cutting down labella tape wounds 760n for a shorter scale bass ...can it be done?

[Musicman666]

i recently bought a couple of labella tape wounds strings 760n online who gave me xl length instead as they didn't have any regular scale lengths in stock. When i asked them if this was ok they just said i have to be "very careful" ??  Before i break open the string set and cut them can anyone tell me if it's possible to do this without the silken end part being totally removed thus allowing the tape covering to unravel ...this all sounds potentially a tad janky to me. 

Edited 13 hours ago by Musicman666

[Musicman666]

ok ...package arrived ...all the strings are surprisingly now standard long scale not xl ...go figure ..not sure what's going on over there but i'm happy now ..i would delete this thread if i could ...maybe admin can do it for me....cheers. 

[Musicman666]

ah ...problem is back on ...for some reason i blanked out the xl sticker and purely focused on the insert wording ...so yes i still have a problem...so can you cut down tape wounds without them unwinding?

[Musicman666]

ah ...ai seems to think this is a bad idea 

 

 

[Reggaebass]

Ive got tapes on a few of my jazzes, I’ve never tried it but I wouldn’t cut them down past the silks myself, can’t they just be returned for the right ones 

[Beedster]

22 minutes ago, Musicman666 said:

ah ...problem is back on ...for some reason i blanked out the xl sticker and purely focused on the insert wording ...so yes i still have a problem...so can you cut down tape wounds without them unwinding?

No

[nick]

Not wanting to contradict any advice stating it's a bad idea, but I did it.

Had a set of cut down 34" Labella tape wounds on one of my Squier Vista Musicmasters (pink) with no issues.

 

 

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, nick said:

Not wanting to contradict any advice stating it's a bad idea, but I did it.

Had a set of cut down 34" Labella tape wounds on one of my Squier Vista Musicmasters (pink) with no issues.

 

 

Ha ha, fair enough, I did it once and it unraveled within seconds, but that’s life I guess. Beautiful trio there 👍

[nick]

8 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Ha ha, fair enough, I did it once and it unraveled within seconds, but that’s life I guess. Beautiful trio there 👍

Thanks...

To be fair I did cut them really carefully & crimped the ends to prevent the windings from unravelling. Also with stringing through body would have taken some excess length of the long scale strings.

Edited 8 hours ago by nick
format tidying

[ezbass]

I would work out where the cuts are likely to be. Then, before cutting, I would smear the area with some superglue, let it dry and then cut. Perhaps even add a small piece of tape over the area too.

[Musicman666]

maybe if i just cut so there is a small amount of silk just to hold it together ..?

[nick]

28 minutes ago, Musicman666 said:

maybe if i just cut so there is a small amount of silk just to hold it together ..?

Could work.

Importantly get a good clean cut. I used decent sharp electrician's cable cutters.

I also think ezbass's recommendation above of a dab of superglue & maybe a bit of a tape is a good idea.

Obviously you're not gonna get as much windings of the silk on the tuner posts. Particularly on the E string.