La Bella LTF-4A Low Tension Flexible Flats Bass Strings - 4-String

I have played for many years and never used flats. I decided to give some a try and started my research and I see... "Flats have higher tension than rounds." "You will probably have to adjust your truss rod after switching to flats." None of this sounds fun just to slap a new set of strings on to try out. Then I saw some recommendations for these LaBella Low Tension Flatwound Strings. Could this be the solution to my conundrum? I ordered a set and put them on my (new-to-me) fretless bass. I checked the neck... No noticeable change, so I played it that day and checked it in the morning. Still perfect! They feel great and have greatly improved the feel of that bass. I then thought, "I wonder how they would feel on my short-scale Bronco Bass." Do they even MAKE a short-scale set? YES! Ordered, installed on the Bronco, and same results- all the flatwound goodness with no extra tension for the fretting hand to deal with and no neck adjustments needed. WIN! Now, if you've never used flats, one thing to note is they aren't "bright" sounding and if they are out of the package, they won't be for long. I am a Precision Bass guy and barely roll my tone knob up, so this is perfect for me. Just be aware. I am very curious how much these would tame the high end of a Jazz Bass. That's the one thing I don't like about J-Basses- all the treble. An experiment to look forward to! If you're on the fence about flatwound strings or had a previous experience that wasn't great due to tension or neck bowing issues, order these bad boys right now!

tl;dr: Very smooth, but heavy strings that produce a wonderful pure tone. I got a set of these strings to try out on my Ibanez SR300E and I think I've found my new favorites. These strings are a steel core coated with a very thick nylon wrap. The strings are pretty heavy gauged and take a bit of finger strength to move around. That being said, the sound that these things puts out is just absolutely beautiful. I don't know much about music theory, so I'm probably going to use the wrong terms, but the tone that these strings produce feels the most "pure" out of any strings I've used. What I mean by "pure" is that the sound matches what I imagine a bass string might sound like if you were able to suspend it in thin air and not have any instrument (or human) interfering with the strum. I like this sound a lot because it feels like a clean slate. If I want to modify the sound, I've got a real clean starting point and any pedals or effects you add are just building off of that pure sound so that you don't have to compensate to eliminate qualities that don't fit the sound you're looking for. Ok, so they sound great, but how do they feel? Well, I tell ya, I LOVE the way they feel. It is a little odd at first because the nylon coating is really smooth. It feels very different from slinky round wound strings that you might be used to. I personally prefer the feeling over the raspy cheese-graters that are normal round wound strings. I do prefer the softer nylon texture that some other nylon wound strings use (D'Addario Tapewound are my favorite texture) - there's something nice about the slight friction you get from that sort of tape, but the way these strings are coated make them slippery smooth - like fishing wire. Again, it's not a deal breaker for me, but it is very different from what I'm used to. After playing for an hour or so, it feels good, but still a bit odd. I think the only real negative that I've come across is that I love black (or colorful) nylon strings and these are only available in silver with the thick clear coating (as far as I know anyway). It's not a big deal, but it does look a little bit like a YouTuber tried to coat bass strings in resin to see what would happen. From a distance, they look pretty standard, but if you're up close they certainly stand out as something out of the ordinary. If they just used a black nylon coating, I'd be in love with the aesthetic, but as it stands they're not my favorite strings for eye appeal. The last thing to mention is the low-tension aspect of these strings. This is where these strings really shine. These strings feel so light and wibbly when you get them going. Despite how thick these strings are, they are crazy responsive. Even after only playing with them for one day, I can tell you that manipulating these strings is an absolute pleasure. I found that the were performing beautifully no matter what I threw at them. They did a great job with subtle soft songs and had no problem rocking along with some low-tuned Korn oldies from my high school days. I can't exactly explain why, but these strings are better at doing the things my fingers want them to do than any other strings I've used in the past. And they're just so sensitive - every little detail of your fingers' motion will come through, even those little things that you didn't realize were problems because your old strings deadened the issue! After using these strings for only moments, I realized that I was using WAY too much pressure for some of my fingering positions and all I needed was a light touch to make the music happen. I have a feeling my muscles and joints will be happy about that one in the long run. I'd absolutely recommend trying these strings out for any bassist. They are unusual and may take a bit of an adjustment period, but I fear that I may never be able to buy other strings again! Pros: -Sound SO GOOD -Feel SO GOOD -Handles super-low tuning no problem -Zero buzz/rattle/noise -Sensitivity Cons: -Heavy strings take finger muscle to manipulate -Not the most visually pleasing strings on the market -Unusual feel that may not be right for some folks

Love these strings!! I've been a big fan of LaBella for a while. . . and wanted to try these LTFs as well - they blew me away. Wonderful tone, nice and smooth, a little more mid-range than the DTFs so sit a little differently sonically - but wow, they sound great. I've had them on my P bass for a few weeks now, and they have yet to sound 'dead'. Really enjoying these - and Sweetwater ships fast and accurate -as always. Thanks!

Stellar for a beginner on an Ibanez mikro bass. Killer look with the dark red at the tips, and absolutely perfect fit for this instrument. Didn’t need to adjust neck tension, but intonation needed to be adjusted of course. Silky smooth, and great sound—soooooo much easier on the fingers than stock or other rounds.

Had these on my bass for roughly a month now. I put these on my Fender Jazz and LOVE the tone it delivers. But... I could not get that G string intonation to sound good. It was really weird, my tuner would say it is in tune but my ear (and my band mates) could tell it was off a quarter step. Tried tweaking my bass setup some but no luck. I ended up pulling out the G and installed a DR Fat Beam G string in its place. They feel great to me and like the thump you get out of them. I have tried Flats in the past but were not comfortable, but these are very nice.

I have a jazz bass that I wanted to string up with flats to get that early 60s tone and feel. La Bella's were a GREAT choice! Beautiful, sliknky feel, and awesome, mellow tone!

Great strings, very comfortable

After years of using round wounds, I have switched over to flats on most of my basses. Have played other brands of flat wounds, and tried these, as I had heard they are the flagship, or at least a close second. These LTF were not good at all. The A string rattled horribly on 3, 4, and 5th frets. Nowhere else on that string, and no other strings rattled at all. Unplayable Had them on a Sire D-5 with a 9.25" radius. Redid setup, checked neck relief, action, etc. Rattle persisted. Put a set of flat wounds on from a competitor and the rattle disappeared. Very disappointed. May eventually try a different type of Labella's, but am massively disappointed.

Cordes ultra confortables. Parfait pour une medium scale.

Outstanding strings High quality Smooth Very playable

Quality product.

Die Saiten von LaBella fühlen sich toll an und sind gut zu spielen. Für Flatwound Saiten sind sie sehr geschmeidig, fühlen sich nicht besonders steif an. Seit ich diese Saiten habe, bin ich ein großer Fan von Flatwound-Saiten. Der warme Klang, geringe Griffgeräusche sind für mich große Pluspunkte. Und wenn sie sich - wie in diesen Fall - eigentlich genauso gut spielen lassen wie Roundwounds, sehe ich keinen Grund mehr zurück zu wechseln. Beim Preis sollte man bedenken, dass Flatwound-Saiten langlebiger sind als Roundwound, sie klingen nicht so schnell abgenutzt bzw. stumpf. Insofern hat man länger seinen Spaß mit einem Satz!

Le corde lisce La Bella sono veramente comode da suonare molto scorrevoli al tatto perfette x il basso fretlees ed essendo meno ricche di armonici come le roundwound riducono in parte il problema dell'intonazione sullo strumento. La tensione bassa inoltre riduce anche lo sforzo delle dita. Il timbro per finire e' il classico Precision anni 60 eccezionale x chi ama il genere R&B, come pure per il Blues ed il Jazz. Sono molto soddisfatto!