Who's had Flats Strings the longest time.

[brianrost]

My Danelectro got fresh Daddarios when I bought it in 1978, I've never changed them.

[Mojo-Man]

Have had a set of TI-flats on my fretless for two years.
Sound better the older they get.

[nemo]

In our pawnshop is OLD crappy local production bass from about 1965-1968 with flats.
I bet these strings were never changed .. count it...

40 years


BTW that bass is for about 40 $ and sounds totally dead. It is modded, it has CINCH output.

Thinking about buying it just for a sake of it..

[ONYX]

One of my Fenders has had TI flats on them for at least 5 five years. Prior to that, I had a set of flats on it since 1982 ( brand unknown ). The current set will probably be on until the stars burn out.

[MBIYF]

Originally Posted by The Mock Turtle Regulator

(Steve Harris sometimes changes basses mid-gig for this reason)

That's what I thought off when I saw the thread title. He does indeed.

[bgavin]

I bought my Gibson Mastertone 5-string banjo new in 1970... changed the strings last year. Didn't make it sound any different..

My TI Flats have been on my P-bass for 4 years now.

[FreeSpirit]

i bought a set of flats when i got my Jazz bass 3 years ago. put them on the jazz abss for maybee 4 weeks then didn;t like them, packed them back up in the case and left them to kick around. a year later got a p-bass and thought hey maybee i could get a jamerson sound from it with these flats, haven;t changed them since, thought about it the other day in L&M for a set of chromies but thought they still have a good 15+ years in them.


I'm curious is it because of the way they are made, not being wound around another piece of wire that they last longer then round's?

[LoveThatBass]

Originally Posted by The Mock Turtle Regulator

you must have dry hands- when I used Roto Jazz 77's on my P bass they'd go dead (ie. all the clanky twanginess they originally have goes, replaced by a traditional flatwound thump) in one gig (Steve Harris sometimes changes basses mid-gig for this reason)....
sounds like your strings have a lot of life left in them.

Same here...dead in 2 weeks

[fenderbassabuse]

I want my RS77's to die! They are too alive, and I can't wait to get an ultra dead thump from them.

[gfab333]

Fenderbassabuse,

If you want to accelerate things, you can try what my friend did. He took the strings off the bass and then slathered some Vaseline jelly on them. Let it sit for a few minutes so that it soaks in. Wipe them off so that there's no more of that greasy feel, then string them up again. They will sound less "twangy" / lively. They won't be quite dead though. Only years of playing will do that, unless you have real sweaty acidic hands.

[eldave777]

I work in a music store and theres this guy who comes in and tells me he has had the same set of flats on his p bass since '72. Then he tells me once a year he takes them off and cleans them with (drum roll please) bar-b-que sauce. I AM TELLING YOU THE TRUTH!

[JimmyM]

I have accelerated the deadening process by pouring Coke on my strings. Anything sugary would probably do it.