Why aren’t tapes more popular?

[Just Wrong]

Always surprised how great tapes are when I try them. Very versatile. Smooth. A lot of brands have a set (D’Addario, GHS, LaBella, etc.). Why aren’t they more popular?

Here’s a video of Burniss Earl who supposedly uses tapes!

 

[GIBrat51]

Why? Several reasons, IMO...
1. Some people don't like how they feel. Running your fingers up and down a piece of plastic (well, nylon, really; but, you get the idea) does feel kind of... weird. Especially if you're used to running them up and down a wood rasp... er, I mean, roundwound strings...
2. Some people don't like how they sound. I think they were developed by Rotosound, and the reason they call them "TruBass" strings, is because they were intended to sound like an upright bass. While they will never sound exactly like an upright, on the right hollow body bass, and with the right playing technique? They can sound... reasonably close. My MIK Rogue VB-100 violin bass wears the Roto tapes, and when I want it to, it's close enough to make me happy. However... most electric bass players want all the sustain they can get, and don't want to sound like an upright bass...
3. If you want to use tape wounds, you will almost certainly have to widen at least the E string nut slot. You might have to widen all of them; I did, when I put them on my Carvin LB-20 about a decade ago. And, when I put normal flat wounds on it, I had to replace that nut. Some people simply don't want the aggravation...
And..
4. I've never had the problem myself, but... with tape wounds? Grounding issues seem to be a problem for quite a few people. And, understandably, very few people want grounding problems with an electrical thing in their hands...

So... if you want strings that are all about "Thump"; don't have much sustain; require you to hack up your bass's nut; and make weird buzzing noises until you touch them - because, now you are the electrical ground? Well, then, tapewound strings are the strings for you. Several string companies make them... choose your poison...

Seriously though; I've had the Roto TruBass88 Tapes on my violin bass for... about 14 years now; I've never had the slightest problem - of any kind - with them. They sound great on that bass; I never play rounds on anything, so I love the Roto's feel; and, if they're good enough for Sir Paul on his Hofner (and his Rick), they're certainly good enough for me. I took the La Bella Black Tapes off my Carvin, not because they gave me problems or sounded bad; I did it because it was strung BEAD; I and, I realized I just didn't need a bass strung BEAD. So, I took them off; put the original nut back on (I'm... prudent, that way); and put a set of flats on it instead. I play it a lot more often, now... But, if I wanted a deep, woody tone - with minimal sustain - from a bass - and I didn't want to put flats on it? I wouldn't hesitate to put a set of tapes on the thing...

 

[Killing Floor]

I like how they sound on my acoustic. On electrics tapes don’t ground and since I don’t have EMG active pickups that’s a noise concern. They feel ok but I like the feel of TI better. And I honestly like the tone of TI better too. Both flats and rounds. But there is no best string. Rock them.
Use them if you like them.

 

[Artman]

I have LaBella Gold White Tapes on my fretless Pedulla. They sound just like lightly played-in nickel rounds, but without any of the clacking sort of sounds that some rounds can make against that hard polyester coated ebony board, and the fundamental is a touch stronger.
Anytime I want to play harmonics, they are there and jump right out.

All of my basses, passive or active are well shielded, so grounding is not a problem.

I think they’re the ultimate strings for fretless.

 

[DCCat]

3. If you want to use tape wounds, you will almost certainly have to widen at least the E string nut slot. You might have to widen all of them; I did, when I put them on my Carvin LB-20 about a decade ago. And, when I put normal flat wounds on it, I had to replace that nut. Some people simply don't want the aggravation...

If you get the 50-105's offered by D'Addario and LaBella, no nut widening is necessary. But yeah, most tapes are wider than that and nut widening is likely needed for them. The tradeoff on the 50-105's is that the underlying metal wire is quite narrow and thus they're super flexible, probably more than most people would like.

 

[MCF]

One reason is price. $52.99 for the last set of DA tapes I bought.

 

[SharpCat]

I took them off my bass because I was getting sloppy not lifting my fingers off the strings. Maybe after my learning is locked in I can get them again.

 

[JimmyM]

They’re too fat and they sound like rounds covered in tape. I don’t enjoy them at all, and there’s no point in me playing strings I don’t like.

 

[6Bass101]

Why? Several reasons, IMO...
1. Some people don't like how they feel. Running your fingers up and down a piece of plastic (well, nylon, really; but, you get the idea) does feel kind of... weird. Especially if you're used to running them up and down a wood rasp... er, I mean, roundwound strings...
2. Some people don't like how they sound. I think they were developed by Rotosound, and the reason they call them "TruBass" strings, is because they were intended to sound like an upright bass. While they will never sound exactly like an upright, on the right hollow body bass, and with the right playing technique? They can sound... reasonably close. My MIK Rogue VB-100 violin bass wears the Roto tapes, and when I want it to, it's close enough to make me happy. However... most electric bass players want all the sustain they can get, and don't want to sound like an upright bass...
3. If you want to use tape wounds, you will almost certainly have to widen at least the E string nut slot. You might have to widen all of them; I did, when I put them on my Carvin LB-20 about a decade ago. And, when I put normal flat wounds on it, I had to replace that nut. Some people simply don't want the aggravation...
And..
4. I've never had the problem myself, but... with tape wounds? Grounding issues seem to be a problem for quite a few people. And, understandably, very few people want grounding problems with an electrical thing in their hands...

So... if you want strings that are all about "Thump"; don't have much sustain; require you to hack up your bass's nut; and make weird buzzing noises until you touch them - because, now you are the electrical ground? Well, then, tapewound strings are the strings for you. Several string companies make them... choose your poison...

Seriously though; I've had the Roto TruBass88 Tapes on my violin bass for... about 14 years now; I've never had the slightest problem - of any kind - with them. They sound great on that bass; I never play rounds on anything, so I love the Roto's feel; and, if they're good enough for Sir Paul on his Hofner (and his Rick), they're certainly good enough for me. I took the La Bella Black Tapes off my Carvin, not because they gave me problems or sounded bad; I did it because it was strung BEAD; I and, I realized I just didn't need a bass strung BEAD. So, I took them off; put the original nut back on (I'm... prudent, that way); and put a set of flats on it instead. I play it a lot more often, now... But, if I wanted a deep, woody tone - with minimal sustain - from a bass - and I didn't want to put flats on it? I wouldn't hesitate to put a set of tapes on the thing...

It’s #3 for me. I have tapes on one of my basses. I had to widen all four nut slots. I’m just not willing to do that to multiple basses.

 

[ashtray]

I had Rotos on my fretless, and absolutely loved them. I put a set on my favorite fretted active Jazz bass, snd instantly hated the tone. My #1, go-to bass and I had to pull the strings off after 5 minutes and put regular strings on.

I guess tapes work on some basses? Also, I tried a set of tapes from another brand, but those felt like bass strings wrapped in a cloth tape. Nothing like the more smooth plastic feel of Rotos - so I guess there’s different kinds of tapes? And are some over round wounds, and others over flats?

Roto tapes still my favorite for my fretless electric.

 

[Stan_da_man]

They do one thing and one thing well but that's it. If I'm playing rock, metal or punk which is 95% percent of the time, they're useless.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I can only speak for myself but I find them too clacky sounding on most basses (particularly on P-basses) and often a bit on the floppy side for my taste. For a good setup they also will nearly always require the nut slots to be widened, which means "normal" strings may buzz in the nut slots afterwards. It's just too much hassle unless I dedicate a bass 100% to tapewounds.

I do like some tapewounds better than others though. Pyramids are great. I love playing Pyramid tapewounds on a Höfner and I've actually got my President set up permanently with these strings. The deep, thunderous Höfner-tone is a much better match for tapewounds than most other basses for MY taste. Plus, proper Höfners have a zero-fret which means the issue with the nut slots isn't as critical and I can revert to "normal" stings any time I want without buzzing.

I've never liked Roto tapewounds though. They somehow felt uncomfortably stiff and floppy at the same time and I could never get them to intonate properly, especially the short scale sets.

If I want a "double bass"-ish tone from an electric I actually get better results with TI flats+piezo/fretless.

If tapewounds work for you, great!

 

[Rib 13]

I am a modern tone guy. I like basses to have that piano wire tone for live playing. I do this for the simple reason that I can roll tone down/ EQ down high end (and change pluck hand position toward neck) when needed but cant add in zing on a bass that doesnt have it. Another words, I can approximate a Classic tone with a zingy bass but I cant approximate a modern tone on a non-zingy bass

That being said, the 2010s retro trend for studio work forced me to go beyond approximation to really nail parts. I bought a 70s Sekova EB3 copy. I originally strung it with flatwounds then put tapes on it instead and it still utilizes those same tapes over years. It gets near perfect vintage bass tones (especially through a tube pre) and has been used quite a bit over the past several years for sessionwork, making me cringe everytime I use it lol

 

[Discount Bassy]

A friend passed me a bass he had put tapes onto at an open mic I was backing years ago. I played that bass instead of my own for the duration of the gig at his request...about 4 hours. He loved them and sang their praises. I wasn't a fan of the feel or the sound. He loved them. I did not. They didn't do anything that my go to strings did other than feel a bit off-putting and uncomfortable. Of note, I was playing cheap rounds at the time and liked them pretty fresh. His bass was a far superior instrument versus my regular in quality, construction and setup. Taste is entirely subjective.

 

[Five or Six]

Everybody has their favorite type of string. Most have tried different types of strings and thus formed their opinion basically off of sound and feel or even bass type, wood used in the build. I played the game as well over the years. For the type of music I have played forever, it's rounds for me. I believe type of music played is a major part of this as well.

 

[Slevage]

Sone folks don’t like thesound or feel or both.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

they're not for everyone. they're somewhat expensive. they're not practical. that being said, I really like them on my vintage 1962 Jazz

 

[kodiakblair]

3. If you want to use tape wounds, you will almost certainly have to widen at least the E string nut slot.

They’re too fat

It’s #3 for me. I have tapes on one of my basses. I had to widen all four nut slots.

Status Graphite have their own brand of strings, Hot Wire.

Gauges for their tapes were 40 - 100, 45 - 105 & 45 - 130.

One reason is price. $52.99 for the last set of DA tapes I bought.

Those Status tapes were £14 a set, £18 for 5 string.

You'll note I used the term 'were', sadly discontinued

Good news was myself and 3 other UK players bought up the remaining stock

 

[Andy Marshman]

One reason is price. $52.99 for the last set of DA tapes I bought.

In Canada, from Amazon, tapewounds cost me $82 CDN all in. Chromes are $58 plus tax. I've stopped purchasing tapes.

 

[woodyng2]

I’m in the love camp. The lower gauge Labella whites in particular. I have them on my Tune semihollow fretless,
and I have had a set of the Copper Whites on my Rickenbacker Cheyenne for several years.
One slight difference about them is they’re maybe not quite as loud as a metal string, but I haven’t had a problem turning the amp up to compensate. I had a white set on another Rick, replaced them with Kalium RW, and after a couple of weeks including a gig, realized I preferred the sound and playability of the tapes.
With tapes, it’s a good idea to keep the strings wiped clean so they don’t get sticky. With the extremely polished feel,
it’s a very easy job. I’ve tried other tapes, including Roto Trubass (didn’t care for them at all), but I think Labella makes the best ones. (Mainly due to the lower gauge.)
Edit- I’ve not had to change the nut slots at all…and I typically use 45-100 gauge for rounds or flats.)