Oh my god... these must be the most toxic smelling strings ever. A chemical, headache-provoking smell that stinks up the whole room as soon as you open the box. It even gave me an asthma attack, and i had to put the bass with the new strings outside on the balcony in order to get rid of this horrible stench. Come on guys, really...this is inadmissible. I played just a few minutes before i couldn't take it anymore. I really hope the smell disappears because if not i will have no other option but to theow them away in a sealed envelope. Pity, because the sound seems ok. The feel of the E and A strings is very sticky, however.
So, whatever is the cause of the horrid smell (any glue there?), i would urgently suggest that Gut-a-like investigate the problem.
The normal string set doesn't smell at all, and neither do the fat blacks. Just these Swingmasters. Hard to judge their sound qualities if you can't play them for more than five minutes...