Strings fitted to the Yamaha SLB 200

[GambaCorners]

Hello to all,

My first post, although I’ve been a lurker for a while. 

Just bought the Yamaha SLB 200  silent bass. It comes fitted with DAddario Helicore Pizz strings as standard. Does anyone happen to know what gauge they are? Another SLB owner perhaps? The silk windings at the pegbox end have been clipped very short so there’s not much to go on there.

Why not ask Yamaha? I did ... sent a message to the Wardour St shop and they responded very quickly but have passed it around amongst themselves to no effect; I’ve had four replies from different people there saying they don’t know, so they’ve forwarded the question to Head Office in Japan. 

Does anyone here know? I’d like to buy another set the same gauge; never used these strings before but I like them.

Thanks in advance.

[Staggering on]

My SLB 200 has the stock strings the same as yours.Not sure of the gauge but here are the colours of the silks on mine if that's any help.

Tailpiece-red and gold

Pegbox-E green,A black,D gold,G red

There are sites where you can use the colours to identify your strings and there are other sites that deal with the Yamaha SLB200(Talkbass...oops,sorry about that BC).

I'm in Canada and there is a phone contact on the Yamaha website but nobody seemed to know much about the instrument.I have the owners manual but it does not give any details about the strings other than how to change them and tune.In the specifications it says "contra bass strings" with no names or gauges.

Good luck!

 

[GambaCorners]

Thanks for your help; much appreciated. Apparently there's a little extra twist of a contrasting colour at the end of the peg box end of the string which tells you the gauge. Mine's clipped off. I'll post up the reply from Japan when it comes. After all this effort I imagine the answer will just be: medium, but who knows?

[Staggering on]

24 minutes ago, GambaCorners said:

Thanks for your help; much appreciated. Apparently there's a little extra twist of a contrasting colour at the end of the peg box end of the string which tells you the gauge. Mine's clipped off. I'll post up the reply from Japan when it comes. After all this effort I imagine the answer will just be: medium, but who knows?

Yup,probably medium but it will be nice to hear what they say.

I just checked the string ID chart at Gollihur Music(https://www.gollihurmusic.com/faq/57-STRINGS_STRING_IDENTIFICATION_CHART.html) and it seems that string is only shown as light or heavy.The plot thickens....

...a few minutes later...

I went to the Gollihur site again and found that they sell that string in light, heavy AND medium!There is also a video from the manufacturer and they mention the three weights too.This is getting interesting.

Edited March 6, 2018 by Staggering on

[DaveFry]

There is always the measurement option ( by means of a Vernier caliper ) .

When a friend gave me a dilruba that she brought back from India I took it to the motorcycle shop around the corner and they measured the 27 strings for me so that I could source appropriately gauged replacements .

[BreadBin]

I have a cheap digital vernier, its ideal for measuring string gauge.

There are loads on eBay 

[GambaCorners]

Here's the reply. Hats off to Yamaha customer services; it took a while but they finally chased down an answer:

 

We have been informed that the strings (D'Addario Helicore Pizzicatos) are the MEDIUM guage ones fitted as standard on the SLB200 bass.

Best Wishes

Carl Smith
Customer Services Manager
Yamaha Music London
152-160 Wardour Street
London
W1F 8YA

Tel: 020 7432 4407 (Direct Line)
Tel: 020 7432 4400 (Store)

[Staggering on]

2 hours ago, GambaCorners said:

Here's the reply. Hats off to Yamaha customer services; it took a while but they finally chased down an answer:

 

We have been informed that the strings (D'Addario Helicore Pizzicatos) are the MEDIUM guage ones fitted as standard on the SLB200 bass.

Best Wishes

Carl Smith
Customer Services Manager
Yamaha Music London
152-160 Wardour Street
London
W1F 8YA

Tel: 020 7432 4407 (Direct Line)
Tel: 020 7432 4400 (Store)

Your persistence paid off...and you were right, medium it is.

Much as I love my SLB200 I have found it very frustrating when I have contacted Yamaha and asked any technical questions (ex."should I use a preamp?")so you have done well.

Bob in Canada