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Ampeg Brand Flatwounds? Any info appreciated!

TwototheValley

TwototheValley

Aug 27, 2019
1,102
3,639
#1
I stumbled across these a little while ago, and my curiosity was piqued. I thought I knew about most of the flatwound strings from the early days, but these have me stumped. So I’m hoping there might be some bass string/Ampeg aficionados who might be able to shed some light on this mystery. @JimmyM @HaphAsSard @S.F.Sorrow @GIBrat51 (if any of you guys are around….these forums have turned into a ghost town and even I myself drop by very infrequently).

These are heavy gauge flats, measured at 50-105. They have pale olive silks at both ends, silver ball ends, and a 37 inch winding length from the ball end to the silk. They also seem to be round core, if I can trust my aging eyes.

These appear to be from the Magnavox era of Ampeg. I wasn’t aware that they had their own winding facilities, so was interested in knowing which manufacturer may have been contracted to produce them. Perhaps these are a variant of the Dan Armstrong bass strings produced by E&O Mari (makers of La Bella)?

Does anyone know any more about these unicorns?

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#2
TwototheValley said:
I stumbled across these a little while ago, and my curiosity was piqued. I thought I knew about most of the flatwound strings from the early days, but these have me stumped. So I’m hoping there might be some bass string/Ampeg aficionados who might be able to shed some light on this mystery. @JimmyM @HaphAsSard @S.F.Sorrow @GIBrat51 (if any of you guys are around….these forums have turned into a ghost town and even I myself drop by very infrequently).

These are heavy gauge flats, measured at 50-105. They have pale olive silks at both ends, silver ball ends, and a 37 inch winding length from the ball end to the silk. They also seem to be round core, if I can trust my aging eyes.

These appear to be from the Magnavox era of Ampeg. I wasn’t aware that they had their own winding facilities, so was interested in knowing which manufacturer may have been contracted to produce them. Perhaps these are a variant of the Dan Armstrong bass strings produced by E&O Mari (makers of La Bella)?

Does anyone know any more about these unicorns?

View attachment 7042620
View attachment 7042621View attachment 7042622View attachment 7042623View attachment 7042624
Click to expand...
If you are looking something that has more treble that LB Flats and can't find Ampegs, try Thomastik Infelds.
 
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#4
TroyK said:
Sorry....but that's just cool.

Someone needs to string them up!
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I’m sorely tempted, but all my basses have well played in strings which are sounding great at present, and I’m reluctant to pull them off until they’re truly dead. Especially if these end up sounding less than stellar.

That said, I might bite the bullet for the sake of “research”…..
 
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#6
Yeah, the might of Google has turned up pretty much nuthin’ for me….there’s gotta be someone out there who might have seen, sold or played them…I’m very surprised that these carry the name of a major brand, yet there’s almost no mention of them whatsoever….maybe they were a brief promotional run lost in the mists of time…or just not very good and consequently abandoned.
 
#7
TwototheValley said:
I’m sorely tempted, but all my basses have well played in strings which are sounding great at present, and I’m reluctant to pull them off until they’re truly dead. Especially if these end up sounding less than stellar.

That said, I might bite the bullet for the sake of “research”…..
Click to expand...

You're missing the subtext here. What he's actually saying is "buy another bass."
 
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#9
TwototheValley said:
I stumbled across these a little while ago, and my curiosity was piqued. I thought I knew about most of the flatwound strings from the early days, but these have me stumped. So I’m hoping there might be some bass string/Ampeg aficionados who might be able to shed some light on this mystery. @JimmyM @HaphAsSard @S.F.Sorrow @GIBrat51 (if any of you guys are around….these forums have turned into a ghost town and even I myself drop by very infrequently).

These are heavy gauge flats, measured at 50-105. They have pale olive silks at both ends, silver ball ends, and a 37 inch winding length from the ball end to the silk. They also seem to be round core, if I can trust my aging eyes.

These appear to be from the Magnavox era of Ampeg. I wasn’t aware that they had their own winding facilities, so was interested in knowing which manufacturer may have been contracted to produce them. Perhaps these are a variant of the Dan Armstrong bass strings produced by E&O Mari (makers of La Bella)?

Does anyone know any more about these unicorns?

View attachment 7042620
View attachment 7042621View attachment 7042622View attachment 7042623View attachment 7042624
Click to expand...
@Bruce Johnson may know?
 
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#10
I think everyone you named is still here to a degree. But I don’t post as much as I used to since the pandemic and taking up drums again after dropping them in my teens.

So Ampeg strings are a new one on me. I’d bet they probably came and went before I started playing bass. I’d say definitely early Magnavox. Beyond that I know diddley, Bo ;)

Slightly curious about the sound but I don’t think you would get anything out of them you can’t already get.
 
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#11
I own an Ampeg Accessories catalog from the mid-‘70s, filled with things like effects, strings, picks, etc. I’ll see if I can dig it out and see if the packaging matches. Might be worth noting that in the mid-‘70s Ampeg’s instrument line was the less than exciting Made-In-Japan Stud line. (I have a Little Stud bass. It’s almost embarrassing to say that.)
 
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#13
farace said:
The strings show up on page 12 of the attached PDF. (I have a few things from this catalog, such as the Phazzer pedal and several picks in different shapes.)
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Wow! Great find!

I wondered whether they might be nickel…very inttesting construction. Pure nickel or plated, core or just wrap? I’d love to know which company made them to drill down on the details.

Thanhs so much for your help!
 
#14
farace said:
The strings show up on page 12 of the attached PDF. (I have a few things from this catalog, such as the Phazzer pedal and several picks in different shapes.)
Click to expand...
I have that exact Hamilton Action Lever Capo on page 8. Got it from my dad who had a guitar, but never really played it. I never had any idea what brand it was, and no guitarists who ever saw it, have seen one like it - now I know :)
 
#15
TwototheValley said:
I stumbled across these a little while ago, and my curiosity was piqued. I thought I knew about most of the flatwound strings from the early days, but these have me stumped. So I’m hoping there might be some bass string/Ampeg aficionados who might be able to shed some light on this mystery. @JimmyM @HaphAsSard @S.F.Sorrow @GIBrat51 (if any of you guys are around….these forums have turned into a ghost town and even I myself drop by very infrequently).

These are heavy gauge flats, measured at 50-105. They have pale olive silks at both ends, silver ball ends, and a 37 inch winding length from the ball end to the silk. They also seem to be round core, if I can trust my aging eyes.

These appear to be from the Magnavox era of Ampeg. I wasn’t aware that they had their own winding facilities, so was interested in knowing which manufacturer may have been contracted to produce them. Perhaps these are a variant of the Dan Armstrong bass strings produced by E&O Mari (makers of La Bella)?

Does anyone know any more about these unicorns?

View attachment 7042620
View attachment 7042621View attachment 7042622View attachment 7042623View attachment 7042624
Click to expand...
Wow, I had *zero* idea these existed.
TwototheValley said:
Wow! Great find!

I wondered whether they might be nickel…very inttesting construction. Pure nickel or plated, core or just wrap? I’d love to know which company made them to drill down on the details.
Click to expand...
The flat ribbon is pure nickel; they could not be, or it would be difficult for them to be, nickel-plated because the final polishing process would partly grind away the plating.
Underwindings (round-section intermediate wraps) might be steel, NPS or pure nickel.
There may or may not be a silk wrap around the core (current Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats have it, Optima RB Flatwounds do too - incidentally, they're both pure nickel - and, of course, orchestral strings all do, for arco screech-damping purposes).
Cores are invariably steel. Note that the core in these Ampeg S8638 flats (54-72-92-108, per @farace's pdf catalogue) is round, not hex, as was the norm back when.
 
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#17
HaphAsSard said:
Wow, I had *zero* idea these existed.

The flat ribbon is pure nickel; they could not be, or it would be difficult for them to be, nickel-plated because the final polishing process would partly grind away the plating.
Underwindings (round-section intermediate wraps) might be steel, NPS or pure nickel.
There may or may not be a silk wrap around the core (current Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats have it, Optima RB Flatwounds do too - incidentally, they're both pure nickel - and, of course, orchestral strings all do, for arco screech-damping purposes).
Cores are invariably steel. Note that the core in these Ampeg S8638 flats (54-72-92-108, per @farace's pdf catalogue) is round, not hex, as was the norm back when.
Click to expand...
The plot thickens.

I’m starting to wonder whether they were made by Pyramid or Optima/Maxima, given those manufacturers are among the few who made round core or nickel flatwounds….

IMG_0470.gif
 
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#18
TwototheValley said:
The plot thickens.

I’m starting to wonder whether they were made by Pyramid or Optima/Maxima, given those manufacturers are among the few who made round core or nickel flatwounds….

View attachment 7043056
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Note that
- At least between 1971 and 1974 Fender Mastersound flatwounds were nickel. I've seen price lists from that time that say as much, pace those who not only say that current GHS Precision flats sound just like them (which I have no reason to doubt), but go one step further and claim the latter are perfect clones of old Fenders
[Now, is it possible they were stainless-steel between 1959 and 1971? Sure, anything is possible. Hex-core Fender Studio Bass flats were nickel initially (1977), but became stainless-steel at some point in the mid-Eighties.]
- everything I've read suggests round cores were the norm in the Sixties. So I assume even La Bellas were, back then
- it's true that Pyramid and Optima flats are nickel, but - just for completeness' sake - only Pyramid Gold flatwound low E, and possibly low B strings are roundcore, the rest of the set is hex; and only the Optima RB is round-core (their standard sets are hex).
 
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#19
HaphAsSard said:
Note that
- At least between 1971 and 1974 Fender Mastersound flatwounds were nickel. I've seen price lists from that time that say as much, pace those who not only say that current GHS Precision flats sound just like them (which I have no reason to doubt), but go one step further and claim the latter are perfect clones of old Fenders
[Now, is it possible they were stainless-steel between 1959 and 1971? Sure, anything is possible. Hex-core Fender Studio Bass flats were nickel initially (1977), but became stainless-steel at some point in the mid-Eighties.]
- everything I've read suggests round cores were the norm in the Sixties. So I assume even La Bellas were, back then
- it's true that Pyramid and Optima flats are nickel, but - just for completeness' sake - only Pyramid Gold flatwound low E, and possibly low B strings are roundcore, the rest of the set is hex; and only the Optima RB is round-core (their standard sets are hex).
Click to expand...
Good points. I suppose there are no rules completely set in stone and that formulas changed over time. Regarding the use of nickel, it’s my understanding that manufacturers began moving away from it in the early days as the cost of the metal increased around that time.

Perhaps the ball ends are a clue? Did any string manufacturer use silver ball ends in the 70’s? I’m assuming they’re not brass, so they’re probably stainless steel.
 
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