dark horse strings

[clankenstein]

Anyone tried dark horse stainless steel roundwounds?i like them,they feel good and sound good too .here in new Zealand I get them for $35 vs $70 for Dr ,dean markley rotosound etc.

[Dave W]

I haven't heard of them before. They have five retailers listed in the US yet only one looks like a regular musical instrument retailer.

[clankenstein]

mmm interesting.they seem closest to how i remember rotosounds being in the late 70s/early 80s.before the qc,at least here in nz,went haywire.they are being sold on trade me -thats like an nz version of ebay.

[gweimer]

You pay $70 for Rotos?  Wow.  I think we pay about $15-20 for them over here.

[clankenstein]

yes its a shocker all right.bass strings cost far too much here.and i like new roundwounds.how much are the dark horse strings selling for in the US?

[Dave W]

Of the listed retailers, only one of them even lists them, and that site doesn't show any prices. But the shop on their site shows $25 US for the stainless and $27 for the nickel. That's a little higher than most major brands here.

I can buy Ernie Ball Super Slinky nickels for $17, stainless are about $1 more. I see that Sweetwater sells Roto Swingbass for $20.

[Pilgrim]

My favorite strings are Labella Deep Talkin Flats, the 760FL set.  They're fairly expensive ($50+)at most sites, but Imperial Guitar & Soundworks in NY online sells them for $28.55, which is a real deal, and about $20 per set less than Juststrings.com.  

I have also phoned them and had them special order two sets of the short scale 760's for me since they don't carry them as a regular item - it took a couple of weeks, but they gave me a similar killer price.  Good folks to do business with!

Website: http://www.imperialguitar.com/

Bass strings: http://imperialguitar.stores.yahoo.net/strings-bass.html

[eb2]

I doubt they had any tie in to George Harrison's most nicotine and booze gunked record ever, but I like to think they do.  Maybe they can be the official Last Bass Outpost string. 

[chromium]

Tubehead - have you ever tried the D'Addarios?  I used to use Rotos and DRs, but switched to the EXL-170 nickel rounds years ago and love them.  If you like the stainless roundwound sound, then maybe check out the EPS-170 prosteels.  From JustStrings.com, it looks like both sets would cost around NZ$18 give-or-take a bit, plus shipping.  I can't imagine shipping would be too bad, even via EMS (assuming they ship International?)

If you append "S" to either set's model number, you'll get the short-scale version.  I like those because they don't have silk windings at the ball-ends, and they fit perfectly on the old Gibson bar, ever-tilt, and 3-point bridges as a result (IME).  I use the regular long scale version on my Ric, Tbird, etc... I kinda like that I can run the same string on all of 'em.

At any rate- string preference is a highly subjective thing!!  Just thought I'd mention these, since I found them to be very cost effective and hold their sound for a long time (years, on some of my basses).

[dadagoboi]

Tubehead - have you ever tried the D'Addarios?  I used to use Rotos and DRs, but switched to the EXL-170 nickel rounds years ago and love them.  If you like the stainless roundwound sound, then maybe check out the EPS-170 prosteels.  From JustStrings.com, it looks like both sets would cost around NZ$18 give-or-take a bit, plus shipping.  I can't imagine shipping would be too bad, even via EMS (assuming they ship International?)

If you append "S" to either set's model number, you'll get the short-scale version.  I like those because they don't have silk windings at the ball-ends, and they fit perfectly on the old Gibson bar, ever-tilt, and 3-point bridges as a result (IME).  I use the regular long scale version on my Ric, Tbird, etc... I kinda like that I can run the same string on all of 'em.

At any rate- string preference is a highly subjective thing!!  Just thought I'd mention these, since I found them to be very cost effective and hold their sound for a long time (years, on some of my basses).

I use EXL 170s as OEM strings on Cataldo basses.  They're 24.95 for a Twin pack from Strings and Beyond.com.  They run frequent 10% off sales (tomorrow's the last day for one) and always free shipping for orders of $35 or more.  I usually buy 2-Twin packs to get the free ship.  Bottom line per set ends up being $11.25 delivered USA. 

Here's the link http://www.stringsandbeyond.com/dtwpaexlniba.html

They take Paypal, don't know about overseas shipping.

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