James made some enquiries for zither strings and for this particular zither, the concert zither, strings for this instrument in london was practically unknown, so substitute strings were used to make up a complete set of strings, using some violin strings, some guitar strings, some cello strings, until a reasonable balance was completed. Classical thump on a kala ubass with round wound strings victor wooten cover. Enjoy the lowest prices and best selection of roundwound bass guitar strings at guitar center. Whilst rotosound havent been making strings for quite as long as pyramid, they have a long history in making top quality strings and recently celebrated their 60th anniversary.
Another thing to keep an eye out for when selecting your bass guitar strings is the coating. Paul tutmarc invented the first solid body electric bass guitar about 1936. Feb 12, 2018 classical thump on a kala ubass with round wound strings victor wooten cover. What are some pros and cons of flatwound strings vs. I will start by saying my first electric guitar had flat wounds on it when i got it used. When they appeared round wound strings were just cheaper to make so we avoided them as flats meant quality.
You can choose from coated or uncoated, nickel flat wound, round wound, half rounds, phosphor bronze, stainless steel and more. The monel bass sets available on todays market are made by top uk string manufacturer, rotosound. The difference is the shape of each strings steel core. Roundwound 4 string sets for electric bass musicians friend.
The birth of the roundwound bass string bass musician magazine. Classical thump on a kala ubass with round wound strings. Bass guitar strings free delivery possible on eligible purchases. Rotosound nickel medium gauge roundwound bass strings 40 60. This core type has less tension when tuned to pitch, and fingers can bend it easier. Rotosound introduced the roundwound bass string in 1962. As the electric guitar came about, strings got smaller and lighter guaged, my 1st rememberence of flat wounds on electrics was 1960 when the surf music craze hit so. After the external wraps are put around the string core, the wraps are ground smooth. Dont feel bad if you dont, theyre very similar both roundwound and nickelwound strings use nickelplated steel wire to wrap around a steel core. Apr 21, 20 hello fellow bcers, in the last year or so, ive been using flatwound strings on both my 5 string and fretless bass and become very accustomed to them, i recently used my 4 string bass at a gig that has set of fairly fresh round wounds on them and didnt enjoy the experience much. However, the winding wire has a rounded square crosssection that has a shallower profile in crosssection when tightly wound. Roto sound from england started marketing round wound bass strings some time in the 70s. Right as i was about to go out and buy a new bass i put a set of flatwound on my squire pbass.
When did roundwound nickel stings come into the picture. This very popular nickel on steel string offers the best of both worlds. The birth of the roundwound bass string important moments in bass history. These are designed for use on the mebass and may have intonation issues on the acoustic microbass 23 or 25. The world famous rotosound swing bass guitar strings are sold to over 70 countries and exported in tons, used by every famous group in the world, and are the result of this initial design. Considering the companys long history manufacturing strings for. Alot easier on the fingers and the sound is lower and more meaty to me. Half round guitar strings have a warmer sound due to the strings being round wound, then ground down for a smoother feel. Most electric guitar strings these days are hex wound but i was trying to find who makes some round wound, thanks for the link to the new tone strings.
It wasnt until 1962 that rotosound developed the first roundwound strings for electric bass the famed swing bass 66 set. Rotosound, a british string manufacturers, developed the first roundwound strings for electric bass guitars in 1962 the swing bass 66 set. This string is specifically made for the microelectronic bass. What is the difference between nickelwound and roundwound. British bass players loved the brighter, more defined sound that these strings made, and it helped create the sound of the beat groups such as the kinks and the who, and later bands like pink floyd, yes, black sabbath and led zeppelin. In addition to traditional flatwound strings, choices now include various windings and. Buy ernie ball super slinky nickel round wound bass set. During the 30s companies like black diamond made very heavy steel and bronze round wound strings for all guitars. This machine was made lovingly from stainless steel, black ebony, with ivory fittings, and would produce any string from violin, viola, cello, double bass, clavichord, harpsichord, piano strings, cymbalum, herdygerdy, zither strings from prim zithers, concert zithers, elege zithers, lyon zithers, mandolin zithers and the many many ranges of. The bass guitar, electric bass, or simply bass, is the lowest pitched member of the guitar family. Roundwound, halfwound and flatwound the profile of the wrap wire affects tone and feel of guitar strings. Tone is in the flats and twang is in the round strings. The idea behind any compression wound string, especially for fretless, is to give you the growl of a round wound without any damage being done to the fretboard.
Thanks to your book, i now have a better understanding of how tuning really works. Buy kala silverplated roundwound ubass strings 4string, 50110 featuring for 4string ubasses, roundwound, nylon core with silverplated windings, warm. Round by ernie ball on september 12, 2019 in strings when it comes to bass guitar strings, there are a number of options to choose from. Rotosound string factory looking for an evensounding, heavy roundwound bass string. Buy dr strings bass strings, black beauties extralife, blackcoated. I kinda think rounds are actually a scam and the never ending addiction to super bright zingy strings is just a way for the guitarstring manufacturers to make more money, by encouraging guitarists to change their strings every week. Ground wound strings are manufactured in the same basic manner as round wound strings. Of course, if you want to keep it traditional, there are lots of classic nickel wound strings to choose from including the rest of ernie balls slinky lineup. In this issue, we will take a look back at the birth of the roundwound bass string. Looking for the right strings for our fretless bass without damaging that beautiful fretboard. Right as i was about to go out and buy a new bass i put a set of flatwound on my squire p bass. This month begins the series, important moments in bass history. Get the guaranteed lowest prices on roundwound 4 string sets for electric bass instruments at musicians friend. Our flatwound bass guitar strings are the best bass strings for jazz and country musicians who prefer a smoother and more mellow feel.
With nickelwound strings, the steel core is hex shaped. But i think i want to get some round wound strings to replace them. The 100 best bass players of all time guitar world. It wouldnt have been in the part number book if it wasnt we dont put just samples in there i just especially when im writing prototypes and things for somebody no part numbers or side. This new technology forever changed and helped to shape the modern music we hear today. This enabled stringed instruments to be made with less thick bass strings. This meant four pairs of strings, giving eight in total. Strings 101 guitar string history professor string. I have used both over the years and like each for specific kinds of playing on specific kinds of guitars. Rotosound is a british guitar and bass string manufacturing company based in england. In the 1970s, when flatwound string usage began to decline, more people turned to the new roundwound strings. Roundwound acoustic guitar strings musicians friend.
Kona bass guitar strings nickel round wound medium gauge. When dealing with guitar strings, ground wound is a type of string most commonly associated with bass guitars. Thats thats these strings which were a a strong dave holcomb the sales rep for g strings made for leo spender it was probably a production run. As you probably guessed, round core uses a literal round core. When did round wound nickel stings come into the picture. Hello fellow bcers, in the last year or so, ive been using flatwound strings on both my 5 string and fretless bass and become very accustomed to them, i recently used my 4 string bass at a gig that has set of fairly fresh round wounds on them and didnt enjoy the experience much.
The feel is identical to flatwound bass strings and the tone is more similar to a fender pbass. He thought, well im the bass player in the who, but i can now compete with the guitarist, and as we now know the rest is history, and evidence that this was a. In 1962 they brought out the first roundwound bass strings. I just cant justify buying a new bass now as i love it so darn much. Handmade using the finest silver plated copper drawn in the usa, this set of 5 roundwound strings for the ubass including high c improves. The invention of wound strings, such as nylon covered in wound metal, was a crucial step in string instrument technology, because a metalwound string can produce a lower pitch than a catgut string of similar thickness. The original guitar string set consisted of a quadrapairing set. As far as bass strings are concerned, im pretty certain that most of what you hear on all the classic recordings is flat wound. Expand your sound beyond roundwound with this fast bass string primer.
Apparently round wound will yield warmer tones, fller tones with more sustain, but many companies dont advertise the tech detail. Not sure when nickel plated roundwounds came on the scene. Buy fender nickelplated steel roundwound, long scale, 7250m 45105, bass strings. Flatwound bass strings are typically favoured by many jazz players.
Buy rotosound nickel medium gauge roundwound bass strings 40 60 80 100. I feel like i have to use extra effort fretting notes because i am not getting any traction on the smooth flat wounds. Funk players who slapped and rock players who liked the growl soon switcher over. Are there any plain nylon bass strings for classical guitar. It literally reincarnated that bass and now i play more and love the sound it makes alot more. Volumes can be written on how this new technology changed bass tone, and hence the shape of modern music. Jan 15, 2018 looking for the right strings for our fretless bass without damaging that beautiful fretboard. The flat wound strings still were used on upright bass instruments. Apr 17, 2015 recently, we did a call out on our facebook page about some topic ideas that you, our readers, would like to see covered here on the fretless bass guitar hub. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an. Roundwound, halfwound and flatwound strings and beyond. A great choice for a bass player used to playing traditional flatwound strings. Of course, if you want to keep it traditional, there are lots of classic nickelwound strings to choose from including the rest of ernie balls slinky lineup.
Round wound guitar strings offer the the brightest sound, yet have more string noise due to their ribbed texture. Ernie ball super slinky nickel round wound bass set. Reader paul oliphant chimed in with several good ideas we are looking at covering more of them, including this one why someone would choose. Those strings, the rs66 sets, were the first that vibrated properly.
Ernie ball uses highquality nickel, stainless steel, chromeplated steel, cobalt, and copper for its bass guitar strings. Like most of the bassplaying world, you probably use roundwound. Among entwistles trailblazing musical and sonic efforts as a founding member of the who include the use of treble frequencies, the development of roundwound strings with rotosound, technical innovations such as typewriter tapping and strumming, and biamping, splitting his signal between overdriven high end and clean low end. I dont think they did, as rotosound claims to be the first to make roundwound bass strings, but i could be wrong. Roundwound strings were a key element in the trend toward louder, more.
Look no further that the sit silencers semiflat compression wound strings. So fender invented the bass guitar in 1951 and issued them with flatwound nickel. A round core string has a vibration when plucked that does not necessarily last as long as hexcore, but for some is more controllable in sound to the ear. We have many different types of 4 and 5 string bass guitar strings for different tastes, preferences and styles of playing. Ernie ball 2836 round wound regular slinky 5 string bass strings 45 ernie ball 2821 power slinky 5string bass guitar strings 505 ernie ball 2838 slinky 6string bass guitar strings 32. Mousemats badges lunchboxes stickers stools tshirts book ends. Our popular roundwound bass strings have a bright tone made for rock and funk musicians. A 30 watt ampcabinet and flat wound strings and we build that city on rock and roll. The invention of wound strings, such as nylon covered in wound metal, was a crucial step in string instrument technology, because a metal wound string can produce a lower pitch than a catgut string of similar thickness. In this issue, we will take a look back at the birth of the roundwound bass string and how a small british company and john entwistle changed the sound of the bass guitar. As you probably guessed, roundcore uses a literal round core. Feb 28, 2016 the jazz bass that i just recently got has flat wound strings on it.
The birth of the roundwound bass string bass musician. Buy kala ka bass 4 metal round wound u bass strings. Flatwound strings are wrapped with a flat wire, hence the name. May 23, 2017 a 30 watt ampcabinet and flat wound strings and we build that city on rock and roll. Kona bass guitar strings, nickel wound, medium gage reverb.
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