Grooves underside of my fender flats? time to change?

[solidmaui78]

Ive had some fender flatwound strings on my modulus 5 string and like how they sound. The other day while cleaning my bass I noticed that the strings had grooves in them at each fret on the underside of the strings. Im guessing its time to change? Ive had these strings on for about 4-5 yrs. Ive been debating on trying out some EB super slinky 2824 because i got a set for christmas last yr but would like to get some flats as well, but something with less tension. any suggestions? Thanks

[TomB]

Try new strings if you feel like it, but be aware that ALL strings develop flat spots over the frets pretty quickly, even fairly new rounds!

[96tbird]

LaBellas have less tension than Fender, this I can attest to by experience, they also are more musical to my ears. Thomastic-Infield (sp?) flats have even less tension than LaB's so they say. Most say flats last until they break, which may be decades.

Edit: well at least I know TI's are made in Vienna. :P

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Thomastic-Infeld

And they are the lowest tension strings you will probably ever play that are in standard tuning. The amount of time they will last makes them worth the extra $... This goes for flats in general though...

In other cases, lower gauge strings will generally be lighter in tension.

D'Addario Chromes being pretty high tension and also not very flexible... But if you want the bright tone of the Chromes and a lower tension, go for the lower gauge set's.

This applies to other brands as well...

[Pilgrim]

Play them until and unless one breaks. No reason to change them until then.