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Tapewound strings 5 string fretless

#3
Bodeeni said:
I would go with the Labella White tapes. They sound more like a regular round and and are great on a fretless. The blacks are a little too dull for me.
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Bodeeni said:
I would go with the Labella White tapes. They sound more like a regular round and and are great on a fretless. The blacks are a little too dull for me.
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Thanks for your advice. The B string also sounds tight and isn't too loose? Are these white tapewound strings also kinder to the fretboard than nickel or roundwound strings?

You play also 5 string fretless?
(sorry for my English)
 
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#5
I haven't used la Bella black tapewounds but I have used their white golds and I have used D'addario black tapes.

Bith are nice, I prefer my white golds as they are a bit brighter. That said however the D'daddarios are still bright than some other black tapes like rotossounds.
 
#6
Bodeeni said:
I would go with the Labella White tapes. They sound more like a regular round and and are great on a fretless. The blacks are a little too dull for me.
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pingvuiini said:
The D'Addario black tapes are very smooth and have absolutely no finger noise when you glissando. They also have a surprising amount of zing to them, enough to get a usable slap sound out of them.
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What's the difference between the D'Addario tapewound and the Labella white tapewound? Is the B string for my Ibanez GWB-1 5-string fretless the same with both brands?
 
#8
FvdW72 said:
What's the difference between the D'Addario tapewound and the Labella white tapewound? Is the B string for my Ibanez GWB-1 5-string fretless the same with both brands?
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Different animals. The white tapes sound like round wounds, the blacks sort of like flats. I used then on a MTD 6 fretless for a few years. They are very slick and smooth feeling
 
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#14
michael_t said:
Gauges. 750 = 50-65-85-105, 760 = 60-70-94-115.
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The D'Addario tapewounds are also 50-65-85-105 like the Labella 750s, but the Labella 750s feel much more flexible. For my taste, the 750s are probably too flexible. I'm not sure what D'Addario does differently, but they feel quite (and sound) quite nice to me.

I happen to have Labellas (760) on my fretless 5-string, but those were the recommended strings from the manufacturer, and I've just stuck with them.
 
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#15
trothwell said:
The D'Addario tapewounds are also 50-65-85-105 like the Labella 750s, but the Labella 750s feel much more flexible. For my taste, the 750s are probably too flexible. I'm not sure what D'Addario does differently, but they feel quite (and sound) quite nice to me.

I happen to have Labellas (760) on my fretless 5-string, but those were the recommended strings from the manufacturer, and I've just stuck with them.
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how is the B string on your 5 string fretless not to floppy and the overall tension? or with d'Addario tapewound better? i have now DR nikkelwound and the sound great but i will take care of the fretboard a little more.

thank you ;-)
 
#16
FvdW72 said:
how is the B string on your 5 string fretless not to floppy and the overall tension? or with d'Addario tapewound better? i have now DR nikkelwound and the sound great but i will take care of the fretboard a little more.

thank you ;-)
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I haven't tried the D'Addario tape wound B-string! I can't say.

For the Labella 760N, I do not find the B string excessively floppy. It is somewhat floppy, as tends to be the case with B strings in general, but I don't find it objectionable. For what it's worth, this is, more precisely, the 760N "extra long" set... I don't know what difference that might make in terms of tension, but it was the exact set specified to match the bass.

In my opinion, overall, comparing the E-G strings

Labella 750N: too floppy, don't like
D'Addario: feels good, more floppy than ~45-105 roundwound, but manageable. I would guess feels more like a 40-95 roundwound set maybe.
Labella 760N: least floppy, maybe no more than ~45-105 roundwound.
 
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#17
trothwell said:
I haven't tried the D'Addario tape wound B-string! I can't say.

For the Labella 760N, I do not find the B string excessively floppy. It is somewhat floppy, as tends to be the case with B strings in general, but I don't find it objectionable. For what it's worth, this is, more precisely, the 760N "extra long" set... I don't know what difference that might make in terms of tension, but it was the exact set specified to match the bass.

In my opinion, overall, comparing the E-G strings

Labella 750N: too floppy, don't like
D'Addario: feels good, more floppy than ~45-105 roundwound, but manageable. I would guess feels more like a 40-95 roundwound set maybe.
Labella 760N: least floppy, maybe no more than ~45-105 roundwound.
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So I had opportunity to try the D'Addario tapewound B string. I like it!

It's ostensibly the same gauge/diameter as the Labella 760N B string (135), but it feels thinner. The flexibility of it feels good; not too much either way. I wouldn't mind it a little more stiff, but I don't think I really have any complaint. I'm not sure that the Labella is any more stiff; the nylon "tape" feels a little harder on the Labella string, so it might have a bit of a stiffer response just for that reason.

I continue to like the overall feel of the whole D'Addario tapewound set, occupying that space between the Labella 760N and 750N.
 

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