Flatwound string choice mistake?

[Duffy]

I put a new set of Fender 55 - 105 stainless steel flatwounds on my affinity J bass.

I believe the general suggestion was to put on the next guage lower down, 45 -100 or 45 - 90, not sure.

I am at this point concerned because one of my tech friends said that going with the 55 - 105 flats could warp my neck.

Should I get these off of the J bass as quickly as possible and go for the medium lights or am I okay for now?

Maybe I could safely put the 55 - 105 set on my P bass?

What do you guys think?

Advice appreciated,

Duffy

[Jaco who?]

Don't know why anyone in there right mind would want to use bridge cables like that, but, that being said, there is a reason they make the truss rods on those things adjustable.

[mndean]

Huh? I have Jamerson Labella flats on my Squier Bullet (Korean) for quite awhile now. I did have to adjust the truss rod (which is claimed to be weak in the Korean Bullets), but I expected that. Other than that, no problems whatsoever, and I'll be damned if I give them up. If strings could warp a neck that easily, I doubt they could be sold - who would buy them? I think most necks warp from abuse, poor workmanship, or a bad piece of wood.

[Duffy]

MnDean,

What gauges are you using: lights, medium lights, mediums, or heavies?

I'm thinking of switching to medium lights or lights on all my basses when using flatwounds.

Also I'm getting a set of Fender Vintage Noiseless J Bass pickups installed in my new affinity J bass. Looking forward to these humcancelling J pups.

I put a set of GFS Hot Pro Plus P bass pups in my affinity hot rodded Squire and they sound really great, loud and sensitive. Very cool and cheap.

Duffy

Originally Posted by Jaco who?

Don't know why anyone in there right mind would want to use bridge cables like that, but, that being said, there is a reason they make the truss rods on those things adjustable.

Bridge cables sound better.

I've been using heavy flats on my SX basses for a few years with no problems. Just give the guitar a good setup when you change strings.

[Deacon_Blues]

A .055 fender flatwound G string is massive. Don't be afraid of tightening the truss rod enough to help the neck cope with these strings, because if you don't tighten it enough (while keeping the strings loose), the relief gets too large when you tune up, and the action gets way too high, and I'm afraid that keeping the neck in such a position for a long time might cause permanent neck warpage. It should stay rather straight.

The "rule of thumb" saying you should never tighten or loosen the truss rod more than 1/4 revolution per day is not applicable when putting on strings with a very different tension, and those strings are very high tension. Tighten the truss rod enough directly so the relief gets right immediately. Read more about relief in the setup subforum here on TB.

I've had Steve Harris super-massive high-tension strings on my jazz and replaced them with Pyramid Golds, that are much lower tension strings. No issues with the neck, you just need to adjust the truss rod accordingly and you're fine...

[mndean]

The flatwound Labellas I have are the 0760M set: (.110, .095, .073, .052), otherwise known as the Jamerson/Dunn set. I like them.