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

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.

If you're looking for super smooth flats with a nice balance of jazz and funk sound, these are the way to go. They're brighter than some flats, but a bit more mellow than rounds. Seem to be made well and they look great with the red silks on my red and black jazz bass. They feel great and sound great. Theyre about middle priced compared to competitors but worth it. All came the right length for full scale. They seem they will stand the test of time and lots of playing like most flats. Work great.

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!

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

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!

Great flats. I prefer the heavier gauge La Bella Deep Talkin flats, these are a little lighter in gauge. Still, a great string.

Just tried the La Bella Low Tension Flats on my MusicMan Sterling fretless, and I’m seriously impressed. I had been using traditional flatwounds, but the tension was just too much. Switched to Ernie Ball Hybrid roundwounds for comfort, but missed the flatwound feel and tone. These La Bella strike the perfect balance — super comfortable with lower tension, and they still deliver that warm, deep fretless sound. Honestly, the best flatwounds I’ve played so far. Highly recommended if you're after smooth feel and classic tone without the high tension.

UPDATE: was originally rated at 2 stars, now updated to 5 stars. Excellent customer service from Sweetwater. I contacted them about the issue requesting a new G string and they sent an entire replacement set of strings. These sound great. The E,A, and D strings sound great. However, the G string had a horrible warble sound and the intonation could not be set for that string. With the bridge adjustment screwed in all the way,(longest string setting), the string was still very sharp at the 12th fret. I was anxious to try the LaBellas but I think I will stick with my original brand. I removed the strings and put my old set back on and reset the intonation, back in business.

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!