La Bella nightmare experience

[Freud_Chicken123]

Had a terrible experience purchasing strings from La Bella over the last 2 years ish, i'm down so much money I had to just write about it to maybe spare some other people the same fate. 

I'm an experience pro player of about 15 years. Ive used ALOT of different strings brands, mostly flats, and found that my favourite flatwound tone was la bella 760fl. I purchased a set of them and a set of 760fs, and a set of their LTFs. The D string of both 760fs and fl both produced a citar like buzzing in the high frets which persists at maximum action. I checked this on 4 different basses, all produced the same issue and none of these basses had any problems with TIs, Fenders, GHS, D'Addarios, Dunlops, Ernie Balls, Rotosounds etc. I contacted la bella and they replaced the dodgy strings. Exact same issue happened again this time the G also buzzed on the 760fl. I stuck with the LTFs as they worked fine and are great strings. I then purchased another set for another bass, but they had the same issue on the G string. Contacted la bella and they replaced the set. Same issue AGAIN. Since then I have tried a few more times to find a set that works. As it stands, I have bought about 10 sets of la bellas, and at the end of spending almost £500 i have ONE SET OF USEABLE STRINGS. These were not even the only issue; many of the sets came with a single string being a completely different colour and very different in tone and volume - much lower volume and high end. I have tried wearing in the sets and after about 2 years all the problems persist.

La Bella are now just straight up ignoring my emails, in which I literally attach video and audio evidence of all the issues. I must have sent them 5, none of which they have replied to since last year I think. It's been an awful experience, and i recommend avoid this once great company.

[Sibob]

Sorry to hear about your experience.
Obviously I can’t attest to the strings you’ve had, but I can perhaps balance it out with the fact that I’ve had multiple bulk orders from La Bella sent to the UK, directly from them in the US. Flats, tapes, extra long scale, short scale, nickels, steels, 4 string, 5 string, you name it, and I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve never had a dud string over the last 2 years.

I’m curious to know why, if you had no issues with all of the other brands you mention, you proceeded to buy another 10 sets of La Bellas?

Si

[hooky_lowdown]

6 minutes ago, Sibob said:

I’m curious to know why, if you had no issues with all of the other brands you mention, you proceeded to buy another 10 sets of La Bellas?

Me too.

GHS Precision flats sound similar to La Bella's, a little lower in tension than the FLs, and as tension doesn't seem to be an issue as you're using LTFs, maybe use GHS instead?

[Reggaebass]

That’s really bad, I’ve been using Labella flats for years, but I don’t change mine ,I tend to leave them on, over the last 2 years I’ve fitted 5 of my jazzes with LTFs , all the others have 760’s on, and they’ve all been fine, I have heard of a few issues but I’ve been fortunate up to  now 🙂

[Happy Jack]

On 06/05/2021 at 20:25, Freud_Chicken123 said:

Had a terrible experience purchasing strings from La Bella over the last 2 years ish, i'm down so much money I had to just write about it to maybe spare some other people the same fate. 

 

Given that (a) you mention three different types of LaBella string being tried on four different basses, and (b) nobody else seems to have have had a similar experience to you, logic suggests that the thing these problems have in common is not LaBella or their products, but in fact is you. 🙂

[Quatschmacher]

On 06/05/2021 at 20:25, Freud_Chicken123 said:

Had a terrible experience purchasing strings from La Bella over the last 2 years ish, i'm down so much money I had to just write about it to maybe spare some other people the same fate. 

I'm an experience pro player of about 15 years. Ive used ALOT of different strings brands, mostly flats, and found that my favourite flatwound tone was la bella 760fl. I purchased a set of them and a set of 760fs, and a set of their LTFs. The D string of both 760fs and fl both produced a citar like buzzing in the high frets which persists at maximum action. I checked this on 4 different basses, all produced the same issue and none of these basses had any problems with TIs, Fenders, GHS, D'Addarios, Dunlops, Ernie Balls, Rotosounds etc. I contacted la bella and they replaced the dodgy strings. Exact same issue happened again this time the G also buzzed on the 760fl. I stuck with the LTFs as they worked fine and are great strings. I then purchased another set for another bass, but they had the same issue on the G string. Contacted la bella and they replaced the set. Same issue AGAIN. Since then I have tried a few more times to find a set that works. As it stands, I have bought about 10 sets of la bellas, and at the end of spending almost £500 i have ONE SET OF USEABLE STRINGS. These were not even the only issue; many of the sets came with a single string being a completely different colour and very different in tone and volume - much lower volume and high end. I have tried wearing in the sets and after about 2 years all the problems persist.

La Bella are now just straight up ignoring my emails, in which I literally attach video and audio evidence of all the issues. I must have sent them 5, none of which they have replied to since last year I think. It's been an awful experience, and i recommend avoid this once great company.

 

On 08/05/2021 at 09:27, Happy Jack said:

Given that (a) you mention three different types of LaBella string being tried on four different basses, and (b) nobody else seems to have have had a similar experience to you, logic suggests that the thing these problems have in common is not LaBella or their products, but in fact is you. 🙂

Nope, I had similar issues with two sets of 760FS. (Have read of a few other users who did too.) The replacements that Labella sent also had the same problem. Made my basses sound like a sitar on the D and G. The strings were kinked from new which is probably what caused the buzzing. I surmised that someone packing them has been bending them too much.

Tried the same strings on three different basses and the problem was there. As soon as I put on a different string brand, the problem went away. (I’ve had a few used sets of Labellas that played just fine but some of the new sets I’ve had had this issue to some degree.)

It’s a bummer as I really love the sound and feel of them.

(GHS Precision flats don’t sound the same by the way, at least not to my ear. I have them on two of my basses currently.)

Edited May 10, 2021 by Quatschmacher