Tapewound Strings .... Oh My Oh My

[Linus27]

I play fretless and I've been dabbling lightly with some different strings on my 4 fretless basses. My Precision with high gloss maple neck has a set of Rotosound flats which sound very nice and do sing quite nicely. I recorded an EP in the summer and used this bass mostly as it sounded the best recorded. My Jazz has an Ebony board and uses Rotosound rounds and it really sings, it's a beautiful sounding bass, the most mwah ever and very smooth.

 

My Stingray on the other hand has always been lovely to play but has never sung that much. I kind of put it down to the Pau Ferro board on it which is a hard wood. That was until I fitted a set of LaBella Black Nylon Tapewound strings I had knocking about. Oh my, it has absolutely transformed this bass. It truly sings and they are so lovely to play. Low tension, smooth and I am absolutely converted, or at least for the Stingray, I've never heard so much mwah and expression from this bass. I'm now going to get a set for my Jazz which I think would make an incredible sounding fretless sound out of this world.

 

How did I not know about Tapewound Nylon strings on a fretless but they are wonderful and highly recommended. Never tried LaBella strings before but they sound wonderful.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Linus27

[SamIAm]

I put a set of Rotosound TruBass tape wound on the fretless I built, loved them … so much so that I’ve got another set for the replacement build.

 

S’manth x

Edited December 29, 2022 by Smanth

[JohnH89]

Welcome the wonderful world of tapewounds . Been using Roto88s almost exclusively for 5 years . Epiphone Jack Casady , piezo jazz fretless and P bass bitsa fretless . The only bass that does not have them is my latest . A Yamaha BB734 with LaBella Jamerson flats . 

They have a sound to die for on the fretlesses and in my opinion are perfect on the JCB .

[mcnach]

On 28/12/2022 at 23:15, Linus27 said:

I play fretless and I've been dabbling lightly with some different strings on my 4 fretless basses. My Precision with high gloss maple neck has a set of Rotosound flats which sound very nice and do sing quite nicely. I recorded an EP in the summer and used this bass mostly as it sounded the best recorded. My Jazz has an Ebony board and uses Rotosound rounds and it really sings, it's a beautiful sounding bass, the most mwah ever and very smooth.

 

My Stingray on the other hand has always been lovely to play but has never sung that much. I kind of put it down to the Pau Ferro board on it which is a hard wood. That was until I fitted a set of LaBella Black Nylon Tapewound strings I had knocking about. Oh my, it has absolutely transformed this bass. It truly sings and they are so lovely to play. Low tension, smooth and I am absolutely converted, or at least for the Stingray, I've never heard so much mwah and expression from this bass. I'm now going to get a set for my Jazz which I think would make an incredible sounding fretless sound out of this world.

 

How did I not know about Tapewound Nylon strings on a fretless but they are wonderful and highly recommended. Never tried LaBella strings before but they sound wonderful.

 

 

Big fan of tapewounds here.

 

I use the D'Addario black nylons on my fretless Precision. I used the Rotosound Tru-Bass ones too, which gave this bass more of a "double-bassy" character, but I'm liking the D'Addario more. It doesn't do that thump as well as it did with the Tru-Bass, but I find the D'Addario a bit more versatile and feel better (to me). 

 

 

[MungoBass]

I have a set of La Bella Black Nylons on my fretted Precision and absolutely love them!

 

Easy on the fingers, no finger noise and a really delightful warm sound.

 

 

[Chienmortbb]

They seem to be thicker than round wound or flats. Has this been a problem for anyone?

[MungoBass]

44 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

They seem to be thicker than round wound or flats. Has this been a problem for anyone?

Not a problem for me, they are 105 - 50, which is why I was even more attracted to the La Bellas. Other brands I used in the past were 115s which sometimes meant a bit of nut work. The 105 - 50s were a simple fit, I just needed a tiny bit of pressure to seat the 50 in the nut. 

[fretmeister]

I had La Bella White Nylons on a Zon Hyperbass. Amazing sound.

[MungoBass]

2 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I had La Bella White Nylons on a Zon Hyperbass. Amazing sound.

Yes, I found them much brighter than other flats or tapewounds. I have a set on a different Precision! 

[TheGreek]

I have tapewounds on several basses. First used them on my Silk bass, they feel sooo good to play with great tone.

I  can't play Steel strings anymore. 

 

I find the Warwick or Fender tapewounds to be great vfm - the Warwicks are available as 40 and 45 too, fattest string in a 4 string pack is 100/ 110 - this means you can order a 115 or 125 B string keeping the set as light as a Steel set.

[Reggaebass]

I’ve got D’addario tapes on 2 jazzes, probably around 7 years old now but still sound great and they’re really smooth now, I did buy the Fender black nylon tapewounds but they didn’t feel right, they were a bit tacky

Edited January 9, 2023 by Reggaebass

[Linus27]

On 06/01/2023 at 12:16, MungoBass said:

Not a problem for me, they are 105 - 50, which is why I was even more attracted to the La Bellas. Other brands I used in the past were 115s which sometimes meant a bit of nut work. The 105 - 50s were a simple fit, I just needed a tiny bit of pressure to seat the 50 in the nut. 

 

Yep, this is the same for me although no nut needed adjustment on my Jazz or Stingray. 

[pn_day]

To add to this thread, I have used black tapewounds for years on my fretless. 

 

I tried the white and copper white tapewounds from La Bella and enjoyed have a lot more high-frequency content. However, in both cases I tried them on 5-string basses (one was my Clement fretless, and the other was an Indonesian Yamaha BB435), and found that the low B was much less controlled - inspecting with an accurate tuner the note was all over the place for ages before settling down. Both were 34" scale length. 

 

As a result I'd recommend them for 4-strings, but not so much for 5-strings with a low B. YMMV. 

Eventually I'll probably end up using the strings as 4s and keep the low Bs as spares. 

 

[shoulderpet]

On 28/12/2022 at 23:15, Linus27 said:

I play fretless and I've been dabbling lightly with some different strings on my 4 fretless basses. My Precision with high gloss maple neck has a set of Rotosound flats which sound very nice and do sing quite nicely. I recorded an EP in the summer and used this bass mostly as it sounded the best recorded. My Jazz has an Ebony board and uses Rotosound rounds and it really sings, it's a beautiful sounding bass, the most mwah ever and very smooth.

 

My Stingray on the other hand has always been lovely to play but has never sung that much. I kind of put it down to the Pau Ferro board on it which is a hard wood. That was until I fitted a set of LaBella Black Nylon Tapewound strings I had knocking about. Oh my, it has absolutely transformed this bass. It truly sings and they are so lovely to play. Low tension, smooth and I am absolutely converted, or at least for the Stingray, I've never heard so much mwah and expression from this bass. I'm now going to get a set for my Jazz which I think would make an incredible sounding fretless sound out of this world.

 

How did I not know about Tapewound Nylon strings on a fretless but they are wonderful and highly recommended. Never tried LaBella strings before but they sound wonderful.

I liked the Rotosound tapes but hated the Labellas but glad they are working for you, they (the Labellas) are certainly low tension and when I autopsied a set it looked like 80-20 or similar under the tape.

Edited January 25, 2023 by shoulderpet

[TheGreek]

I'm not convinced by the .135 in the 5 string sets so I've been ordering a D'Addario .50 to go with the Rotosound 65-115 since their individual tapewound strings are outrageously expensive (£18 compared to £8). I think that StringsDirect are the only UK stockists of the Rotos individual tapewounds.

 

In real life, i.e. steels, I wouldn't dream of a .115 as the lowest gauge string in a set so the .50 is the best solution for me.

[Supernaut]

I would try light gauge flats. Most tapes require extreme gauges with nut adjustment and for a tension similar to lower gauge rounds. 

[shoulderpet]

About to give the Labellas another try, my hands really do not like stuff strings and the Rotos and Daddario are both a little bit stiff for me which leaves the Labellas as the next obvious choice, fingers crossed I can make them work this time.

[TheGreek]

I was without a fretless (fretless-less??) for a few weeks after trading my Yamaha TRB 511F for a fretted TRB1005j. New fretless today - I've forgotten what a joy they are to play - considering whether to swap the flats for tapes.

 

Life is hard...

Edited March 12, 2023 by TheGreek

[MungoBass]

On 06/03/2023 at 18:06, shoulderpet said:

About to give the Labellas another try, my hands really do not like stuff strings and the Rotos and Daddario are both a little bit stiff for me which leaves the Labellas as the next obvious choice, fingers crossed I can make them work this time.

 

I’m the same in not liking high tension / stiff strings.

 

I find the La Bella 750N Black Tapewounds (105 - 50) to be very comfortable - and they sound great!