Greetings. Presently using TI Flats, considering a move to the trubass88 for bigger strings. How is the tension, is it still pretty low? Thanks.
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trubass 88 tension? High or low?
- Thread starter deliciouspesto
- Start date
well im trying them out- a little different than the TIs... these things are big, and the tension may not be a lot higher but they are a lot more fatiguing to play. TIs, once you get the light touch down, are really pleasant and easy to play by comparison.
ninja
D
They are the only strings I've tried that I can easily pull out of the nut grooves at full tension. On one bass I even got a slight back bow with the truss rod completely loosened.
But they are a bit weird because they feel very stiff and fatiguing under the right hand but at the same time they are very floppy over the fingerboard. Because of this they may bring out fret issues and buzz where other strings work fine. But they sound great if you like that kind of sound. I never found much use for them to be honest. I was expecting them to be a lot more thumpy but they're actually very clanky. Like flats with clank on top.
But I've only used the short scale ones. The E string was EXTREMELY floppy and undefined, close to useless IMO. Which was a shame because the A-D-G sounded pretty good.
The E string was also impossible to intonate. Even with the bridge saddle all the way back it was unusable even at the 3rd fret and over a semitone sharp at the 12th fret. Maybe the long scale version is better but these short scale ones are completely useless unless you don't use the E string at all.
They're also the only strings I've tried that go sharp after I've stretched them. What's that all about??? Is this normal for tapewounds?
But they are a bit weird because they feel very stiff and fatiguing under the right hand but at the same time they are very floppy over the fingerboard. Because of this they may bring out fret issues and buzz where other strings work fine. But they sound great if you like that kind of sound. I never found much use for them to be honest. I was expecting them to be a lot more thumpy but they're actually very clanky. Like flats with clank on top.
But I've only used the short scale ones. The E string was EXTREMELY floppy and undefined, close to useless IMO. Which was a shame because the A-D-G sounded pretty good.
The E string was also impossible to intonate. Even with the bridge saddle all the way back it was unusable even at the 3rd fret and over a semitone sharp at the 12th fret. Maybe the long scale version is better but these short scale ones are completely useless unless you don't use the E string at all.
They're also the only strings I've tried that go sharp after I've stretched them. What's that all about??? Is this normal for tapewounds?
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I have heard a lot of conflicting info on them, some people say they are low tension, some people say high, someone on this forum posted tension stats and they were on the higher side (although I have no idea where they got the tension info from) , my experience is that they seem to be pretty stiff not sure about tension but defintely higher tension than the light gauge flats I usually use , I also felt the E string was flabby compared to the other strings which led to me ditching these strings
There's confusion here (as usual) between tension and stiffness because people use both words for either and think the 2 are the same thing.
Tension is tightness, it is a force exerted on the string by the tuner, measured in pounds 'lb' (strictly pound-force 'lbf'). This value is what you see on tension charts. 'Tension' is a scientific term and only means this.
Stiffness is resistence to bending at zero tension, for example when you coil up a string to place it in a 6" envelope.
These two characteristics are independent and together determine 'perceived tension/feel/stiffness', which is how it feels to the hands.
Sounds like this set is low tension but high stiffness, so it feels stiff under the plucking hand (high stiffness) but feels low tension for the fretting hand (low tension).
Being tapewounds, the nylon tape part of the structure is low density, resulting in a low mass and therefore a low tension. To compensate for this the gauges are very large, 65 75 100 115. Not sure what the resulting tension actually is although it sounds low from reports.
If anyone has a used set, cut an exact 34" length of full gauge, accurately weigh and divide by 34 to get the 'unit weight', that can then be used in the tension formula to calculate tension.
Tension is tightness, it is a force exerted on the string by the tuner, measured in pounds 'lb' (strictly pound-force 'lbf'). This value is what you see on tension charts. 'Tension' is a scientific term and only means this.
Stiffness is resistence to bending at zero tension, for example when you coil up a string to place it in a 6" envelope.
These two characteristics are independent and together determine 'perceived tension/feel/stiffness', which is how it feels to the hands.
Sounds like this set is low tension but high stiffness, so it feels stiff under the plucking hand (high stiffness) but feels low tension for the fretting hand (low tension).
Being tapewounds, the nylon tape part of the structure is low density, resulting in a low mass and therefore a low tension. To compensate for this the gauges are very large, 65 75 100 115. Not sure what the resulting tension actually is although it sounds low from reports.
If anyone has a used set, cut an exact 34" length of full gauge, accurately weigh and divide by 34 to get the 'unit weight', that can then be used in the tension formula to calculate tension.
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Uh.. no, not really. TI Jazz flats are pretty much unique in the low tension area. TruBass 88s are certainly higher tension strings than TIs are, but they aren't bridge cables, either. I have the medium scale 88s on my Rogue VB-100; they are stiff, but not what I'd call high tension. It's important to remember that a lot of that 65-115 gauge is nylon tape - not steel. Yes, they are flatwound strings under there, but I'd lay odds that they're really no bigger than 40-100s - if that. So, yeah Roto 88's are stiff - as a board; but, as for actual tension? No worse than any other light gauge flatwound strings ... So, yes, the Rotos will be higher tension than your TIs, but not a whole lot more...
According to reports by long-dormant TB members
Rotosound Trubass Black Nylons
D'addario & Fender Tapewounds
but also @SLaPiNFuNK
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
(^ pictures not showing, on my browser at least, but they did on the old website and were very clear)
Rotosound Tru Bass 88's are not flatwounds under the tape but actually rounds.
They were/are often claimed to be flats on the 'net, and the reason might be the fact that their official description by Rotosound, up to a point in time, used to be "black nylon flatwounds", but unless they changed them that was only a tactile description.
[Funny thing is that, conversely and confusingly, their guitar (metal) flatwound set is called "Top Tapes" (and probably has been since the company was called "Top Strings" in the earliest '60s), because back in the day (in Britain at least?) "tapewound" would mean what we now call "flatwound". "Ribbonwound" can also be found in literature, or used by older players.]
The only tapes confirmed to be something other than rounds under the nylon are GHS 3060's. They looked like groundwounds in Jason's pics from the above-linked article, but GHS's @Jon Moody said their final (pre-taping) wrap is an unpolished metal ribbon.
(There was one report saying that nylon-unraveled Status tapes also were shown to be not rounds.)
Yes, you're right, and I stand corrected. I was looking at the long scale 88's on Just Strings' web page, and they're the ones who refer to them as "Black nylon flatwounds"; the packaging just calls them "black nylon bass guitar strings". But, I should have known better, anyway. I do remember the discussions about "who's got what" under the nylon; I just didn't remember it soon enough. My bad...
