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TapeWound Club~Anyone?

#1,201
I think I may stick with the whites. I'm not crazy about bronze AEB strings and like the airy edge that the steel is bringing. It seems like many prefer the coppers for the mids.

The mids on the whites seem pretty subdued already. Is there a big difference in tonal quality vs the coppers?
 
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#1,202
basss said:
I think I may stick with the whites. I'm not crazy about bronze AEB strings and like the airy edge that the steel is bringing. It seems like many prefer the coppers for the mids.

The mids on the whites seem pretty subdued already. Is there a big difference in tonal quality vs the coppers?
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Yes. As you observe, the whites have the top end and subdued mids. The coppers are the opposite: subdued top end (though not dark like the blacks) with more present, but smooth mids.
 
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#1,205
Sam Dingle said:
can anyone give advice on how to mount these strings? I have a mexican P bass that i wanna put tapes on and the tuning pegs are a little too thin for the E to fit, the slit is not as wide as my American p bass. anyone have luck with this/advice?
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I use them on both a Fretless MIM Jazz Bass and a Michael Kelley ABG. Both are 34" scale. If the acoustic guitar is the original short neck, I would be afraid that the D'Add strings would be too floppy. But if the neck has been replaced w/ 34" scale, no problem. Great tone and feel for me.
 
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#1,209
I put La Bella 750N tapes on my jazz bass last night and so far I am very pleased with them. I was originally going to get the 760N set but I wasn't too keen on potentially having to widen the nut slots.

I've also used ETB92 tapes in the past, and i thought they were alright, but I think I prefer the La Bellas now that I've tried them.

Now I'm curious to try the white and copper tapes... :help:
 
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#1,210
thisheregiraffe said:
I put La Bella 750N tapes on my jazz bass last night and so far I am very pleased with them. I was originally going to get the 760N set but I wasn't too keen on potentially having to widen the nut slots.

I've also used ETB92 tapes in the past, and i thought they were alright, but I think I prefer the La Bellas now that I've tried them.

Now I'm curious to try the white and copper tapes... :help:
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The story of tapes on my fretless jazz so far:

Based on the good things I had read from some folks on here about the D'Addario ETB92s on fretless, I put some on my bass and, once I swapped out the stock pickups with a set that improved the clarity of the bass's tone, I found that I liked the strings very well ... except that the G string sounded too thin and tinny to me.

So again, based on what I'd read on here, I tried a set of LaBella coppers, which were said to have a warm tone with a brightness somewhere in between their blacks and whites. And they are pretty nice and warm, but don't have as much definition and clarity as the ETB92s. However ... the G string sounds better. So I put the ETB92 E/A/D back on, but left the Copper G, and the tonal balance of that combination was very nice. Unfortunately, because there isn't much steel at the core of the coppers, they're pretty low output, so even though the tonal balance was great, the volume balance was not, and that couldn't be fixed with pickup height without adversely affecting the D string, in particular. So I ended up ordering a single new ETB92 G string to assess whether my original copy may have been defective, and while it's still a little thin, it's better than the first one, and I'm hoping it warms up a little more after being on the bass for a while.

The only other strings I've had on this bass were flats (TIs and Sadowskys), and overall I think I like the ETB92s more with regard to both tone and feel. But I may experiment with some rounds. I've got a set of Sunbeams to try, and if I like them, they may turn out to be a gateway drug to the TI jazz rounds, but we'll see.
 
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#1,212
I just put tapewound strings on one of my precisions today (a set of Magma flat blacks - made in Argentina strings) and I absolutely love how warm and round they sound.

Magma Strings

My other two precisions have flats in them, I might buy another set of tapewounds for one of my jazz basses, although maye I should try a lighter set for a jazz (got the 53/113)
 
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#1,215
GrahamNN3 said:
Are there any tapewound strings which fit the Squier Mini Precision Bass?

The bass has a scale length of 28.6" (726 mm).
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According to reports (from the TB:Basses[BG] subboard), the low-E tuning post being a little too close to the nut makes even the shortest among the regularly available (32" winding length) short-scale strings a bit too long for the Squier Mini P.
On the other hand, tapewounds are thin metal roundwounds under the nylon tape, and the scale of the Mini makes for an extremely low chance of the low E breaking at the post for being wound full-diameter thereupon.
On yet another hand, a post can take only so many, non-overlapping fat loops on, so short-scale strings is the sensible choice.
D'Addarios are 32". Rotosounds and La Bellas are 32.25". Pyramids and Höfners are 33.5". Galli Strings are...no idea how long, but they do make shorty tapes.
Stepping into even-longer territory, Warwick has medium-scale (34"-long) tapes available. So have D'Addario (34"), La Bella (34.25") and Roto (35.25").
The rest out there is long-scale only, AFAIK.
 
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#1,217
Hello from ITAly. I use roundstrings from ever (more than 30th years) and recently I tried covered strings round more long lasting that I appreciate for this. But I want to try also Nylon Tapewound which differences from Rotosound, D'Addario's, Ernie Ball in sound? How about long lasting?
 
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#1,218
After trying many tapes over the years (most La Bella varieties, D'addario, GHS, Roto & Fender) I finally acquired a set of Pyramid long scale tapes. These are the tapes for me - incredibly woody, deep lows but not "bloated", nice mid balance and NO "twang" - treble is beautifully subdued. The tension is moderate, even a little on the low side. The surface is powdery dry & silk smooth. Overall just a very natural, balanced set which favors the lows & mids and gives a terrific organic, woody attack.
 
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#1,219
e-flat said:
After trying many tapes over the years (most La Bella varieties, D'addario, GHS, Roto & Fender) I finally acquired a set of Pyramid long scale tapes. These are the tapes for me - incredibly woody, deep lows but not "bloated", nice mid balance and NO "twang" - treble is beautifully subdued. The tension is moderate, even a little on the low side. The surface is powdery dry & silk smooth. Overall just a very natural, balanced set which favors the lows & mids and gives a terrific organic, woody attack.
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I've been intrigued by the Pyramid 648 black nylons for quite some time, since @beate_r reviewed them (IIRC in this very thread), and am definitely going to try them in the future. What bass do you have them on? Did it sport another tapewound set right before the swap?
 

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