Half-Rounds?

[line6man]

I absolutly love the feel of flatwound strings on my fretless J...
but unfortunatly, the tone is just too dark and mellow for what i am after.

What are halfround strings like?

Do they feel close to what flats feel like, or are they more like roundwound strings?

Secondly, what is the tone like? More like rounds, or more like flats?

Are they good for harmonic playing?

Does anybody have a good picture of what the string looks like?

[Honk'n_down-low]

Originally Posted by line6man

I absolutly love the feel of flatwound strings on my fretless J...
but unfortunatly, the tone is just too dark and mellow for what i am after.

What are halfround strings like?

Do they feel close to what flats feel like, or are they more like roundwound strings?

Secondly, what is the tone like? More like rounds, or more like flats?

Are they good for harmonic playing?

Does anybody have a good picture of what the string looks like?

Outside is Flat inside against the core is Round. I have playing them and like them - they are a good compromise - try them - I expect you'll like them. I used Dean Markleys if I recall.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by Honk'n_down-low

Outside is Flat inside against the core is Round. I have playing them and like them - they are a good compromise - try them - I expect you'll like them. I used Dean Markleys if I recall.

so what your saying is that its a roundwound strings, with a flatwound style ribbon wound over it.

i always thought that they were roundwound strings with the round tops of the windings flattened out.

[RKB900player]

I play half-rounds (D'addario medium light gauge) and I absolutely love them in every way! They take some getting used to moving from roundwounds, but once you get the feel of them, they feel and sound awesome, keep in mind this is all just my opinion though, but I LOVE the feel of these strings

[dagrev]

I tried the D'Addario's and hated the feel. Felt like my fingers were being griped by the string. The sound was nothing to get excited about IMO. But really like D'Addario Chromes and XLs.

Like most compromises--it fails more than succeeds. Sounds better on paper than real life.

[bassteban]

I disagree w/dagrev(on the compromise statement- not saying your opinion on feel, etc is 'wrong' ); I have half-rounds on my fretless 6 & LOVE them.
Also, they are NOT wrapped w/flat wire, they are wound then ground, IIRC. IMO they sound very *round* & feel very *flat*. Maybe I'm brainwashed, but it works for me.

[Timmay on bass]

I use D'addario Half-Rounds on my G&L basses, and they have been a great compromise between flats & rounds. They still get a lot of bite, and you can always boost your upper mids or treble to compensate. I play pretty aggressively, and if I do a 3 or 4 set night in my funk band with rounds, they really eat up my picking fingers. I also like GHS Pressure Wounds and Ken Smith Compressors.

[Kael]

Flats are completely smooth. They have no rough spots to grab at your fingers, so the only thing holding you back from sliding your fingers around is how much your fingers stick to plain metal. Still that stickiness if far less than rounds. Usually very high tension.

Rounds have round wires wrapped around their core. The result is that the tips of the outside of these wires are what your fingers touch. This roughness is more "grabby" than flats since they aren't smooth, but you don't need to worry about whether your fingers will stick to "plain metal" as the amount of contact your fingers has with the string is reduced. As they break in, the spaces inbetween the wire wraps get filled with nastiness and they play smoother while sounding darker. The tone you get from rounds should be familiar to anyone who has played bass in the last 30 or so years. Usually very low tension.

Half-rounds are worse, feel-wise, than either of the above in my opinion. They are like a roundwound string that has had the tips clipped off. This creates a little plateau. Result is that you get the grabiness from having the spaces inbetween these plateaus coupled with the grabiness of your fingers on plain metal. Absolutely the worst feel in a string ever. They sound about like the most dead roundwounds in history without ever getting any flatwound style thump. Tensionwise they are inbetween rounds and flats but are usually closer to flats.

This probably is not the most eloquent description of the feel, but it's what I came up with. Half's get all the worst attributes of flats and rounds without any of the plusses.

I've no doubt that a few halfround fans will come along shortly to poo poo my comments. To each their own. Some half's are better than others, but I've yet to find one that you could pay me to use.

[bassteban]

You were expecting that, right?
No comment/rebuttal/argument on feel; they definitely feel different. I actually like the increased stickiness as it keeps my fretting finger in place while doing the back-and-forth vibrato that minimizes fingerboard wear on a fretless.
I'd like to hear a soundclip of the *dead* tone I'm hearing about; mine sound fine. Bad ears, perhaps.
FWIW, I have a fretless P-copy w/flats(unknown brand- came on a 73 P), halfs on the fretless Stambaugh 6 & SS rounds on everything else, so I like variety & won't ever claim that one sounds better(outside of my opinion )than another.

[ryco]

To the OP: I strung my fretless with Blue Steel flats and have found the sound way too thumpy. I'm having to work my butt off to get any tone or definition and really have to press down firmly to get any sustain. I'm gonna throw 'em on my fretted passive P bass -- maybe will work better on that.

I've used D'Addario Halfies since the eighties and found them to be a perfectly fine string. I get tone, definition and sustain without tearing my fretboard up. I've never noticed they are particularly grabby. YMMV

[Kael]

Originally Posted by bassteban

Bad ears, perhaps.

Oh I expected the responses disagreeing with my assesment but suggesting personal faults?

As I said before, to each their own. No way I would consent to using halfrounds as, yes, they sound like very dead roundwounds.

[DaveF]

I remember them being grabby, but with great tone.
However, a set of dead, dirty roundwounds might have the same effect...

[bassteban]

Originally Posted by Kael

Oh I expected the responses disagreeing with my assesment but suggesting personal faults?

As I said before, to each their own. No way I would consent to using halfrounds as, yes, they sound like very dead roundwounds.

The bolded comment was directed at my own ears. Perhaps I didn't put in enough smilies. Here:

[mbrsart]

Originally Posted by dagrev

I tried the D'Addario's and hated the feel. Felt like my fingers were being griped by the string. The sound was nothing to get excited about IMO. But really like D'Addario Chromes and XLs.

Like most compromises--it fails more than succeeds. Sounds better on paper than real life.

Seconded. I got a set of half-rounds and put them on. They ate up my right hand and held fast my left. Their tone went down the crapper in about a month, and that eliminated slap from my repertoire until I could get some good ole rounds.

[rjs6700]

I tried D'Addario's and hated them. I then tried Ken Smith Slick Rounds and think they are great. They feel different then Halfrounds (although there's still a little stickyness at first) and sound great. To me these are a great comprimise between rounds and flats.

[P-BASSLOVER]

The only good halfrounds I've ever come across were GHS Bright Flats.
They are both very percussive, and have a smooth feel that is not sticky like D'Addarios, and possess a brightness better than most flats. IMO, D'Addario Chromes sound brighter and feel smoother than their halfrounds! Another good alternative is a Pure Nickel Roundwound like Fender 7150's. They are the most percussive roundwound on the market but yet they are bright { not too bright }, and are pretty easy on the fingers.
Smoother than D'Addario's IMO.

[JTE]

A. Half Rounds® by D'Addario, GHS's Brite-Flats®, and Dean Markley's Ground Round Wounds are all modified round wounds. They take a round wrap wire and flatten only the outter surface (by grinding, buffing, etc.). They are not a flat ribbon wire wound on a round core. That would be a real flatwound string.

B. Lots of opinions here so like all string threads, it's pretty much a crap-shoot. My experience based on using D'Addarios for several years when they first came out, using a few sets of the stainless Half-Rounds® when they switched to them, and using GHS' Brite-Flats® for a few years (all between 1977 and about 1984) is that I find that they don't offer the "best of both worlds" to me. I find it much more useful to have some basses with real flats and some with real rounds. YMMV.

jte

[rickfan63]

Originally Posted by line6man

so what your saying is that its a roundwound strings, with a flatwound style ribbon wound over it.

i always thought that they were roundwound strings with the round tops of the windings flattened out.

No. They are actually ground roundwounds. A roundwound string with the outer wire ground down to a smooth surface. They are a cross between round and flatwound strings. I use SIT Power Flats on my Brice Beatle Bass. They are ground almost flat, but not all the way. The sound is close to a flat, but with a little more definition in tone. The D'Addario half-rounds are not ground down as much, so they might be a little brighter. Ken Smith and GHS also make a half-round string as well. So you've got some choices if you go that route.

[P-BASSLOVER]

Originally Posted by JTE

A. Half Rounds® by D'Addario, GHS's Brite-Flats®, and Dean Markley's Ground Round Wounds are all modified round wounds. They take a round wrap wire and flatten only the outter surface (by grinding, buffing, etc.). They are not a flat ribbon wire wound on a round core. That would be a real flatwound string.

B. Lots of opinions here so like all string threads, it's pretty much a crap-shoot. My experience based on using D'Addarios for several years when they first came out, using a few sets of the stainless Half-Rounds® when they switched to them, and using GHS' Brite-Flats® for a few years (all between 1977 and about 1984) is that I find that they don't offer the "best of both worlds" to me. I find it much more useful to have some basses with real flats and some with real rounds. YMMV.

jte

I liked the D'Addario Halfies when they were made of Stainless.
When they went to nickel it seemed to take something out of the string. They go dead really quick now.

[rickfan63]

On some basses, the deader the strings, the better they sound.