Okay, I got these strings recently (only ones my local shop had) and much as I Love the daphne blue winds matching my Hotrod-Musicmaster bass....the bottom E is AWFUL. Just AWFUL. In fact it's giving me issues I've never ever encountered on stings beforew. My assumption is some manufacturing fault.
The string is 'flubby', sounds dead, has weird harmonic overtones, the intonation is COMPLETELY all over the place from fret to fret. It's so remarkably WRONG. I googled this and found others reporting the same, and it points to a lack of quality control and a manufacturing problem. The irony is that the old rusty E string that came on it sounded ten times better and tighter....
I was intrigued to read the puff on the Swing Bass strings
The John Entwistle connection 1966
“It was in 1966 and I was looking for that Danelectro sound again. I tried everybody’s strings but the E and the A’s just didn’t work. It was the same with Rotosound but there was something about them that was almost there but not quite. To solve the problem I got in touch with James How and told him his D and G strings were great but the E and A didn’t vibrate properly.
a set of these kind of strings came with the p bass special i bought. ditched them straight away for the same reason. apparently they're great for a big booming sound but i just wasnt feeling it
NickS wrote:I was intrigued to read the puff on the Swing Bass strings
The John Entwistle connection 1966
“It was in 1966 and I was looking for that Danelectro sound again. I tried everybody’s strings but the E and the A’s just didn’t work. It was the same with Rotosound but there was something about them that was almost there but not quite. To solve the problem I got in touch with James How and told him his D and G strings were great but the E and A didn’t vibrate properly.
Haha! genius!!!
iCEByTes wrote:5 Most Jizz face maker Solo�s , classic Rock music i ever listened.
iCEByTes wrote:Blunt a joint , Take the Touch , Listen this.
I'm a little concerned with the reports of bad customer service reported in those links above. Anyhoo I've just emailed Rotosound with the following and will report back how things work out:
Hi,
I’ve recently purchased a short scale set of Rotosound bass strings to put on a 30� scale bass guitar. I’m getting a very strange issue with the low E string (the others are fine).
Essentially is sounds very dead, feels very ‘flubby’, the oscillation of the string looks strange and loose, and even though tuned to pitch and the saddles are intonated correctly the intonation is really off from fret to fret. The strangest thing is a weird disharmonious overtones to notes.
It is very very noticeable compared to the otherwise fine higher strings. I am a guitarist and guitar tech of some 20-odd years experience so I am not in anyway ignorant of a proper set up, or other factors that might be causing this and have checked every other aspect. The previous old rusty strings (unknown brand) did not exhibit this issue at all, with the E being noticeably more snappy and tight sounding. Basically this is the first time I’ve encountered this issue with a new set of strings. Having googled the symptoms, and asked on the guitar forum I moderate, I have found a couple of people reporting the exact same symptoms on the same string of the same set so I’m assuming it is a manufacturing issue in rare cases such as mine.
Can you help me resolve this issue? I do not wish to go through the hassle of returning to the shop - it’s a long drive and they are small and independent, so would rather not ask for a refund – they just retail them! I still have the receipt which I can scan and email to you as well as any pictures you may need.
Many thanks in advance for your advice.
Kind regards
Dave.
iCEByTes wrote:5 Most Jizz face maker Solo�s , classic Rock music i ever listened.
iCEByTes wrote:Blunt a joint , Take the Touch , Listen this.
I am pretty new to short scale basses but have experienced similar problems with E string on my Musicmaster. I found 2 things helped.
No.1 is to make sure the pickup isn't too close to the string and the magnetic field is having too much influence on how the string is vibrating.
No.2 (and this was my problem) There is too small a gap between the anchor point on the bridge and the saddle. The thicker windings on the E string at the ball end (and sometimes the silk if your strings have it) are continuing over the saddle and messes with how the string vibrates. This can be cured by extending the actor point by adding washers / a small nut / or cutting out a ball end from an old string and threading the E string through it before you fit the string, so the ball end is further away from the saddle. I read that some Gibson bass bridges have the same problem and there is a product (mod bar) you can by that helps as I've tried t explain.
[youtube][/youtube]
Otherwise you could well be right and have a dud - it happens
i can't speak for the short scale version of these strings, but their regular scale strings are my go to for my stingray. i'm guessing its a manufacturing defect
It's pure physics. For a low E, .090" is considered mentally light by any standard, and then .040 - .090" on a 30" scale? Forget about it. It's just going to be pretty awful. I've used RS 77S before, and the flubby E string was a problem I just couldn't overlook. Amazing tone on the other strings, but the low E is just awful if you want any kind of tension on that string. For some reason, on the Jaguar Bass short scale that my bandmate has, the same set actually feels really good, and sounds even better--maybe the added mass of the bass has something to do with it.
If you want a good premium short scale string with the best feel and tone and performance, in my opinion, the only choice is La Bella. They make their strings available in multiple different gauges for all different scales, and their .043 - .104" set is perfect on all my 30" short string basses. And like I said, it's just physics. Your standard Fender short scale set is .040 - .095". By coming down from .095" to .090", you lose a lot of tension (around 11%), almost the same amount of tension loss as going from 34" to 30" in the first place (around 12%), so by dropping the gauge from .095" to .090" on the low E string, it's almost like Rotosound made your E string have the same tension as it would if it were a 26.4" scale bass guitar. So yeah, it makes a lot more sense to use heavier strings on a 30" scale bass, I suggest at least .100", but for your sanity's sake, .095" is the bare minimum you should tolerate, and try to go for something in that .105" range to really get a solid low E.
