I just bought a fretless j-bass from rondomusic and I am wondering what strings are the best for the bass. I truly don't know the difference between the tapewound and flatwound strings and I know that it can be mostly preference. If anyone could inform me of the pros and cons of each of these strings and/or what strings you use I would appreciate it. Thank you.
tapewounds are wound with nylon ribbon and tend to have a deader sound.
flatwounds are wound with steel ribbon and have a brighter sound than tapewounds, but deader than rounds.
I actually use half-rounds on my fretless. they are rounds that have been ground semi-flat. sort of a best of both worlds between round and flat. They sound great!
If you pick flatwound, that isn't the end of the matter. Different flat wound brands are be different just like different roundwound brands are.
It depends what type of sound you are looking for
Could you elaborate for my sake being that I am just now looking at flatwounds (been using roundwounds for 3 years) and I am a little bit unsure what some of the different ones sound like. Its not like you can just go to your local guitar store and say, hey I am to try out these strings. You have to buy.
Yes, you have to buy. Only you can decide what you like, so buy some flats and see if you like them. If you don't, try another brand and see if you like them. Eventually, like many of us, you will end up with a favorite, and stick with it.
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To each his own when it comes to tone.
i disagree with tapewounds being dead sounding. Labella tapewounds are some of the coolest sounding strings available. they have a nice grunty, rubber-bandy sound quality that is actually very musical.
Strings for a fretless... tapewound vs. flatwound 
