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My experience of La Bella Flatwounds


Monz
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After reading the experiences and glowing reports of La Bella flatwound strings I took the plunge and ordered some from stringbusters...

So they arrive very promptly from stringbusters and like a giddy schoolkid I put them on my stingray, immediately I notice the B string is stepped at the bridge so lift the saddle to compensate and all is good and they sound great apart from fret buzz on the G string so I lift the saddle a little and still it buzzes, so I lift it a little more and guess what? yes it still buzzes. So now the G string is quite a lot higher than the rest of the strings.

Now I'm not the sharpest tool in the toolbox at times but even I was starting to think there must be something amiss here as none of the other strings are having problems. Get on the phone to stringbusters and explain my problem. Without missing a beat they offer to replace them but the guy also tells me this is not uncommon for La Bella strings. The upshot of this is I now have a set of Thomastic flats on the way and I don't think I will bother with the world famous LaBella flats again if their QC is that poor.

I must mention how good stringbusters customer services are though... very helpfull and quick to offer a solution, oh and honest which goes a long way in my book

Waits with bated breath... again

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I also generally use TI flats but once tried some LaBella Deep Talkin Flats - and the E was problematic for me (dead sounding compared to other three strings and didn't vibrate properly). Someone on the Forum then mentioned problems with QC on the E string. I went straight back to TI's

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[quote name='wateroftyne' post='518165' date='Jun 19 2009, 10:40 AM']FWIW, I've never had a problem.

It's a shame you didn't give them a second chance. You never know...[/quote]

For me it's a cost and time thing, and to be honest I hate buying stuff if the reseller/dealer is unsure if the replacement is going to be faulty as well. From the conversation I had it seems like they get a lot back and La Bella either don't listen or don't care.

Trust you to get a good set :)) muttergrumblemutter

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Awesome strings, play them on my Precision fretless and the sound is incredible. Great on a Precision, less good on a Jazz, not sure I'd ever use them on a Stingray, and most certainly can't be used strung through body. Very high tension tends to expose other problems with a bass as well; I had a buzz at the headstock which I tried for months to isolate. Put a set of DTs on there and within about 5 seconds the part of the nut that sits vertically above the E when you're playing flew up in the air and, hey presto, no more buzz. OK, string was no longer in line and I had to replace the nut, but I'd found the cause of the buzz! The DT G always sounds a bit brighter than the rest of the strings when they're new as well.

Bad QC? Part of bass culture, EB and Fender being the leading proponents :)

Chris

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I once bought some Elixers. Upon stringing them up the E string seemed to be lacking in the fundamental low E it should have, the harmonics were too prevalent. I was informed by a very reliable source that sometimes these things just happen on strings.

I would have thought that at around £30, a problem like this wouldn't occur. Needless to say, I didn't like them anyway.

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[quote name='Monz' post='518177' date='Jun 19 2009, 10:53 AM']For me it's a cost and time thing, and to be honest I hate buying stuff if the reseller/dealer is unsure if the replacement is going to be faulty as well. From the conversation I had it seems like they get a lot back and La Bella either don't listen or don't care.

Trust you to get a good set :rolleyes:) muttergrumblemutter[/quote]

I've had lots of good sets, but then the pack I've just opened was bought about two years ago....

Also, FWIW, I think they sound great on a Jazz, too.. :)

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I have owned four sets of 5 string Labella flats, all from Stringbusters. One had a bad B string, really stiff and sounded damped, sounds like the same problem as Clarky's E string. After 2 rehearsals and midway through the second gig, it appeared to snap, although there was no visual damage. I think it was the inner core that snapped. I had never snapped a string by playing before, certainly not a B!

Up to that point, I had assumed it was down to my new Squier P5 not being able to handle a B string properly.

Stringbusters were great, and replaced the string, although it did have blue on the winding instead of black, so may have been a different string in a Labella packet, or certainly from a different Labella range.

Didn't seem different in terms of feel, and is still going strong.

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I would never consider Thomastik 'flats' a replacement for normal flats. Because they're wound with a gap between the square section wire coils on the outside they don't behave like flats in how they vibrate and thus how they sound - they're far too flexible and have much more midrange and much less boom. They really shouldn't even be called flats, maybe squarewounds or something! They're very nice strings if you don't mind the low tension but they're not proper flats.

Alex

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I've just put a set of flats on my P and they sound great.

I've found the key to many of these problems is to cut the nut with a pronounced slope back toward the machine heads. This gives a positive 'witness point' to terminate the vibrating length. Also, make the nut slot wide enough so the string isn't really tight in the slot.

G.

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[quote name='Beedster' post='518180' date='Jun 19 2009, 10:54 AM']and most certainly can't be used strung through body.[/quote]

sh*te, I have some £50 La Bella black tapes ready for when I get my Kopo back, which is string through. What's the issue Chris?

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[quote name='silddx' post='518383' date='Jun 19 2009, 01:47 PM']sh*te, I have some £50 La Bella black tapes ready for when I get my Kopo back, which is string through. What's the issue Chris?[/quote]
Jumping in here...

Because the strings are very tightly wound and stiff, the break-angle over the saddles can break either the core or the windings, or both, depending on how unlucky you are. I've seen a few threads on Talkbass about this, and some people have managed to string La Bellas through the body for years without trouble. Others have a very expensive experience the first time out.

That's just from what I've read. I've never tried La Bellas myself, and if I did, I wouldn't string them through the body. Too risky at that price.

Of course, the black nylon tapes might be a completely different story. I'm pretty sure the Deep Talkin' flats have a warning on the packet telling you not to string them through, so if your black set doesn't have a warning, you might be in the clear. :)

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[quote name='silddx' post='518383' date='Jun 19 2009, 01:47 PM']sh*te, I have some £50 La Bella black tapes ready for when I get my Kopo back, which is string through. What's the issue Chris?[/quote]

Hi mate
I was talking about Deep Talkers above, not sure about tapes. There's a thread in 'Repairs and Technical' which I think I resolved pretty conclusively for the negative with a photo of a La Bella DT E string that lasted 3 minutes strung through the body. Trust me, they don't like the angle! If I can find the thread I'll stick a link here
Chris

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[quote name='Beedster' post='518444' date='Jun 19 2009, 02:52 PM']Hi mate
I was talking about Deep Talkers above, not sure about tapes. There's a thread in 'Repairs and Technical' which I think I resolved pretty conclusively for the negative with a photo of a La Bella DT E string that lasted 3 minutes strung through the body. Trust me, they don't like the angle! If I can find the thread I'll stick a link here
Chris[/quote]
Great minds, eh? :)

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[quote name='Beedster' post='518444' date='Jun 19 2009, 02:52 PM']Hi mate
I was talking about Deep Talkers above, not sure about tapes. There's a thread in 'Repairs and Technical' which I think I resolved pretty conclusively for the negative with a photo of a La Bella DT E string that lasted 3 minutes strung through the body. Trust me, they don't like the angle! If I can find the thread I'll stick a link here
Chris[/quote]
Found it: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=29708"]here[/url].

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[quote name='alexclaber' post='518344' date='Jun 19 2009, 01:17 PM']I would never consider Thomastik 'flats' a replacement for normal flats. Because they're wound with a gap between the square section wire coils on the outside they don't behave like flats in how they vibrate and thus how they sound - they're far too flexible and have much more midrange and much less boom. They really shouldn't even be called flats, maybe squarewounds or something! They're very nice strings if you don't mind the low tension but they're not proper flats.

Alex[/quote]
:) I can't see why TI s shouldn't be called flatwounds, but I'd still use them even if they were called bendywounds.

I do think Rotosound Jazz flats should be called crapywounds though :rolleyes: .

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[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='518527' date='Jun 19 2009, 04:11 PM']:rolleyes: I can't see why TI s shouldn't be called flatwounds, but I'd still use them even if they were called bendywounds.

I do think Rotosound Jazz flats should be called crapywounds though :lol: .[/quote]

Agreed on both. TIs are also great strings, possibly my favourite for all round playing; try playing slap on a Deep Talker :)

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I love TIs, I much prefer the flexibilty and tone of them to Deep Talkers, but you don't get that [i]authentic[/i] motown thump like you do with the LaBellas. Like Beedster I see the TIs more as an all rounder, and I have them on my Precsion for that reason, rock, funk, soul, jazz the TIs can do all that, the DTs on the other hand don't IMO.

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personally i love Ernie Ball group iv flats in 40-95 gauge.
both of my jazzes are strung with them & both sound great.
tension wise the sort of half way between the floppy TI's & the high tension Labella's.
i find them great for everything i play,they make for very good slap playing too (but unfortunaley i don't)

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[quote name='Monz' post='518154' date='Jun 19 2009, 10:27 AM']....Get on the phone to stringbusters and explain my problem. Without missing a beat they offer to replace them but the guy also tells me this is not uncommon for La Bella strings........[/quote]
Did the guy from Stringbusters mean ALL LaBella strings or just the flatwounds?
Just curious as I've used LaBella Slappers for a few years now & I've never had any problems at all.

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Tapewounds should be ok with thru-body stringing as they're roundwounds with nylon tape on top, not flatwounds. Likewise the Thomastik unflats would be fine because the gaps in the winding allows them to bend.

I do love the sound of the unflats on Meshell's first album, they have a certain something happening in the midrange that suits her natural grease and behind the beat groove. They ain't no Motown sound tho.

Alex

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