STRING HELP FROM THE MASTERS

[gprattwork7]

Hey, im rocking an ibanez sr405 right now and i love the feel of flats though hard to throw in some light tapping and chords, should i lower the action or should i switch back to nickels?

i love the low punchy mids and the bass you can FEEL, so idk advice?
im currently in a reggae/classicrock/blues/funky band.lol

nickels are great but i wasnt getting the phatness i wanted, definitly had the zing i liked tho.
also if i did go with nickels how long would i have to go before i changed them?

[gprattwork7]

bump

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Well, if you MUST use flatwounds, you can switch to a more flexible / lighter gauge flatwound.

Since your post gave us no information on what strings you are playing there is no way of telling you what will be different. But in general, if you want to do some tapping, you will generally want a lighter gauge string, or really low action with heavier gauge strings if you dont want to use much extra strength.

another type of string you could look at using are "Half Rounds"... They are Round Wound strings that are ground flat to feel similar to flatwounds and have the tonal characteristics of flatwounds but have the flexibility of round wounds... These are a more versatile "Flatwound" type string... so you may want to look into those.

[Keith Guitars]

Personally, I've never liked "half-round" strings. The grinding process leaves little "shoulders" on the wrap wire, and they grab my fingertips when I play hard.

Instead, consider black nylon tapewound strings.

They have the feel of flatwounds, but can be brighter and more responsive than metal tapewounds.

The LaBella nylon tapewounds are actually steel roundwounds with a nylon outer wrap, so they are definitely not dull-sounding strings.

Also, they last a good long time, don't eat up your frets with hard playing, and are a fetching shade of black.

I've set up dozens of basses with LaBella Black Nylon Tapewounds, and always been pleased. Clear, clean, well-defined, with plenty of high-end character and a nice thick bottom end. Far more fun IMO than metal tapewounds.

D'Addario also introduced a set recently with slightly lighter gauges than the LaBellas - I haven't yet had a chance to try them.

Give them a shot! They might be just right for you.

Cheers,
Martin

[tonym]

I'm with Keith. I had them put on a backup bass just to try them out and they're fantastic. I had many compliments from other players. They seem to look down on them a bit when they see them, but once I start playing them they all come over and ask about them. The do last a LONG time too.