LaBella $40.00 Strings

[Matthew22]

Thanks for the update. looking forward to "month 2" comments!

[sml]

Hi Carlos and Bacsidoan,

How would you compare the Labella silver strings with the Hauser strings on your Hauser guitars? I got a 2009 Hauser III Special Edition and want to try out different strings on it. So far I've tried Gali hard tension and Daddario EXP45. I got intonation problem with the Gali but perfect intonation with the EXP. Any experience with other strings are most welcome.

[bacsidoan]

Hi Carlos and Bacsidoan,

How would you compare the Labella silver strings with the Hauser strings on your Hauser guitars? I got a 2009 Hauser III Special Edition and want to try out different strings on it. So far I've tried Gali hard tension and Daddario EXP45. I got intonation problem with the Gali but perfect intonation with the EXP. Any experience with other strings are most welcome.

My Hauser III is a maple. I like the LaBella Argento basses on it better than the original Hauser strings. They are more sonorous, clear but not boomy. I don't even consider trying any other strings on the Hauser. That's how good they are to me. Your experience might differ though.

[carlos]

sml wrote:How would you compare the Labella silver strings with the Hauser strings on your Hauser guitars? I got a 2009 Hauser III Special Edition and want to try out different strings on it. So far I've tried Gali hard tension and Daddario EXP45. I got intonation problem with the Gali but perfect intonation with the EXP. Any experience with other strings are most welcome.

Sorry but have not tried the Hauser strings. The LaBella silver medium which I strung the guitar with, to comply with Bacsidoan´s inquiry, are working fine.

[jstroud]

Well it has now been another 3 weeks since i last posted about the pure silver basses. i normally change the basses every 3 weeks as i practice 3 hrs a day. so by now i would have changed the basses at least 3 times maybe four since i orginally put them on. so i decided to change to high tension dadarrios basses to see. upon putting then new strings on I thought they sounded better but just barely. i left them on for two days and about 6 hours of practice and they sounded very good. then I decided to change back to the argento pure silver basses and turns out the pure silver sound better than the dadarrios after 6 hrs vs 9 plus weeks on the labella's. Not by a huge margin, but still better. so in my book the labella argento pure silver basses are worth it for 3 reasons. the sound better immediately when you put new ones on. the guitar immediately is more sonorus and bigger in sound yet still beautiful. secondly you dont need to change strings very often and just having more live strings are better for your guitar anyway.

so for me they are worth it. i plan to keep them on another 3-4 weeks then try again with regular basses and see, then put brand NEW argento pure silvers on. now that will really be interesting. Jim

[John O]

so in my book the labella argento pure silver basses are worth it for 3 reasons. the sound better immediately when you put new ones on. the guitar immediately is more sonorus and bigger in sound yet still beautiful. secondly you dont need to change strings very often and just having more live strings are better for your guitar anyway.

I guess if you factor in the time saved by not changing as often and not having to wait for new ones to settle in, it makes them even more attractive!

[Jimtl]

I had convinced myself that $40 was way too much money to spend on a set of strings. After re-reading this thread, my curiosity got the best of me. Since I have a variety of treble strings already, I ordered the bass strings only this evening from strings by mail.

[jstroud]

Well one week later and the strings finally died. However i have to elaborate on this. I had a young virtuoso at our house for the weekend and he can kill brand new strings in a few days and he played the instrument for 5 hrs over 24 hrs and that just did them in. So i changed them and they are glorious now. i also have them on another guitar that i have not played that one as much and they still sound new. I am not a concert artist but i know they all change strings before each concert. IMO these strings would allow you to get 4 to 5 concerts from one set vs only one concert for regular basses. i play 3 hrs a day and got a solid two months out of them(not the 4-6months they advertise) where i would normally change the basses three times, so bottom line they should last 2 1/2 to 3 times longer, BUT THEY SOUND MUCH BETTER.

[Jimtl]

I received the "Pure Silver" bass strings yesterday and immediately put them on my guitar. They definitely are an improvement over the LaBella 2001 Medium hard set, but did not make as big a difference as I was expecting. Still, since I'm always trying to get the best sound possible, I'll probably keep buying these strings as long as I can afford them. I'll report back after trying them out for a while.

[jstroud]

my estimate is that they are 15-20 better than normal basses, but it will also depend on the instrument. trebles can sound totally different on two different guitars while i do not think basses are that much different to me they just have more ring and sustain than any basses and last 2 to 3 times as long.

[Magsman]

I was going to sell one of my guitars, on which I had tried many different kinds and combinations of strings, without ever getting the sound I wanted, until I laced up a set of the medium tension Argento silver basses and the standard trebles. Amazing. I'm keeping the guitar.

[Jimtl]

I've had the Pure Silver strings for about 3 weeks ... I think they are worth every penny. Easier to play and have a big sound.

[jstroud]

magsman thats awesome! for me they are hands down worth it and the best sounding basses i have ever used on two totally different instruments. I have a new traphagen coming before christmas so i will now have a 3rd one to try them on. if they make a difference with that guitar then to me it is a slam dunk!

[sml]

I've just received the pure silver hard tension and put them on my Hauser last night. Wooo... they are wonderful strings. The voice of my Hauser is even more sonorous and powerful. They are very easy to play comparing with other hard tension strings. Since they're so expensive, I hope they will last longer than the others.

[KevinW]

I am getting intrigued... One thing I can't figure out is the discrepancy in the tension of the Argento pure silver treble set and the 2001 treble set. LaBella's catalog states them as both being their nylon "202" string sets, so at first I figured they were identical. However, the 2001 medium tension trebles are listed with higher tension than the Argento hard tension trebles.

From the online LaBella catalog:
Set Argento AH Hard Tension with Nylon #202
AH1 - E ¡ 14.9 lbs/6.77 kg AH4 - D ¢ 14.6 lbs/6.36 kg
AH2 - B ™ 11.8 lbs/5.36 kg AH5 - A ∞ 13.2 lbs/6.00 kg
AH3 - G £ 10.8 lbs/4.90 kg AH6 - E § 12.6 lbs/5.72 kg
Total Set Tension 77.9 lbs/35.40 kg

2001 Medium Tension
Item # Pitch Gauge Construction Tension
2001M E .029“ clear nylon 7.00kg/15.40lb
2002M B .0335“ clear nylon 5.40kg/11.88lb
2003M G .041“ clear nylon 5.60kg/12.32lb
2004M D .0285“ wound silver 5.60kg/12.32lb
2005M A .035“ wound silver 6.00kg/13.20lb
2006M E .0415“ wound silver 6.00kg/13.20lb
TOTAL 35.60kg/78.32lb

Particularly the g string at 10.8lb (vs. 12.32lb) seems rather light. So I guess I am curious if the high tension Argento trebles are full, rich, and balanced with what everyone has described as wonderful basses.