Warwick Black Label stockists in the UK?

[fretmeister]

Why are Warwick Black Labels so hard to get in the UK?

 

Gear4music have some occasionally but never in the right gauges.

Do they not have proper distribution here?

 

I have ordered from Germany in the past, but shipping charges are steep for small items.

[TheGreek]

https://www.gear4music.com/Bass_Guitars/Bass-Strings/Warwick

 

I used the reds for a while - very good VFM IMO

[redbandit599]

Peach Guitars got me some of the 32" 5 string sets that fit the medium scale Rockbass Corvette. They had to order them from the UK distributor and it took a while, but may be worth a shout.

[BigRedX]

I've just ordered four 5-string sets from Thomann 2x Warwick 40301M Black Label and 2x Warwick 40300 ML Black Label and the whole lot comes to just over £100 with shipping. When I consider that my previous string of choice (LaBella Steels) were over £40 a set, I'm perfectly happy to pay the shipping costs.

[sky]

On 13/09/2021 at 13:34, BigRedX said:

I've just ordered four 5-string sets from Thomann 2x Warwick 40301M Black Label and 2x Warwick 40300 ML Black Label and the whole lot comes to just over £100 with shipping. When I consider that my previous string of choice (LaBella Steels) were over £40 a set, I'm perfectly happy to pay the shipping costs.

are the warwick strings really that good, 4 sets of 5 string rotosound swings would be £75 from stringsdirect

[BigRedX]

15 hours ago, leojb23 said:

are the warwick strings really that good, 4 sets of 5 string rotosound swings would be £75 from stringsdirect

 

It really depends what you want from a set of bass strings.

 

Also just because a set give me a sound I like, suit my playing style, and work with the basses that I use them on doesn't mean they will be right for anyone else and the bass(es) they want to fit them to.

 

I've discovered the following about Rotosound strings:

 

1. They go off really quickly. Even in the packets. The only way to guarantee that you'll get a decent life out of them is to buy them off the Rotosound stand at a guitar show and fit them to your bass as soon as you get home. From any other source you have absolutely no idea how old they are when you buy them, and they may well be well past their prime before you even get around to stringing a bass with them.

 

2. If you want 34" scale length round-wounds in gauges between 110 and 35 they are fine. Everything else is completely hit or miss. Great if your basses are all long-scale 4 strings and you don't down-tune too far.

 

I've spent most of my bass playing life with short-scales, extra-long scales, 5-strings and Bass VIs. I've struggled to get consistently good stings from Rotosound for anything other than ordinary 34" 4-string basses (I have owned a couple). IMO it doesn't matter how cheap a set of strings are if I am constantly finding duff strings in a set. So far (about 5 years of using them) the Warwick Black labels haven't let me down. I also picked them because the low B-string is taper-wound at the ball end which suits the basses I am fitting these too, and which I don't think Rotosound offer as an option. If money was no object I'd be using LaBella Steels but they are twice the price of the Warwicks, and only marginally better.