Mariner72 Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 I'm in shock this morning. Last night I snapped a flatwound string. Five years old,strung on my well set up Guild Starfire bass (the one with the wooden saddles urghh). I expected these to outlive me, ha ha. Maybe my expectations were too high on their longevity. The last time I snapped any string was 1988 ! As we all know, I'm looking at a new set £££, advice suggests you can't sort singles. I love these La Bella Deep Talkin strings. Combined with my Guild they are sort of a signature tone for me and my band. However should I switch brands? I still need that nice smooth coating on the replacements. I have tried Fender on my jazz and quickly switched back to rounds. Looking forward to any comments / advice from the forum. Also if anyone has a spare set for sale..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 Strings direct will probably sell you a single one. Then do the hand cream thing to age it down to sound like the old ones. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 Oh, and no other string sounds like the La Bella DTF. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 Taking a new string up to pitch, down and back up several times helps age it by partially fatiguing the metal. Do it gently, though, or it may break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernaut Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 4 hours ago, fretmeister said: Oh, and no other string sounds like the La Bella DTF. Hmm... GHS Precision Flats comes pretty close in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikNik Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 (edited) 18 hours ago, fretmeister said: Strings direct will probably sell you a single one. Then do the hand cream thing to age it down to sound like the old ones. Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash said he used tomato ketchup on Roto RS66 to deaden them. To this day, I'm not sure if was being cheeky or not. Edited April 22 by NikNik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 (edited) 31 minutes ago, NikNik said: Ted Turner of Wishbone Ash said he used tomato ketchup on Roto RS66 to deaden them. To this day, I'm not sure if was being cheeky or not. Do you mean Martin Turner? Ted was one of the guitarists. EDIT: Sorry, that sounds very pedantic! Wasn't meant to be. Edited April 22 by franzbassist 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikNik Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 (edited) 24 minutes ago, franzbassist said: Do you mean Martin Turner? Ted was one of the guitarists. EDIT: Sorry, that sounds very pedantic! Wasn't meant to be. God, yes!! 🙂 Edited. Edited April 22 by franzbassist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Vaseline will deaden the string, I’ve done it and it definitely works, a Sean Hurley tip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acidbass Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 (edited) Time for a new set! Within 2 or 3 gigs they will deaden nicely. No other strings sound like La Bellas to my ears. Just put a set on a short scale Hofner Beatle Bass and the tone is unreal! Edited April 22 by acidbass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 1 hour ago, NikNik said: Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash said he used tomato ketchup on Roto RS66 to deaden them. To this day, I'm not sure if was being cheeky or not. There's a thread. Including some of my experiments. The cream definitely works. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/474941-aging-new-flat-wound-strings/page/2/#comment-5082124 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikNik Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 3 hours ago, Reggaebass said: Vaseline will deaden the string, I’ve done it and it definitely works, a Sean Hurley tip There was a time, back in the early Noughties, when RS66 were dead out of the packet! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 18 minutes ago, NikNik said: There was a time, back in the early Noughties, when RS66 were dead out of the packet! I’ve never had dead strings out of the packets, was it a fault with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikNik Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 17 hours ago, Reggaebass said: I’ve never had dead strings out of the packets, was it a fault with them Mainly the E string, but there were reports of most being dead. Jason Howe acknowledged this. The internet is full of examples. Happened to me twice back then, and I sent the whole lot back to Roto. That's when I switched over to Warwick Reds, which I now find difficult to get ahold of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MungoBass Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago On 23/04/2024 at 08:12, NikNik said: Mainly the E string, but there were reports of most being dead. Jason Howe acknowledged this. The internet is full of examples. Happened to me twice back then, and I sent the whole lot back to Roto. That's when I switched over to Warwick Reds, which I now find difficult to get ahold of. I buy the Warwick Reds from Thomann. The only problem is that is you want free postage you HAVE to spend another £140 or so on other stuff that you probably don’t necessarily need……! 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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