Hello there! Back again with another brief product review for you! This time, we will be looking at La Bella HRS-73 7-string electric guitar strings. I have recently purchased a couple of 7-string sets for my Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7 and have been trying out different brands/models.
My guitar came with a set of Ernie Ball strings, unfortunately, I broke the high E string in the 2nd week and couldn’t really record anything with them. I had also D’addario NYXL09564SB strings as a backup and have been using them since then.
I must say I really liked them despite them being too expensive to stock up! 🙂 I played my guitar often with this set and would almost record a short sample. But the D string broke at the tuning post! So next time, I will also publish something regarding this set of strings.
For this reason, I had to restring my guitar again. This time, I have picked up La Bella HRS-73 strings and wanted to publish a quick La Bella HRS-73 review for you!
For those who don’t know about La Bella company, they are an old-established family company based in New York, USA.
When I used to work in the musical instruments industry, I had the chance to meet them at Frankfurt Musik Messe. Really lovely people and excellent company! Thomann's 70th Anniversary Offers
La Bella is the oldest and continuously family-owned and operated string manufacturer in the world! Their tradition of string manufacturing dates back to the 1640s in Salie, Italy. In 1913, brothers Olinto & Emilio Mari moved to New York and also brought their family business with them!
During my visit to Musik Messe, I even had some sample strings from La Bella and tried them in some of my videos. Even though I’m a die-hard Elixir fan, I really loved their Vapor Shield coated strings.
Check out my Elixir Strings review here
As you may probably know, picking up a set of 7 strings is not an easy task in most cases. There are some extra parameters that you should be aware of.
With 7-string guitars, you usually have a longer scale length that helps with the low strings’ tension. However, this longer scale may also require you to choose thicker gauges if you ever want to use flat or drop tunings.
As I have mentioned, D’addario NYXL09564SB wasn’t really made for going flat or drop tunings. I think it’s perfect for standard tuning on a 26.5-inch scale length.
When you talk about guitar strings, there’s only one way to find the best set of strings for your own use! It’s simply to try as many sets as possible and even try custom-made sets as well.
The reason I bought La Bella HRS-73 strings was to have a thicker low E string as I noticed a 46-gauge low E didn’t really sound excellent as an open string.
Most 7-string sets feature a 46-gauge as low E and it’s really difficult to find in-between gauges from well-known brands.
So in order to try and experiment with it myself, I restrung my guitar with La Bell HRS-73 very recently.
La Bella HRS-73 features a 10 to 64 gauge and consists of 10-13-17-30-42-52-64 gauges.
In comparison to D’addario NYXL09564SB which features 9.5-13-16- 24-34-46-64 gauges, I thought it would sound tighter on the low end. Check out the best guitar pickup company, Seymour Duncan here!
To be honest, I didn’t really check any product descriptions except gauges. But La Bella clearly states that this set of strings features thicker cores for standard and drop tuning.
However, I think “for standard tuning” refers to 7-string guitars with a 25.5-inch scale. You can also validate this insight from user reviews at Thomann. Music Plugin Deals at Pluginboutique.com
In my case, I immediately got turned off by how heavy and tense it felt! Then I checked the product description and found the statement. However, even with a flat tuning, it still felt really stiff!
This clearly shows that there’s a huge potential for drop tunings! So for my readers here’s a friendly warning for you!
Buy La Bella HRS-73 10-64 strings, if you are planning to use them on a 25.5 inches scale at standard tuning or on a 26.5 inches scale at whole step down tuning!
As it’s a process of trying and finding the most usable strings, I have tuned my guitar a whole step down meaning from the 7th string to the 1st string: A-D-G-C-F-A-D.
I must confess, this was the first time in my 20 years of playing with a 7-string, whole step-down tuning! 🙂
I have noticed that plain strings already changing colour as La Bella doesn’t really claim a coating or protection layer on the strings. So I guess that I will not be stocking these strings more often.
But when you consider the price tag and if you are after the whole step-down tunings, I think it’s just the perfect set! I would definitely stock them up if I played at this tuning every time. Martinic Plugins - Precisely Modeled Vintage Instruments and FX Plugins
To give you a rough idea of how La Bella HRS-73 sounds at a whole step-down tuning, I have recorded a short video featuring my playing random stuff.
In this video, I have used my Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7 along with Ernie Ball instrument cable (EB6081) directly going into my RME Babyface PRO and then into Reaper.
As my VST amp, I have used the LePou Poulin LeXtac amp model with the Ignite Amps NadIR impulse loader.
At the beginning of the signal chain, I also placed the Mokafix Cream Tube as a booster and added TC Electronic M30 hall reverb.
La Bella HRS 73 String Review & Sound Demo (no talking)
I hope you have found this brief article useful for your quest to choose the best 7-string guitar set!
I have also just released a new article in which I test Pyramid 7 string and review it with my Schecter Hellraiser PT-7 along with ENGL E570 and ENGL Cabloader. Don’t forget to check this out too!
I hope you find this La Bella HRS-73 review article honest and insightful! Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!
Osman Cenan Çiğil – cigilovic.com
Post your comments and feedback here
By submitting a comment, you accept that you will be automatically included in the newsletter. You can always opt out in case you are not interested in the content updates.Check out the best used gear website!
