Ever wonder why Chromes are fairly bright for flats?
 

I love Chromes. They are capable of fairly bright tones for a flatwound string, as well as the thump.

I was putting on an old D'Addario Chrome B string on a bass, and the string broke at a point, unwinding the flat ribbon. I found something interesting inside:



Yep! Chromes are flat steel windings wrapped around a roundwound string. No wonder they are brighter than your average flat. For those of you that already knew this, sorry to repeat the info, but I just found this out. Very shocking!

I would venture a guess that using round wraps for inner wrappings is quite a common practice. Round wraps allow for much more flexibility (and hence, emphasis on the lower harmonics) than wrapping entirely with flat wire.

It's not like they hide it -- check their website for "string construction", where there's a diagram of a ribbon over a round wrap over a hex-core.

I think you'll find that inside lots of strings; a core of round wire with the outer wrap defining what the string is.

I had a tapewound D'Addario unwind on me a while ago, and inside was basically the same thing.

Yea tapewounds are the same and I found out how easy they are tto cut and have unwrap :hmm:

That is interesting to know on the Chromes and can see why they never break. I think TI JF have silk or thread under them between the core or am I wrong?

Yeah, I bumped the bass a little on a doorway and the A string unwound quickly. I must have bumped it just in the right place.

TI flats have a silk layer between the wraps. I think they are the only ones who do that.

If memory serves, many upright steel strings are wound in a similar fashion, thought it might not be silk exactly. It keeps them somewhat flexible and also provides a natural sort of mute to keep strings from sustaining for an unnecessarily long time (a bow is used for infinite sustain if needed).

One of the common myths is that black nylon tapewounds are flats wrapped in tape. They're actually roundwounds wrapped in tape - every brand.

This is the case with pretty much all flats out there. Thomastik flats even have a picture on the back showing this as well and they aren't known for being super bright.

It comes down to materials used and the tension each winding is wound at.

That's very clever of them. Their unusually bright sound is what makes their flatwounds my favorite brand (I haven't tried any other brands, because D'addario's are so good that I'm not inclined to)

I have tried other brands of flats and came back to Chromes everytime and always will.

Same. I've tried the old Fenders and GHS, but nothing comes close to Chromes.

Except D'Addario Tapes :D

I honestly don't think of Chromes as bright at all. I think LaBellas and TI's are way brighter. For that reason, I usually use Chromes ;)

Looks like they're not so different after all, huh? I remember you not digging the TIs for basically being what you can see in that picture of the Chromes.

Chromes and TIs are all I've played for the last few years, and this definitely adds an interesting spin. IME, the Chromes are by far the brighter string - bright enough to pass for rounds in the first few months. The distinction to me is the midrange voice and tension, but honestly, they're both just plain great.

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Really?
I definately hear a brighter tone from Chromes compared to TI JF344 flats.
Mind you, both sets are near new. Maybe with age they will swap "brightness scale" position?

Just goes to show how different all of our ears are! :)

Yeah, well what the hell do I know about making strings? ;)

Well OK, it's something else making TI's sound like rounds in disguise. Silk wrapping keeping dirt out maybe?

Ya, the Chromes will go dead while the TI's never go dead. I swear the set I had were as bright as the day I bought them 4 months later.

But LaBellas took the cake for being bright, but in a totally thumpy dead-string way.

At least that's how I hear them. As always, YMMV.