Praise Report: GHS Precision Flats

I want to give these a try agin.
Im an EB guy mostly but a new bass i recieved just dont mesh with them.
Im a pick player and everytime i hear these with a pick its a tone i would like to play with in my original rock band.
I dont care for the sizes available, so i will go back to bsol for some singles and wait for them to come up north.
I dont want to give up on these again.
So it is my understanding that about a month of solid play gets these going well?
Thinking of trying a set of 45/63/85/100 in long scale.
Just worry about the dead sound that i hear about sometimes.

I recently ordered a M3050 set (can't wait to try them on!) and was now wondering if a Long Scale Plus set would go fine with my 34" scale bass.

Should I just cut the excess string like I'd with Rounds or what?

Has anyone compared these to the Brite Flats? I am looking for a bit of a change. I don't necessarily miss brightness, but I miss some grind in the high end but still want to retain some thump and warmth.

fourstringdrums said:

Has anyone compared these to the Brite Flats? I am looking for a bit of a change. I don't necessarily miss brightness, but I miss some grind in the high end but still want to retain some thump and warmth.

Click to expand...

Two different beasts. Brite Flats are groundwounds, with the main ingredient being nickel-iron, as opposed to the stainless steel ribbon wire used on Precision Flats. Brite Flats will have more bite and definition out of the gate, but mellow quite well, retaining that clarity. To me, they remind me of a set of orchestral Spirocores, if that helps.

GHS Official said:

Two different beasts. Brite Flats are groundwounds, with the main ingredient being nickel-iron, as opposed to the stainless steel ribbon wire used on Precision Flats. Brite Flats will have more bite and definition out of the gate, but mellow quite well, retaining that clarity. To me, they remind me of a set of orchestral Spirocores, if that helps.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what Spirocores are, but thanks for the soundclip and the info. At this point I have Boomers on my P/J, Pressurewounds on my P (after having Precisions on for a while), and I shipped a set of Brite Flats to Carvin so I could try them on my new Precision when that comes in. With the exception of the Brites which I haven't tried yet I like them all for different reasons, which is nice because I can't say that I like that many different kinds of strings from any other manufacturer.

So maybe I should ask what the difference is between the Brites and Pressurewounds? I know that Pressurewounds are just roundwounds that are squeezed aren't they? I'm assuming that Brites are even smoother to the touch and more mellow sounding?

fourstringdrums said:

So maybe I should ask what the difference is between the Brites and Pressurewounds? I know that Pressurewounds are just roundwounds that are squeezed aren't they? I'm assuming that Brites are even smoother to the touch and more mellow sounding?

Click to expand...

Basically, yes. With Pressurewounds, the cover wire is run through a set of rollers, that slightly flattens the wind to more of an oval. This yields a string that, I feel, sounds like a worn-in set of rounds.

With Brite Flats, they are wound as a regular roundwound string, but then are ground down to a specific gauge (i.e. a roundwound .047 would be ground down to a .045). Because of the process to make these, I find them to be a stiffer feeling string. This will yield a more mellow string, but with the punch of roundwounds.

GHS Official said:

Basically, yes. With Pressurewounds, the cover wire is run through a set of rollers, that slightly flattens the wind to more of an oval. This yields a string that, I feel, sounds like a worn-in set of rounds.

With Brite Flats, they are wound as a regular roundwound string, but then are ground down to a specific gauge (i.e. a roundwound .047 would be ground down to a .045). Because of the process to make these, I find them to be a stiffer feeling string. This will yield a more mellow string, but with the punch of roundwounds.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I look forward to trying them. They sound like they might fit the bill.

Actually I think you make them in medium gauge shortscale so I might have to try them on my Allen Woody.

Linnin said:

Yes, they'll do just fine. Don't trim the G, it's fine as is and will give you three full rounds around your tuning post on a Fender Precision or Jazz. 'Top Load'/string through your bridge and not through your body if you have that option. Set your 'witness points' carefully with firm even pressure, and not aggressively being careful not to cause a break in the flat windings. This is important for the overall tone and longevity of your stringset. You want the straightest string pull possible. Let the strings stretch out naturally by playing in and tuning. Do Not Artificially Stretch Flatwounds! GHS Precision flats require time to play in naturally for the best possible tone. This takes time; effort, and patience. DO a complete set up after a months break in. I continued to fine tune/tweek string height; pick up height, and intonation here & there as needed for about the first six months. Now everything is as close to perfect as is humanly possible. It's worth the effort. Enjoy the journey.

Click to expand...

Should I bother trimming the strings other than G?
I had to check some other topics covering witness points here around TB. I wasn't familiar with such therm at all!

And thanks for the information!

Linnin said:

You will have to trim all the other strings except the G. And you're welcome.

Click to expand...

Well the D you could probably get away with not trimming, but the A and especially the E. In fact even if you trim the E chances are the thick part of the string will wind up at the bottom of the post.

What I do for both inline (Fender style) and 2+2 headstocks, is I measure how long to trim by using my four fingers (index, middle, ring, pinky) as a visual guide. I want two hand (four finger) widths past the tuner I'm stringing. This usually means (at least with my hands), that if I'm stringing the E, the string will get stretched to the D for example. The space between each tuner (if measuring from the middle of each tuner to the middle of the next) is as wide as my four fingers. This usually results in 2.5-3.5 wraps depending on the string gauge.

Thank you for the help both of you guys!

Can't wait for the strings to arrive so I can finally try them. I'll keep your comments save for future refence
Sad thing that I had to order the strings from far away.

I recently installed a set of M3050 45-105s on my Squire Precision. I am liking them a lot so far.

The E string seemed a little too long and it was a little hard to install with the factory silk wrap. I carefully trimmed some silk off the tuner end of the E string so it would fit better on the peg as shown below. Thoughts on whether this will cause any problems now or in the future?

Thanks.

Pentatonic said:

I recently installed a set of M3050 45-105s on my Squire Precision. I am liking them a lot so far.

The E string seemed a little too long and it was a little hard to install with the factory silk wrap. I carefully trimmed some silk off the tuner end of the E string so it would fit better on the peg as shown below. Thoughts where this will cause any problems now or in the future?

Thanks.

View attachment 437962

Click to expand...

You should be fine. You probably could have gotten away with one less wind as well and been fine. My E's usually only have two winds because of this problem.

fourstringdrums said:

You should be fine. You probably could have gotten away with one less wind as well and been fine. My E's usually only have two winds because of this problem.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

GHS Official said:

Since someone WILL say it, you can use whatever you want for a great funk/slap tone. I have a number of instruments and they all give me the slap tone I want (case in point, just recorded a video using some new unreleased strings with a P Bass and it sounded beefy, funky and nasty when slapped).

Now, with that out of the way, here are a couple options that I would recommend.

For the bass, any used Jazz style bass would probably be suited for your needs. They're also easy to find in your price range and as long as you can play it prior to purchase, should be very happy. I dial the neck pickup back just a tad with the bridge pickup on full, and it gives a nice, dry tone that works really well.

For strings, you can't go wrong with Boomers. They have a nice snap to them when you slap on them, and can get that dry, nasty funky tone when you want also. Larry Graham uses them, so there's a good tonal point of reference. Personally, I use either Progressives or Super Steels. They're both brighter and a bit more focused than Boomers, with the Progressives having a bit more bite behind them than the Steels. They have a lot of good clarity for slap and funk, but also thicken up nicely for other genres.

Click to expand...

So after a little "research" and soul searching, I bought a bass. A Schecter Guitar Research Damien Elite-5. It has EMG MMHZ pickups, and EMG active B64 3-band EQ. I play through a clean pa setup. (no voiced amp/cab, only active speakers. Hence the 3 band on board eq.) What I am looking for is to fill in the opposite of my passive jazz 5 with p-flats. What I am looking for is something with a very strong fundamental like the p-flats offer. With an equally strong upper overtone. (hate to say it, but piano like!?) What I don't want is to get a lot of mush when playing chords and slap. (Both I am very amateur with) Like a very Hi-Fi clear singing tone, with a strong fundamental. Something that has lower tension than the p-flats do. (just not too floppy. Like nylon.) It must fit a 35" scale, preferably through-body. (The holes are there, hate to see them go unused, lol.) I think the Boomers are more of a compromise. I was looking at the super steels, and SS contact cores, but I get lost easily (squirrel ). Just looking for clarity, with strong upper and lower tones, and moderately flexible, without being too "slinky". Not even afraid to say bright, as long as the bright is balanced with a SOLID fundamental.

So, I guess what I'm asking is, what am I looking for? lol I bought the bass because the combo of scale and electronics is what I've found I think I prefer. Every roundwound string I've played seemed like too much of a compromise. Too light of a gauge and I loose the solid fundamental. Too heavy and I struggle to develop a good slap/chord technique. (Don't want to be called out at guitar center next time. ) I guess I am looking for a string that combined with the humbuckers and 3-band I can fake just about any sound(I'm a whore, I play any music!) But a string that is made to sing and slap, get funky and really let you know I'm there. Without being rude. lol So what ya got?


Thanks, Dave

Approaching nearly two years on my first set and I'm totally smitten... Like the others posted, these will have to fall off this bass or die somehow before being replaced. (I bought three sets from Amazon as I'm in Australia).

Also got my 67 year old dad on to them too by gifting him a set, he's also totally blown away and he's been using rounds since 1968. Never too late to change...

Can I have a free T shirt GHS ? Lol

Took the light flats that I had set aside for my acoustic and put them on my "new" Aerodyne non-export Precision instead. These are the same strings that I have, so far, put on a fretless jazz for a gal from my youth group and also a fretted jazz that I built for myself after I saw how nice the fretless turned-out.
So far, I am liking these on the PJ Aerodyne. I have been playing them for about a week or so at practice to break them in and took them to a WT rehearsal last Tuesday and the reviews were quite good. Once I replace the barrel jack on the bass so the cable does not drop out, I will probably take this to a gig to see how it sits in the mix "for real".
I had planned to put TI's on this bass but I did not have any on-hand so I used the GHS's. I see no reason to change them. Time to order another set.

Linnin said:

Here ya go, Dave! Give GHS Big Core Bass roundwounds try. I love 'em!
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/praise-report-ghs-big-core-bass-strings.1071346/

Click to expand...

Dave, Linnin beat me to it. I'd go the Big Core route as well, and since they're 38" winding length, you should be able to run them thru-body no problem.

9mmMike said:

I had planned to put TI's on this bass but I did not have any on-hand so I used the GHS's. I see no reason to change them. Time to order another set.

Click to expand...

WOO!