Quality of fender flats

[fatjbass]

How nice are fender's flatwounds?

Short and simple.

[bassplayerEADG]

I've been using the Fender 9050ML flats on a MIM jazz for a while. I like them a lot. On my Gibson Thunderbird I've used the Thomastic-Infeld Jazz Flatwounds JP344 for years and love them. But they are much more expensive.

[SirPoonga]

I just put 9050L on my pbass. I haven't been playing bass that long but compared to the roundwounds that were on the bass I love these strings.

[junglebike]

Fantastic. Stiff as hell, but you get used to it. I'm getting a set of 9050M's (ouch!) for my new-to-me Lakland Skyline Glaub p-bass.

[glwanabe]

How nice are they? About as polite as they can be!

Seriously, I've purchased three sets of these in the last five years. All of them were very consistant in there quality. Tonally, I find the mediums to give the best thump, while also having a little less twang on the D, G, strings. They are fairly stiff as has been about. However, they loosen up a little as they break in. I've found that you just need to play them a little easier, they have such a strong fundamental that you do not need to dig in all that hard. You can also get some very low action with them, so that makes fretting a little easier. You will get stronger hands from playing them, nothing wrong with that! A bass player should have strong hands. Go play an upright and see how that feels. Speaking of uprights. You can get a great upright tone from these by playing over the neck.

The only reason that I've bought three sets of these. I gave my first set to a friend, wish I still had them. They were just broken in. I rotated my 2nd set to much and broke a string. I'am on my third, which is a ml set. I find them a little twangy, but still a very good tone that gives a good vintage sound.

[fatjbass]

[quote=glwanabe]How nice are they? About as polite as they can be! QUOTE]

It took me three times, looking at this.

I get it.

[canopener]

They are great! The only thing that may be of concern is the tightness of the string...it'll be harder to go back to looser strings w/o adjusting technique.

[travatron4000]

I though the fender's were alright but i like D'addario Chromes much better.

~trav

[fatjbass]

Thanks, I've bought them and loaded them. LOADED! I really dig them. In fact, I dig the tightness of the strings, thanks for the advice.

[Sammy Camden]

I've tried just about every brand of FLAT that I could find over the 40+ years that I've been playing. For the money, I think the Fender Flats are probably the best buy on the market. As for their quality consitency, I can't remember when I last got a bad string in a set. I use the 9050L's. I've tried the ML's and the M's, but I don't think they provide that much more tone, if any, for the added stress they place on my basses. These strings are HIGH in tension. You get used to it. They're slick to the feel, hold their tune, last a long time, and don't cost an arm and a leg. I use Fender Flats on all of my fretted basses except my 5-string (Fender doesn't make a 5-string set of flats).

For my 5-string, I use my second favorite set of flats, D'Addario Chromes. However, I've gotten a number of bad strings in D'Addario sets over the years. In the last 5 years, I've had to return four strings. When you consider the fact that I don't change my strings but about once every 2 - 3 years, that's a lot of bad strings. To their credit, though, they've always stood behind them and replaced them. Shoot, one time they gave me a whole new set because of one bad string. It's just a hassle.

[JacoLesFlea]

Just had a set of 9050ml's put on my jbass and I am lovin them. Great Flats!!!

[Foamy]

I love mine.

[::::BASSIST::::]

I love higher tension strings and these fit the bill that way. However, tonewise they have alot to be desired IMVHO. I found I was very happy with them until I A/B'd them to a set of Chromes. The Chromes just have a cornucopia of colours that ring true when you pluck a note. Real nice. With the Fender Flats (9050M) its just thud, thud, thud compared to the Chromes.

It reminds me of comparing an El Cheapo plywood acoustic guitar compared to a $4000+ Martin. The tone you get out of the Martin is just "orgasmic" while the cheapie is just blah....

[tplyons]

They're my #2 favorite flatwound. Chromes being #1. I've got them on my MIM now because I had a set laying around, but as soon as I can afford a set of Chromes, I'll be back to normal.