Are these Rotosound RS66LD Swing Bass?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

These strings sound phenomenal on the epiphone thunderbird vintage pro I (accidentally) bought on ebay a few weeks ago. I asked the seller what the strings were but he says he never changed them so thinks they were the original ones - I'm sure they're not the original factory set as those wouldn't have had silks and would have a nickel sheen to them that these don't.

These have red silks at the head end, but no silks at the bridge end. The ball ends are E-red A-blue D-white and G- red(again)

I've not used roundwounds for almost 20 years but these are perfect for this bass, so it would be worth getting a spare set if I can identify them.

The colour of the ball ends suggests they are rotosounds, and the red silks suggests swing bass, however I'm not 100% sure as I thought rotosounds would have red silks at the bridge end as well.

Any ideas?

[hooky_lowdown]

Swing 66's have silks at both ends. Maybe Rotosound rb45's.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Thanks - I've been googling and it looks like the RB45 set is unsilked at both ends.

I did find a page where someone mentioned that new swing bass sets don't have the silk at the bridge end any more, but i've not been able to find any pics to confirm this and on their page on stringsdirect it mentions that they are silked at both ends.

The strings I'm trying to ID do seem to be made from stainless steel rather than nickel plated.

[Al Krow]

I've been informed that mine are Rotosound Swing Bass RS665LD by the seller, which are steel rather than nickel and don't have silk at the bridge end like yours.

[Bill Yellow]

I think Rotosound may have dropped the ballend silks from a number of their strings now.

Certainly my SM66N set were only silked at the top despite Stringsdirect describing them as topped and tailed. 

[radiolouis]

i just restrung a jazz bass with my choice if strings since 1976 and they are now not silked at bridge. rs66ld in foil pack no separate sleeves or box.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Although the swing bass set sounded fantastic on this bass, I couldn't get used to the feel of them so I've gone back to flatwounds. I used to be loyal to Thomastic JF-344s and still use them on my Precision, but I'm enjoying the brighter tone of Ernie Ball Cobalt flats on my thunderbirds after a brief flirtation with LaBella White Nylon Tapewounds.