NOS Burns London Vista-Sonic Black Nylon Tapewounds

[Turbocharbo]

Here's something you folks might find interesting...

I recently bought 3 sets of NOS Burns London Vista-Sonic black nylon tapewound strings manufactured by James How & Company (Rotosound). They were made in the 60s for the Burns London Jazz Bass, an instrument I own and love. I've always been a fan of that 60's sound (palm-muted pick playing / Gainsbourg etc) and thought I'd take a chance on these strings and see what they sounded like.

Well, they feel and look awesome but all of the A / Es have these awfull overtones. I tried re-setting up my bass but alas, there is no way of working with them. No surprise as they're almost 60 year old strings. I can tell these were once great though. They're really mellow sounding and make my bass kind of sound compressed. You can dig in without it ever becoming obnoxiously loud.

Is there anyway I could revive these or it's a lost cause? I was thinking of sending them to Pyramid in Germany to get them cloned. Could be cool to have someone copy them as I'm sure they could be awesome.

 

[iiipopes]

They look like they were made by Rotosound under contract. With the silk going over the bridge saddle, that makes it difficult to set a witness point for clean articulation. On some of my instruments, I use a small length of stainless steel tubing with the i.d. larger than the string so it won't bind or slip through the hole in the bridge, but thin walled so the o.d. is lesser diameter than the ball, so I can run the string through the tubing before running it through the bridge in order to move the silk back off the saddle and re-set the witness point. That might help.

 

[Martin Beer]

They may not be much different from modern day Rotosound 88s. Rotosound don't tend to change the formula often on their long-established lines, and I'm sure they've mentioned in their publicity somewhere that their tapewounds were originally developed for Burns.

 

[farace]

They look a lot like the Rotosound Tru-Bass strings, down to the silk color (maybe these are a touch more yellow than gold). I have a set on my Ampeg by Burns Vista Sonic Bass.

 

[Turbocharbo]

They may not be much different from modern day Rotosound 88s. Rotosound don't tend to change the formula often on their long-established lines, and I'm sure they've mentioned in their publicity somewhere that their tapewounds were originally developed for Burns.

Although these were made by James How (Rotosound) for Burns basses, they sound and feel nothing like the modern Rotosound 88s! I've had a Jazz bass stringed with 88s for some time now. They have much larger gauges and have this "thuddy" sound to them. These OG tape wounds are much more balanced and soft sounding. I'd prefer these over the 88s if there wasn't so much of these weird overtones to the lower strings.

 

[farace]

Although these were made by James How (Rotosound) for Burns basses, they sound and feel nothing like the modern Rotosound 88s! I've had a Jazz bass stringed with 88s for some time now. They have much larger gauges and have this "thuddy" sound to them. These OG tape wounds are much more balanced and soft sounding. I'd prefer these over the 88s if there wasn't so much of these weird overtones to the lower strings.

I can’t say I’m particularly thrilled with the Rotos; I only installed them because they were developed for Burns, but to my ears the tone is uninspiring, and I’ve been meaning to replace them. With what, I haven’t decided.

 

[Turbocharbo]

I can’t say I’m particularly thrilled with the Rotos; I only installed them because they were developed for Burns, but to my ears the tone is uninspiring, and I’ve been meaning to replace them. With what, I haven’t decided.

Ive had GHS Brite flats on mine forever. The best strings for the Burns I’ve found so far.

 

[farace]

Ive had GHS Brite flats on mine forever. The best strings for the Burns I’ve found so far.

I’ll give that a try. I was thinking of D’Addario XL nickels, but only because that’s my fallback when I don’t know what to try.

 

[nixdad]

Heck, that black leatherette packet alone is worth the price of admission.

 

[flatwound62p]

Have you checked for string twist? Also maybe try lowering your pickups, the tapes might have more mass than the set they replaced, so more magnetic. Just a couple of things that have caused me to get weird overtones.

If all else fails a foam mute near the bridge kills pretty much any weird overtone. Better than throwing them in the bin anyway

 

[Turbocharbo]

Heck, that black leatherette packet alone is worth the price of admission.

Want to buy a set?

 

[Turbocharbo]

Have you checked for string twist? Also maybe try lowering your pickups, the tapes might have more mass than the set they replaced, so more magnetic. Just a couple of things that have caused me to get weird overtones.

If all else fails a foam mute near the bridge kills pretty much any weird overtone. Better than throwing them in the bin anyway

I tried lowering the pickups to no avail. I can hear the overtones when I play the bass acoustically so maybe it was a string twist? How do I check for that?

Foam mute didn’t help but palm muting the strings was the only way of getting an acceptable tone.

 

[nixdad]

Want to buy a set?

I have no need, but thanks!

 

[HaphAsSard]

maybe it was a string twist? How do I check for that?

Detune the string (until the ball-end is free to spin), then tune it up again and listen if any change in tone has occurred.

 

[farace]

Want to buy a set?

That would be cool case candy, but what I’d really like to find is the original tool for turning the truss rod gearbox shaft. I ended up making my own by taking a short length of heavy chrome tubing, bending it into an “L” shape, and squeezing one end in a vise so that it would engage the flatted end of the adjustment shaft. A gearbox embedded in the neck heel for turning the truss rod nut—Jim Burns could certainly unnecessarily over complicate things when he wanted to!

 

[flatwound62p]

Detune the string (until the ball-end is free to spin), then tune it up again and listen if any change in tone has occurred.

Get the string very loose, pinch it with your thumb and forefinger just behind the nut, lift it above the nut and then run your fingers down the string all the way to the ball end. The ball needs to be able to turn freely to get a twist out, so make sure it's not catching on a saddle or anything else, take off the bridge cover if your bass has one.

You should see the ball turning around a little bit if you do have any twist so try and eyeball it while you run your fingers down the string if it'spossible.

 

[Turbocharbo]

Get the string very loose, pinch it with your thumb and forefinger just behind the nut, lift it above the nut and then run your fingers down the string all the way to the ball end. The ball needs to be able to turn freely to get a twist out, so make sure it's not catching on a saddle or anything else, take off the bridge cover if your bass has one.

You should see the ball turning around a little bit if you do have any twist so try and eyeball it while you run your fingers down the string if it'spossible.

I tried it and the strings still sound weird so the conclusion is that there is no twist.