Who makes/made shiny, shiny flats?

[onestring]

A friend of mine had a late 60s/early 70s Epiphone that he let me record with a few times. No idea what the model was-it was cherry red short scale hollowbody with a bolt-on, five piece laminated neck and matching humbuckers, and I'm pretty sure it had a "Made in Japan" label. Not a Rivoli. It sounded soooo good.

I know it's a long shot, but even though he sold that bass without my permission I'm curious what the strings might have been. I really liked them, so much so that I would have bought the bass just for the strings. They were very, very shiny, like polished chrome, with red silks. Super smooth.

The only flats I've used are TIs, Chromes, and Fenders, and none of them are shiny, they all have a dull finish.

Of course these may have been the factory strings from Japan and they stopped making them 35 years ago... but if the description (shinyshinyshiny with red silks) matches something you are aware of I'd appreciate being pointed in the right direction.

[RCCollins]

keep playing a set of flats for 25 years, and they'll look shiny

[onestring]

Lol. My favorite set TIs are about to hit 12 years, and they are not getting any shinier.

I'm pretty sure the shiny I'm looking for was built-in.

[Marton]

Labella 760FL probably ? Mine were more shiny than my chromes/TI and had red silk.

[RCCollins]

Originally Posted by onestring

Lol. My favorite set TIs are about to hit 12 years, and they are not getting any shinier.

I'm pretty sure the shiny I'm looking for was built-in.

TIs are pure nickel wrap. Stainless steel flats WILL get shinier.

[Eric Scholz]

Ernie Ball and D'Addario use blue silk wraps, and I don't think Roto uses any wraps, so you can rule those out.

GHS uses red wraps on their rounds, but I've never seen their flats, so I'm not sure if they use it on those too.

[Marton]

GHS flats are purple. I think Roto use red silks, but I'm not sure.

[mccartneyman]

Originally Posted by Marton

GHS flats are purple. I think Roto use red silks, but I'm not sure.

Rotos are red ..

Violetsare blue

[tjh]

Originally Posted by mccartneyman

Rotos are red ..

Violetsare blue

... by the time you identify those flats,
you'll have found something new ...


... sorry, couldn't help myself .. I am coming off of trying to ID an old set of flats for the last year and finally gave up, and started searching for new ones ...

[AmadeusXeno]

I have some roto flats. They have red silk and the strings are more shiny then other flats I've tried. They might be what you're looking for.

[guroove]

I've used LaBellas, Rotos, Chromes, GHS, and DRs. DRs are by far the shiniest.

[onestring]

Ah, these posts are pure poetry!

Thanks for the tip Amadeus, that would make a lot of sense if they were Rotos.

They are probably not DRs. I don't think DR was around back then, at least I never heard of them before the early 90s.

I appreciate the collective, um, wisdom... I would try them all to see what is most like the mystery strings, but flats are expensive and for me they take awhile to break in. At least now I know I can eliminate anything nickel, Ernie Balls, and GHS in my search, and maybe hope that they were possibly Rotos or LaBellas.

[RCCollins]

It seems possible that they are Rotosound Monel Flats... but my last set had blue silk (is that because they were shortscale?)

[guroove]

Sorry, reading comprehension is a problem for me today. I missed the part about the red silks. Rotos are pretty shiny, and have the red silks. LaBella 760FLs also have red silks, but have more of a sparkle to them than a shine.

[tjh]

The Labella FL's I have a quite shiney .. especially the E string, almost mirror like ... and red silk (before they were colored black)

[lowendfriend]

Originally Posted by Eric Scholz

Ernie Ball and D'Addario use blue silk wraps, and I don't think Roto uses any wraps, so you can rule those out.

GHS uses red wraps on their rounds, but I've never seen their flats, so I'm not sure if they use it on those too.

Roto uses red silk on the 77's....they are fairly shiny.

Only others I'd call shiny are Detroit Steels from webstrings. See photo:

[radiowavesurfer]

Scrape your fingernail along the Roto monel jazz flats, and they'll go "zing", much more so than most flats. That doesn't sound to me like the "super smooth" strings the OP is describing. The Labella 760FLs are much smoother in that regard.

[onestring]

I'm aware I'm on a fools errand but what they hey, I'm on a roll where I dig checking out strings. Maybe the cheapest GAS you can have, even with flats.

LaBellas are on order. If they are not similar, Rotos are next.

Thanks for the pic lowend, those are intriguing strings--probably not a likely suspect (too new a brand) but those are some perfect and shiny windings!

[jazz Bass 74]

You might be thinking of Pyramid Golds from Germany. They are incredibly smooth and shiny.

[tjh]

My Pyramid Golds have lavender silk though ... the mystery strings here had red silk ... but Pyramids are shiney