GHS bright flats

[jcalo]

I had someone tell me how good these strings are last evening. I used them back in the early 80's but honestly don't remember what they sounded like. Any comments out there???

[Dr Illing]

I have a set of them on my fretless Jazz, and they're my first set of flats. I don't have anything else to compare them to. I'm interested in what other people have to say though.

[king_biscuit]

Well, they are not bright and they are not flats I think the E and A strings have a completly different tonal character than the D and G strings.

[Parabolic Box]

Yeah, the one time I used them, the E and A were different from the D and G. Mostly in the vain that the E and A sounded dead, and the D and G sounded less dead.

[Phalex]

I like them. They pair up well with a Seymour Duncan 1/4# P bass PUP.

[MysticMichael]

I used them during the late 70s on a vintage P bass, and thought they were fine. I don't recall anything about lack of balance between the E & A strings and the D & G strings...

FWIW, I would switch off between GHS Brite Flats and D'Addario Half Rounds for playing roots material like blues, jazz and reggae, probably using the Half Rounds somewhat more often, and GHS Boomers for straight-ahead classic rock. They all worked fine for my needs. No complaints...

MM

[JTE]

They're NOT a flatwound string at all. Like D'Addario's Half-Round and Dean Markely's Ground Round Wound, they're a modied roundwound. They take a round wrap wire and grind or polish the outer surface. The idea is that you'll ge the roundwound sound with a smooth flatwound feel and less fret wear. I used the GHS Brite-Flats for a long time in the '80s with my StingRay (that's what my 'Ray shipped from Leo's factory with). But I ultimately decided that all of these modded rounds didn't do it for me.

Instead of the "best of both worlds", they really seemed to offer the worst of both. They didn't retain that new roundwound sound very long, and the dead sound wasn't the same kind of useful definition that a good flat has. But they were stiffer strings with funky overtones than good rounds have. And that anaylsis is based on using GHS, Markley, and D'Addario (as well as Sterlingworth Slicks).

jte

[Jay78]

+1 for GHS BriteFlats. I just put them on my main gigging bass - Fender Precision - and I like them better than Fender Flats. Great for old scholl soul music thump but still maintain ahint of growl for rock and blues. Much better feel that D'Adarrio half-rounds. The DA's are defitely "stickey" on the fingers as other have said.

[fetfet]

What about the Rotosound 55s? i hear those are ok.