New from La Bella

[Dave W]

Gold alloy flats

They sound good in the demo video. The downside (in the description) is that they may tarnish and need removal for polishing with brass cleaner.

[Granny Gremlin]

I don't think it says you have to remove and polish periodically, just if it bothers you that they change appearance over time.  Kinda the same thing as nickel wound strings that develop a patina; not a problem tonewise, but some people may not like the look of it.

[the mojo hobo]

But it does say that:"Carefully remove your strings before cleaning".

[Granny Gremlin]

IMHO: disclaimer.

[Dave W]

Sure, it's a disclaimer, but there must be a good reason for it, since you don't see disclaimers for tarnish on stainless or nickel wrapped strings.

[Granny Gremlin]

SS by def does not tarnish (it will get dirty, but that's different).  Nickel just looks cooler with a patina and guitar players all know that due to it's extensive history in both strings and hardware in general, but tarnished gold looks like shit.  I really think too much is being read into this here, it's as simple as the company covering their ass before users complain after being caught by surprise.

[Chris P.]

At the NAMM I saw LaBella tapewounds with clear tape! They had some thin coloured wire going through the tape, like bits of cotton threads? I dunno.. hard to explain. Looked like basses with rope instead of strings.

[Dave W]

At the NAMM I saw LaBella tapewounds with clear tape! They had some thin coloured wire going through the tape, like bits of cotton threads? I dunno.. hard to explain. Looked like basses with rope instead of strings.

Those could be their white nylon tapewounds, which are more clear than white, or what they call their gold white nylon tapes. Also could be one of their special editions.

About 15 years ago, Richard Cocco told me the strings inside their 60-115 black tapewounds were a 44-08 roundwound set. I unwound a dead set next time I changed strings on my EB-0L and measured them with my digital calipers. Sure enough, that's exactly what they were. Now they offer their black and white tapewounds in 50-105 sets too, so I imagine the inner strings must be very small, like 34-88.

[Chris P.]

It were specials.

[hieronymous]

I bought a set of the gold flats for my Duck Dunn Signature P - I haven't put them on yet, having a bit of maintenance done on the bass, planning to string them up when it's back:



I probably shouldn't have got them - I have a feeling my sweat is going to cause these to tarnish quick, hoping that they end up looking kind of like the pickguard. Also hoping that they are medium/high tension - I currently have DR Legends on there and they are pretty low tension, enough that I should really adjust the trussrod. I originally had GHS flats which were perfect really - should probably have left them on but I wanted to experiment...

[Dave W]

They should be about the same tension as the regular DTB flats, since weight determines tension and most of the weight is in the solid core wire. They should look good with that anodized pickguard.

It's been a long time since I had a set of GHS flats but IIRC the tension was comparable to the LaBellas.

[Granny Gremlin]

I hate to continue the trend of contrarianism here, but wouldn't tension be determined by a number of factors including density (of which weight is a factor) as well as the comparative torsional strength of different alloys?  Weight alone assume that the materials are identical (and though the core wire is probably so, we don't know that for certain, and the wrap will have some effect, I'd suspect above negligable, if not by much).

[Dave W]

Read pages 3 and 4: http://www.daddario.com/Resources/JDCDAD/images/tension_chart.pdf

I was referring to actual pounds of string tension, the pull on the neck, and that's what D'addario is talking about here. There are other factors that affect the feel of the string --  I think the correct term is compliance. One string may have the same or lower tension than other but feel stiffer.

[uwe]

"... may have the same or lower tension than others but feel stiffer ..."

That's my experience too. Mornings are best. Why not sail with the wind?

Compliance seems to be good term for it. I try to be all the time.

[Dave W]

"... may have the same or lower tension than others but feel stiffer ..."

That's my experience too. Mornings are best. Why not sail with the wind?

Compliance seems to be good term for it. I try to be all the time.

Do you spring back to the original tension afterwards?