La Bella 900 Elite Gold Nylon: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

[ukejon]

Based on some positive online reviews, including on AGF, I decided to try the La Bella 900 Elite Gold Nylons with the polished "Golden Alloy" bass wound strings. Till now, the Savarez 520R Hard Tension strings have graced my Pono N30 and they have been lovely in every respect but a tad prone to finger noise, hence the decision to try the La Bella set.

The Good: Well, as advertised the E-B-D wound strings are much quieter when it comes to finger squeaks. Really impressive noise reduction and a nice sound to go with a nice feel. Perhaps not quite as tonally well rounded as the Savarez traditionally wound bass strings but really quite good.

The Bad: The G-B-E treble strings were simply awful in terms of touch and tone. Low tension feel, dull sounding, and utterly without character. In terms of volume and sustain, they were totally out of sync with the bass strings, which in turn created a very unbalanced sound when strummed or finger picked. The G string in particular was a disaster. Lifeless and so soft that it was like playing a rubber band. Reminded me of some sets of lower tension uke strings that I've tried in the past with no success (Since then, have relied solely on Worth Extra Hard Tension strings).

The Ugly: Not a big deal, but the "Gold" trebles looked more like Translucent Pee. Not terribly attractive against the Pono's lovely light colored spruce top.

So I gleefully chopped off the three trebles and put on the G-B-E from a new set of the Savarez 520R Hard Tension strings. Problem solved. These trebles are musical and lively with a nice firm feel, wonderful sustain, and tonal clarity. Once again heard that wonderful crystalline sound that I've come to expect from the Pono. Is this mixed set approach a long-term solution? Time will tell. I have a sense that the La Bella polished bass strings may not age too well. They certainly start to discolor fast. But for now, this mixed set is proving to be quite pleasing to the ear (and to the eye).

[ukejon]

Still faced with a dilemma here: The low noise aspect of this set is really quite brilliant. Very little squeak and decent tone. Are there other hard tension sets out there that might be better sounding but still offer the polished wound strings for low finger noise?

[Garthman]

Originally Posted by ukejon

Still faced with a dilemma here: The low noise aspect of this set is really quite brilliant. Very little squeak and decent tone. Are there other hard tension sets out there that might be better sounding but still offer the polished wound strings for low finger noise?

I've used La Bella 900 strings for years and love them to bits, trebles too. Much more so than Savarez 520 which I consider to be vastly over-rated and over-priced. But each to his own, as they say.

The La Bella 900 series do come with different options, BTW. As well as the ordinary 900 with the gold E, B, G they offer set 900W which has a smooth-wound G string instead of the monofilament G and also set 900B which has carbon black trebles instead of the gold ones. Might be worth trying?

Off hand, I don't know of anyone else that does smooth ground basses - so if none of the above options are OK for you, you will just have to put up with using different trebles.

[ukejon]

Thanks. Just ordered some Blacks and will see how they work.

[ewalling]

I'm toying with going the other way. I've so far used La Bella 2001 on my Cordoba C9 Parlor, but I have a set of Savarez Alliance hard tensions that will go on any day soon. I've liked the La Bellas quite a lot, but I'm wondering if the Savarez will give my guitar a little extra zing.

[121]

I noticed this thread is a few months old, but was wondering if anyone had tried the La Bella 900B.

Does anyone have any experience with the GHS nylon sets with smooth bass strings ?
GHS has a 2390 smooth wound which is suppose to be good for recording,
I understand there is a GHS 2500 with smooth bass strings also.

[Mr. Scott]

I've never really got on with La Bella strings finding, like others, that the trebles are too soft. I've used Savarez for many years and agree with Garthman that they are expensive if not overpriced. I do not, however, think they are overrated. But, as he says, to each his own.

[oldtimeblues]

Originally Posted by ukejon

Based on some positive online reviews, including on AGF, I decided to try the La Bella 900 Elite Gold Nylons with the polished "Golden Alloy" bass wound strings. Till now, the Savarez 520R Hard Tension strings have graced my Pono N30 and they have been lovely in every respect but a tad prone to finger noise, hence the decision to try the La Bella set.

The Good: Well, as advertised the E-B-D wound strings are much quieter when it comes to finger squeaks. Really impressive noise reduction and a nice sound to go with a nice feel. Perhaps not quite as tonally well rounded as the Savarez traditionally wound bass strings but really quite good.

The Bad: The G-B-E treble strings were simply awful in terms of touch and tone. Low tension feel, dull sounding, and utterly without character. In terms of volume and sustain, they were totally out of sync with the bass strings, which in turn created a very unbalanced sound when strummed or finger picked. The G string in particular was a disaster. Lifeless and so soft that it was like playing a rubber band. Reminded me of some sets of lower tension uke strings that I've tried in the past with no success (Since then, have relied solely on Worth Extra Hard Tension strings).

The Ugly: Not a big deal, but the "Gold" trebles looked more like Translucent Pee. Not terribly attractive against the Pono's lovely light colored spruce top.

So I gleefully chopped off the three trebles and put on the G-B-E from a new set of the Savarez 520R Hard Tension strings. Problem solved. These trebles are musical and lively with a nice firm feel, wonderful sustain, and tonal clarity. Once again heard that wonderful crystalline sound that I've come to expect from the Pono. Is this mixed set approach a long-term solution? Time will tell. I have a sense that the La Bella polished bass strings may not age too well. They certainly start to discolor fast. But for now, this mixed set is proving to be quite pleasing to the ear (and to the eye).

I've never tried the 900, but I will say this about the Labella 2001 medium tension. If you want to hear what the wood on your guitar really sounds like, that is a good place to start.

[hoomangonna]

I just put on the La Bella 900b strings on my fretless flamenco guitar, and frankly they are supurb with regard to having very minimal fret squeak. So I though I compare these strings with a Savarez under microscope and find why there is less sqeak, you can see the results in the below image!