Rotosound was originated by James How in 1958 in the United Kingdom. James How designed his own string winding machine and began manufacturing guitar strings in his shed. Originally he called the company Top Strings, but couldn’t copyright that name, so he changed it to Rotop and finally into Rotosound around 1965. This tied in nicely with the company’s flagship round wound bass string.

British guitar string maker Rotosound has launched a range of polymer coated electric and acoustic guitar strings. Rotosound's microscopic coating process adds a flexible, protective, black or clear coating to the new Nexus range of strings. The special black polymer coating helps prevent contamination and corrosion, extending the life of the strings.