Flats on a Musicman Sterling

Berger912 · #1 01-24-2011, 01:57 PM

Has anyone tried flat wound strings on a musicman sterling with a maple board? what was your over all impression of the sound? feel? anything else you might feel is important.

Peace
Dave

Ron G · #2 01-24-2011, 06:06 PM

Listen to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho42fxFsE6M

BigOldHarry · #3 01-24-2011, 06:07 PM

try it and report. I suspect you won't like it, as the sterling has a great sound with rounds - it will seem kind of gutted with flats. But I could be wrong.

fourfinger · #4 01-24-2011, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron G

Listen to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho42fxFsE6M

+1

I have flats (TI Jazz) on my MM Cutlass II and it has never sounded better.

DRafalske · #5 01-24-2011, 07:00 PM

I played a sterling with flats, think it had a rosewood board, and I have no idea what kind of strings they were. It played and sounded fantastic.

steamthief · #6 01-24-2011, 07:07 PM

I had flats on my Ray, but went back to rounds. It was nice to lose the finger noise, but it just didn't sound like a Musicman.

depalm · #7 01-24-2011, 07:08 PM

Works.

Infidelity · #8 01-24-2011, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

try it and report. I suspect you won't like it, as the sterling has a great sound with rounds - it will seem kind of gutted with flats. But I could be wrong.

+1 and the video is a stingray and the sterling is voiced differently than the stingray..

Chrisk-K · #9 01-24-2011, 07:20 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1APFyc_QtQ

GHS flats, maple board Stingray w/ 2-band eq and a groove master.

PSPookie · #10 01-25-2011, 12:15 PM

I once put flats on my SR5 w/ maple board. It sounded good but it did rob the instrument of a bit of it's unique "MM" sound.

chuck3 · #11 01-25-2011, 12:19 PM

I have a Sterling fretless 4 with a pau ferro board. I put La Bella black nylon tapewound flats on it, and it sounds great. I know it's probably not the "classic" EBMM sound but that's not what I am striving for.

whitedk57 · #12 01-25-2011, 12:28 PM

I have a Sterling with TI Jazz flats. I like the overall ease and playability of my flats. I also like the sound I get, but I am not sure I could properly compare it to how a Sterling "should" sound. I sort of bastardized it when I put in the Nordstrand pup, so I am not comparing apples to apples for ya.

maturanesa · #13 01-25-2011, 02:21 PM

i wouldnt do that. Flats feel tighter than rounds, and have a half of sustain so its like you do all the effort and the notes feel drowned. I just hate them. Maybe ill put flats on an acoustic or semiacoustic bass to emulate an upright, but nothing else. Even top fretlees players dont use flats for their basses (jaco, gary willis, manring).

whitedk57 · #14 01-25-2011, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maturanesa

i wouldnt do that. Flats feel tighter than rounds, and have a half of sustain so its like you do all the effort and the notes feel drowned. I just hate them. Maybe ill put flats on an acoustic or semiacoustic bass to emulate an upright, but nothing else. Even top fretlees players dont use flats for their basses (jaco, gary willis, manring).

Not all flats are made the same. TI Jazz flats are looser than rounds.

BigGuns · #15 01-25-2011, 02:37 PM

I put D'Addario Chromes on my maple-boarded Sterling and hated it. The sound was actually pretty good - it was thumpy, deep and meaty - but the feel was all wrong. I'm also a fretless player, so I'm a definite fan of flats, but in my opinion, they just didn't work on the Sterling.

depalm · #16 01-25-2011, 02:56 PM

Have used D'addario Chromes, TI jazz flats, La Bella Black Nylon, La Bella Jamerson's… on my Sterling, they all worked.

Depends on what kind of sound you want.

Jamie_Funk · #17 01-25-2011, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisk-K

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1APFyc_QtQ

GHS flats, maple board Stingray w/ 2-band eq and a groove master.

Fairly certain he used old worn ROUNDS.

J

depalm · #18 01-25-2011, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamie_Funk

Fairly certain he used old worn ROUNDS.

J

+1

**petch** · #19 01-27-2011, 11:47 AM

I'm currently using D'addario Chromes on my Sterling H rosewood board and digging it very much. Yep, it tames the aggression of this instrument down a fair bit, so I'm sure that some will dig this combination and some will not.

CGramazio · #20 01-27-2011, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berger912

Has anyone tried flat wound strings on a musicman sterling with a maple board? what was your over all impression of the sound? feel? anything else you might feel is important.

Peace
Dave

I used Pyramid Gold Flats on my '93 Ernie Ball Stingray with rosewood frettboard on these snippets (not exactly the same thing but perhaps close). http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/flupejac

You can hear the bass on track two especially well. This is in a rock setting. I loved the flats on the Stingray. Gave it a thick warm tone, very musical. They felt great, very supple feel.