I had been buying Carvin strings for years because they were made by LaBella for them - and they worked great. I recently wanted to get some more - come to find out "Kiesel" is now only selling Dunlop - OK, I'll bite. The first issue is a Kiesel issue - I ordered nickel and they sent steel, but I say screw it, I'll try them. After getting a 4 string set on the bass, I notice a few burs along the length of the G string - not sharp enough to cut, but annying and unacceptable. Kiesel rep is great and says keep those - we'll send out nickels - fine. Get the nickels - put a 5 string set on one of my 5s - while pulling up on the E string to stretch it out (I always do this to get a good wrap aroung the tuner and never had a problem - otherwise you can't get it to hold a tuning for long) - and the string breaks at the ball end. I've been playing since 1978, so 38 years and used all kinds of strings - and NEVER broke one! I've had some success with Kalium, so might get more of those - or LaBella, but they are a little more bread. So, I might be on another mission to find a new favorite.
Then again, I know - bad batch - stuff happens - QC misses things sometimes. I suppose I should contact Dunlop about the situation so they know about it, although I'm sure I'm not the only one that got a couple sets from a bad batch - and they may even offer up some free sets ;-)