Elixir's getting shorter?

[brensabre79]

I ordered another set of Medium Long Scale Elixirs recently, the same as I usually use.

When I came to fit them to my Lakland I strung through the body as usual and to my horror, the tapering at the other end started before the nut, somewhere between the nut and first fret! I've not had this before on these strings. In the end, luckily the Lakland allows you to mount the strings on the back of the bridge plate also, so this gave me enough extra string to just get past the nut.

The trouble is, my Jazz bass is through body, and so is my PRS, so when I come to re-string I'm concerned they ain't gonna fit.
I get the extra long scale ones for my Rockinbetter due to the hilarious tailpiece design, and they are not as cheap (not that the standard ones are cheap) or as readily available as the standard.

Has anyone else experienced this? Have they shortened them in some insane cost-cutting move? Or did I just get a bad set? It seems a bit crazy to have to buy extra long scale strings for what is essentially an industry standard instrument (Fender Jazz Bass).

Normally I'd just go to another manufacturer, but the Elixirs are the only one of the coated strings that seem to work for me, in that they last me a good month or two of gigging, as opposed to a couple of sets and it's like I'm playing rubber bands.