La Bella LTF-4A-M Low Tension Flats Bass Strings

AF of M retired pro here; I’ve used La Bella strings (and some roto’s too), throughout my career of five decades. It’s amazing to see and hear La Bella has maintained their quality and sound during all this time. The LTF strings are new to me, but I wish I had them back in the early days. The LTF’s are fantastic and intonate perfectly.

I recently purchased 2 jazz basses. I like to keep rounds on one and flats on the other. I have TI jazz flats (low tension) on a P bass and Rickenbacker (both sets have been on for over a decade) and love the feel/sound of those, however, the cost of TI’s have gotten out of hand. Decided to give these a try and they are fantastic strings. They’re just as good as the TI flats at a much better price. I love that they’re low tension and have a more flexible feel as compared to your typical flatwound string. If your bass is accustomed to typical flats or even rounds, be prepared to loosen the truss rod for some relief. Now to see how they hold up over the next 10+ years.

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

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!

Quality product.

Great strings , best I’ve had