Your opinions please??!! Flats tension??

spywebco · #1 03-16-2010, 11:18 AM

Hello to all. I am hoping with this to narrow down my quest and take advantage of the experience of other members. I have been playing fretless for long time, and have exclusively used rotosound flats 77's on the fretless basses I've had and on a couple of fretted basses too a long time ago... Anyway, I am looking to move to a string with a little less tension, something that would be more along the lines of the rounds I play now. Either the 66's or Elixir's (which I use on most of my fretted basses) in .45-.105 Going to rounds isn't an option unless they're ground rounds or drawn rounds for sake of the fingerboard. Ideally what I am looking for is nearly identical string tension to the 66's or the Elixir's without buying and trying a whole bunch of different sets. No one seems to advertise their strings as lower tension etc... Since it is a subjective thing to some degree, I wanted to see what the gallery of members had to say. It really doesn't matter to me what they cost, just that they are closer to the tension feel from the rounds I use now. Ok gang... Have at it.

Oh, and thank you very much in advance!!!

Twocan · #2 03-16-2010, 11:26 AM

Try some D'Addario half-wounds, light gauge - I find them to have some of the flat woud sound with the round wound tension.

Lo-E · #3 03-16-2010, 11:35 AM

I've been a rounds guy for over 20 years and a friend recently got me to try the Thomastic-Infeld flats.

It's the first set of flats I've ever played that I actually liked. To me, the tension feels very much like the rounds I'm used to.

CrimsonGhost · #4 03-16-2010, 01:26 PM

I have been told on a few occastions now, that the Lebella 45-105 flatwound set is just a little bit looser than the roto flats in the same guage, with all the tone but a little less clank as well..

bassy7 · #5 03-16-2010, 01:38 PM

"Thomastic-Infeld flats."

I use to use these on my fretless and fretted warwick thumb basses when I had them. They feel great with a somewhat low tension.

On my self made headless basses I use LaBella flats- Steinberger style of course. The tension in not really high on those either.
I use the LaBella tapewounds on a few with piezo pups as well, they have a totally different feel that i love. Their gauge is rather higher- but the string tension feels fairly low.

CrimsonGhost · #6 03-16-2010, 02:53 PM

If the OP has played roto 77's for years, then Ti's will be unplayable they are so floppy compaired. Atleast they were for me...

spywebco · #7 03-16-2010, 04:04 PM

I play floppy Elixirs on all my fretted basses now & fretless when it fits for a recording or probably 8-10 songs each gig. So I guess I would say I play it quite a bit. I am looking to get a more consistent feel to the rounds I play most often (tension wise) without putting the rounds on and damaging the fingerboard. The only thing I really dislike about the 77's at this juncture is the string tension only. I love the "feel" of .45-.105 but the string tension is just a bit much for what I want at this point. I've got flats on two fretted basses (I do use them least) and would like to try to get everything I play to a similar string tension as the Elixirs or 66's which to me feel very close to each other. I guess I should have tried more a long time ago, but I don't like to try stings out that I hate, as I just throw 'em out after a couple tries if I don't dig how they feel, and the purpose for the initial post was to minimize the waste, and aggro. I love the tension on the Elixir's in .45-.105 and want to try to duplicate that tension as closely as possible in a quality flat that I can use fretted or fretless. Thanks again for your thoughts!

Johnny Alien · #8 03-16-2010, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrimsonGhost

If the OP has played roto 77's for years, then Ti's will be unplayable they are so floppy compaired. Atleast they were for me...

I am not sure unplayable and floppy would be correct but it certainly would be a big leap. I would say that if someone thought that light D'Addario rounds are floppy and unplayable then they would feel that the TI's are the same as they are similar in tension.

That aside Roto rounds are a higher tension round so if you were looking for something close to that then I would say TI's might be a tad too low. My suggestion would be Chromes.

LaBellas are less tension that Roto's but still pretty high tension IMO.