use that with flats and go back to Pyramids for the Tacoma, which I think is a more optimal combination. I love the papery, velvety feel of the Pyramids--totally different from the other black nylon strings I've tried. It's strange they haven't been mentioned more on this thread. If you're after an acoustic sound, they are definitely a variation worth exploring. They worked well on my PJ too, with emg pickups, but right now I have a set of Labella whites on it, and I'm digging that sound as well (in my case it also took a while for the whites to be delivered).

On my other basses I have Thomastik flats--they're kind of my default strings--but I recently experimented with Kalium nickel roundwounds and those things are great on a fretless for getting a quasi fretted sound. On my six-string Fender Jazz I'm thinking of subbing the TI flats with Labella Black Nylons just to see what that would sound like. So I might be down to just two basses with TI flats, a Warmoth fretless five-string and a Warmoth Jazz, both still in production.

Anyway, thanks everyone for turning me onto nylon strings! It's been fun exploring yet another bass parameter. I think it will take another 6-12 months before I settle on nice string/bass pairings for all of my harem.

I just replaced a set of Labella BNT 750N on my fretless Spector CTB with a set of Pyramid Black Tapewounds 648/1 (Long scale set; my bass is short scale, but requires long scale strings because of the bridge setup..).
I really liked the Labellas, but the Pyramids are just beautiful!!! (Used to favor TI jazz flats on my previous basses, but didn´t like them on the Spector, so I started with Labella Tape Wounds in search of the right sound) The Pyramids have much more "wood" and punch. You can dig in harder. They have the nicest velvet-like feel. Clear harmonics. I would try them on any fretless bass (but perhaps not if you have an epoxy coated fingerboard...)
With my regular band I "compete" with two keyboard players; The Pyramids cut through and give me the presence I want. Fantastic!

 

[bassist4dalord]

I just put a set of 750C 50-105 Copper Tapes on my Schecter last night. I haven't been able to plug in yet, but so far I'm loving the look and feel of these. So dreamy.

Update- I've had them on a few days now and I'm really enjoying them. I plugged into my amp and realized I've finally found a set of strings that make the humbucker setting on my bass useable.

I might be playing in the church band next Sunday. Full gig report coming.

 

[Bare Bass]

I just replaced a set of Labella BNT 750N on my fretless Spector CTB with a set of Pyramid Black Tapewounds 648/1 (Long scale set; my bass is short scale, but requires long scale strings because of the bridge setup..).
I really liked the Labellas, but the Pyramids are just beautiful!!! (Used to favor TI jazz flats on my previous basses, but didn´t like them on the Spector, so I started with Labella Tape Wounds in search of the right sound) The Pyramids have much more "wood" and punch. You can dig in harder. They have the nicest velvet-like feel. Clear harmonics. I would try them on any fretless bass (but perhaps not if you have an epoxy coated fingerboard...)
With my regular band I "compete" with two keyboard players; The Pyramids cut through and give me the presence I want. Fantastic!

Glad to hear you like them too. And it's cool you've liked the TI jazz flats too. That's definitely my go-to flatwound string.

I have a six-string fretless semi-hollowbody being made by Tom Clement. He's just about finished. I have a set of Pyramids waiting to go on that when it's delivered. I'm expecting great things from the piezo + semi-hollowbody + Pyramid tapewound combination.

 

[Bare Bass]

Update- I've had them on a few days now and I'm really enjoying them. I plugged into my amp and realized I've finally found a set of strings that make the humbucker setting on my bass useable.

I might be playing in the church band next Sunday. Full gig report coming.

Hmnn, got me curious about the coppers now.

 

[Diddywah]

Glad to hear you like them too. And it's cool you've liked the TI jazz flats too. That's definitely my go-to flatwound string.

I have a six-string fretless semi-hollowbody being made by Tom Clement. He's just about finished. I have a set of Pyramids waiting to go on that when it's delivered. I'm expecting great things from the piezo + semi-hollowbody + Pyramid tapewound combination.

I think you will be happy with them! By the way; your sign "Bare Bass" translates to "Only Bass" in Norwegian

 

[Bare Bass]

I think you will be happy with them! By the way; your sign "Bare Bass" translates to "Only Bass" in Norwegian

Well, I'm half-Norwegian by ancestry and I prefer to be barefooted most of the time, and lately I've been leaning towards a very bare, natural woody sound in my bass playing, so it all makes sense. I'll have to change my avatar (which is a 30-year-old photo) with the Clement bass when it's done. Could be a while though, since I'm thinking of replacing the Hipshot A-Style bridge with one of Chris Stambaugh's Resonance bridges, to make it even more woody-looking.

 

[beate_r]

...
The Pyramids have much more "wood" and punch. You can dig in harder. They have the nicest velvet-like feel. Clear harmonics...

They are also really nice on the EB-3. I tried them on a Epi EB0 with an additional bridge pickup and on my modified Epi EB-3. Similarly "woody" tone cutting through, but not quite as punchy as GHS brite flats. So it depends a bit on what You need - but the are really cool also in classic rock. (Although i did not try - i do not think the work that well with the neck pickup of the SG bass or other modern sounding pickups.)

 

[tjclem]

Barefooted! The only way to play!

 

[Bare Bass]

Barefooted! The only way to play!

Ha, so true. I like doing pretty much everything better barefooted. More stable, more tactile, less sweat. Maybe Florida has more of a barefoot culture, but up here in Minnesota a lot of people think it's outrageous not to wear shoes. What's really annoying are the shops that cite non-existent health codes or phony insurance concerns. Being a barefooter is a ongoing exercise in dealing with silly cultural perceptions and prejudices, and learning about how dearly people cling to them.

I do use a pick once in a while however, so I'm not completely bare-fingered.

Two more days until your bass arrives, I can't hardly wait!

 

[Oddly]

I'd like to ask for some advice here. I'm just about to take delivery of a 2008 American Standard Precision- stock pickup, maple fretboard(fretted).
I currently play with LaBella 54 flats on a jazz...and was planning on the same for the Precision.
However the LaBella White Nylons have got my interest si I was wondering what you tapewound experts think?

I mainly play Blues Brothers style soul.

 

[GBassNorth]

I'd like to ask for some advice here. I'm just about to take delivery of a 2008 American Standard Precision- stock pickup, maple fretboard(fretted).
I currently play with LaBella 54 flats on a jazz...and was planning on the same for the Precision.
However the LaBella White Nylons have got my interest si I was wondering what you tapewound experts think?

I mainly play Blues Brothers style soul.

I'm currently using La Bella Black tapes on a Jazz bass but found the La Bella Whites to be a better fit on a Humbucker equipped bass I have. The Blacks are deep, dark and somewhat woody which is a sound I love (hate zing, clack and finger noise) but on a Humbucker equipped bass they ended up being too much of a good thing. For basses with naturally darker sounding pickups (like a precision) I'd give the Whites a spin if your normally inclined to use flats. If they're still too dark sounding then try the La Bella Copper Whites, those are about the brightest you can get in a tape wound string.

Some tape advice - La Bella strings aren't outrageously priced but they're not the cheapest string you can buy either. A 4 string set costs about $35 give or take a few bucks. When experimenting with tapes I'd suggest getting a light gage Black, light gage White Silver and light gage White Copper. If you go with the light gage you shouldn't need to file your nut. And if you buy all three types (black, silver, copper) you can experiment back to back to see which ones you like best. They are very different in sound and feel from each other and like most any string can have a huge impact on how well your bass sounds, plays, feels and maintains a set up.

Check post 141 in this thread for more insight...
La Bella Copper White Nylon Tapewounds:

Good luck, and enjoy the journey.

 

[Oddly]

@GBassNorth thanks so much for the detailed reply.

 

[tjclem]

A shame Carvin used to sell the black Deep talkin' flats pretty cheap. I love them on this bass.

 

[edencab]

A shame Carvin used to sell the black Deep talkin' flats pretty cheap. I love them on this bass.View attachment 933381

those black, on that colour is sssssshhhexy

 

[ExaltBass]

A shame Carvin used to sell the black Deep talkin' flats pretty cheap. I love them on this bass.View attachment 933381

Gorgeous!

 

[pnchad]

I just recorded last weekend on my 5 string Basslines worp. I seriously would believe it was a DB if I didn't know better. LaBella blacks. But I've enjoyed the whites & coppers on others too.

 

[pnchad]

I'm tellin ya do it. LaBella tapes are the sh#t. I have them on all my fretlesses except my Sadowsky but that's next. If you're looking for a fat URB tone with hair and wood, this is it. Better than any acoustic EB and I've tried every variation.

 

[project_c]

Around once a year I try different strings on my 2 Precisions to see if my tastes may have changed. Yesterday I put some D'Addario rounds on my fretless to see what would happen. Sounded pretty good in the mix, but a much more unfocussed and scooped sound than with the XL Tapes I normally have on there. They felt weirdly thin too. So they came off, and I put on some Labella Deep Talkin flats instead - these sounded good too, but with much less character and personality than the tapes, although the Deep Talkin flats do have a nicer sounding G string than most other strings I tried. Feel-wise they were nice and smooth, but very stiff and tough to play compared to the tapes, to the point where I would have had to set up my bass completely differently if I wanted to leave these on. So they came off too and a brand new set of XL's went on, and I was home again. I don't know if I'll ever be able to use any other strings on my P's, the XL's just feel and sound perfect.

I love the way they sound brand new, I get a good few months of use from them and I tend to leave them on for a really long time (over a year sometimes). I wish I could retain their fresh tone for a while longer but I'm guessing there's no way to clean these strings or make them retain that extra bite they have when they're fresh out of the pack?

 

[Leiria]

I'm tellin ya do it. LaBella tapes are the sh#t. I have them on all my fretlesses except my Sadowsky but that's next. If you're looking for a fat URB tone with hair and wood, this is it. Better than any acoustic EB and I've tried every variation.

You wouldn't happen to know how tey compare to Rotosounds? Feel and tone wise. They are my first set of tapewounds and from what I heard they sounded better and I find the feel to be perfect but I'm just starting on tapes, so it's not like I have any experience and am able to judge how good they are accurately. I'm just looking for more info on wht other options are available