Ordered a set of Sadowsky Flats!

anyonefortennis · #1 01-30-2009, 07:56 AM

Everyone says how great flats sound on a bongo and since I love the TIs on my ric, I figured I'd try a different set on my bongo. Something with a little more highs. So after reading the reviews, I ordered a 5 string set of light sad flats.

Review to come!

number six · #2 01-31-2009, 02:49 AM

I ordered some too for my Sadowsky J5 to replace nickel rounds.
I'll be looking at those other posts about these strings and adding my 10c . . .

number six · #3 02-05-2009, 06:56 AM

What prompted the change to flats was when I put Fender flats on my Fender Jazz 4 - I liked 'em, after years on rounds.

The Sadowsky flats are light gauge and are a tad less smooth to touch than the Fenders.
They're a closer sounding to the Sadowsky nickel rounds than I thought they would be - maybe that's just 'cos they're new, I don't know. Brighter than the Fenders for sure.

The 'B' isn't boomy and obviously not as clean as rounds. It's pretty much even with the other strings, maybe a tad quieter but that's good as the 'B' can be over-used and there's nothing worse than a loud overdone booming bottom.

I' don't go lower than 'D' and first impressions are good.
I might have to raise the action a bit too.

I think the nickel rounds would be my standard set but I might just get to like the bottom thump instead of low twang.

I guess the main point I noticed was the smaller jump between nickel rounds and flats - I expected a bigger jump.

I ordered from the US and got them posted to Oz - the customer service you all know about.
Top strings!

kirkm24 · #4 02-05-2009, 01:39 PM

I used Sadowsky flats for a while and thought they were decent. The tension was a bit much for my liking and they were brighter than a lot of flats out there. For anyone who likes thud and dud these are definitely not for you IMO.

My favorite flats to date are DR Hi Beam Flatwounds. They have the perfect balance of thud and dud while still be articulate and moderately bright. They also seem to have less tension than La Bellas but are not floppy like Thomastiks.

One Drop · #5 02-05-2009, 02:04 PM

They do lose the initial brightness and can do thump pretty well when they wear in and the tone fills out, but not Labella well, of course.

bongomania · #6 02-05-2009, 02:09 PM

I've had Sad flats on my Valenti P for some months now. The EADG strings sounded OK at the beginning, but they have really warmed up and developed a nice smooth tone at this time. The B string sounded OK too at the beginning, but it seemed to lose focus. I dunno, maybe it was a single bad string. My impression at this time though is that the EADG are excellent once broken in, but that I still need a better B.

marwady · #7 05-03-2009, 01:52 PM

Just put Sadowsky flats on my American Deluxe P V and so far, I really like them. They are the .045 set w/ the tapered B.

I had Chromes on which I also liked but the Sadowskys give me a little bit more mid range punch. This means I don't have to boost the mids on the preamp and still get that P Bass bark naturally.

WJGreer · #8 06-08-2009, 05:00 PM

I just put a set of Sadowsky flats on my Valenti J5. I normally run Carvin nickel roundwounds on it (which are LaBella Slappers in a Carvin package). The Valenti is a very bright bass, so I thought it would be interesting to run the flats and see how they might tame it back a little.

I've used it in one rehearsal so far. While I did find myself opening up the VTC a little more than usual, on the whole I was surprised at how not different the Sadowsky flats sounded, compared to the nickel rounds. Sure, there's less string noise and somewhat less bite, but on the whole the strings did not change the tonal character of this instrument.

I am going to leave them on for a while and see how they age. It may be good for me that these aren't really dead, thumpy strings - as a lifelong roundwound guy, that may be too far for me to go in one step!

**WoodyG3** · #9 06-08-2009, 05:21 PM

So, tension wise, what do the Sadowsky flats compare with? These sound interesting to me. I like the low tension of TIs, BTW. High tension strings make ME tense.

One Drop · #10 06-09-2009, 12:50 PM

They feel about like the Labella flats in a similar guage to me.

babaseen · #11 06-09-2009, 01:22 PM

I recently switched from LaBella 45-105 to the Sadowsky 40-100 and dig the playability aspect of the lighter gauge (still has decent tension...as I do not prefer the TI Jazz Flats low tension)

p.s. have a unused set of Sad Blues (40-100) for sale
FS: Sadowsky Blue Label Set (40-100)

svtb15 · #12 06-09-2009, 02:15 PM

The Sadowsky Flats are my favorite flats that i have tried so far... I have not tried TI's yet.
The one thing that i like about the Sads are the smoothness in feel... They are shinny like chrome!