Bought in the summer and have taken a few months to stop stretching. The coloured strings seemed to stretch rather more than the black. I had the original black Pahoehoes on this Kala U-bass when bought in 2013. I can't remember exactly how they sounded, but I'd say they're probably similar. The last set I had on this instrument were Thunderbrowns, but I didn't like the rough texture (and the fattest string broke mysteriously before its time). These Dreads have a pleasing smoothness.