Another thread about first flatwound strings

[mexicanyella]

Either the Chromes in their light gauge, or La Bella 760L 43-104. The Chromes have a lot of new string zing that quickly fades to worthless thump.

This has not been my experience. I liked them right away, but liked them more as they mellowed. I play fingerstyle with a pretty bright tone and felt like the broken-in chromes required less aggressive EQ than the rounds I was used to.

As far as tension goes, I was used to .045-.105 Dunlop rounds, and went to .45-.100 chromes and found it to be an easy transition. The .045-.105 Rotosound 77 flats I've tried since felt like bridge cables and came right back off.

 

[sotua]

As a rule of thumb, go 1 gauge thinner with your flats. I.e. if you use 45-105 rounds, go with 40-100 flats, as they're generally stiffer than equivalent gauge rounds.

 

[CallMeAl]

+1 on chromes. Slightly bright but a great tone straight out of the package. I've also tried fender 9050 but found the chromes a little more flexible. The Roto 77s had a good feel, but slightly more metallic clang to them. Chromes hit the sweet spot for me, And sounds like what you're looking for

I use mainly 45-100 round wounds, and found the 40-95 chromes set to be easy on the fingers and a good set for me.

 

[michael_t]

If you want a set of flats that "feel at home" for you in terms of playing feel, try the D'Addario Chromes 40-95 (ECB80).

Or, for something a little more old-school for a warmer, more vintage tone, you can try the GHS Precision Flats in the light set, 45-95.

They both have a comfortable tension/stiffness without being too loose or floppy.

- I'm looking for a mellow sound and the reference abount D'Addario XL's is more about the feel / tension / stiffness then about tone...

For your reference, here's how the tension figures compare between D'A XL Nickel 45-100 (EXL170), D'A Chromes 40-95 (ECB80) and GHS Precsion Flats 45-95 (3025)...

D'A EXL170:

G 045 - 42.52 lbs
D 065 - 48.35
A 080 - 40.05
E 100 - 34.72 (Total 165.64)

D'A ECB80:

G 040 - 37.83 lbs.
D 060 - 46.49
A 075 - 42.58
E 095 - 36.20 (Total 163.10)

GHS 3025:

G 045 - 41.5 lbs.
D 060 - 46.5
A 075 - 38.5
E 095 - 36.7 (Total 163.2)

 

[BarfanyShart]

Labella 760-FL short scale strings should go well with that O-bass. The Chromes will be a bit brighter, and they sound real good, but they feel so rough, I don't get the flatwound feel from them. So if it's about experiencing the feel of flats, I say Labella - but Chromes might sound a little closer to a roundwounds, which you may like better.

 

[jblock]

I'll put in a plug for Fender flatwounds. I use 9050s (45-100) on a Precision and they sound good and are less expensive than Chromes. I use Labella nylon covered flats on my Rob Allens.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Hello everybody!

This is my first post. I come with a question regarding a topic that is widely covered here on TB, but I'd like to ask you a more specific advice. Here's my story: I've been playing bass (for fun) for more than 20 years, and my main bass has always been a MIM Jazz Bass; I tried some different roundwound strings but I settled with D'Addario XL nickel 45-100, I like the sound and I fell comfortable with them. This is where I feel "at home". I would like to try flats on my new bass, an Orange O-Bass I recently purchased used, and I'm looking for something similar to what I'm used to in terms of tension or stiffness. I've read about Low Tension Flats but I'm afraid they would be too floppy. Do you have any advice for me? What should I try first? I don't expect to find the pertest ones at the first attempt, but I'm worried about spending a lot of time and money before I find the good ones, since trying flats are generally more expensive and take time to break in. I have my taste about tone but now I'm more concerned about playability.

Thanks in advance for the help.



P.S. English is not my native language, I hope that what I wrote is understandable

Welcome to TalkBass! Your English is fine!

When I started playing bass back in 1965 I had a no-name Japanese bass with flat wounds. I was not actually aware there were anything but flats until the 70's. Luckily in 1966 I got rid of that piece of junk Japanese bass (before Japan figured out how to make good basses) and got a 1965 Jazz Bass. It came with a set of Fender Flat Wound strings on it. I used those for about 5 years. In 1971 I started touring with a night club group playing 5-nights a week, 50-weeks a year for 3 years. I broke the G string a few months in and decided to replace the set. So I bought a set of Fender Black Nylon Tape Wounds and used those until 1976 when my bass was stolen

Finally found another Jazz with the same neck shape, profile, and radius in 1985 and bought it. It's an '82 Jazz with maple neck and it's in Olympic White will white pickguard, pickups, control knobs and binding on the neck. It came with round-wounds and over the next 33-years I replaced with round wounds. I originally used the Dean Markley Blue Steel, and then switched to the DR Black Beauty strings. Eventually those became Gray-speckled strings.

Replaced those about 4-years ago with LaBella White Tape Wound strings and I'll never go back. They handle like flats but still have some nice high harmonics that you normally get on round wounds, but not on flats. Plus they have the best balanced sound from string to string of any that I've played. No need to go up to the 7th fret to get some body in a note that otherwise sounds too thin on the second fret of the next string. I'll play that octave E and A at either location depending upon where my hand is at the time.

They make 4 versions of these strings. Black has the darkest sound; White has the brightest sound, and white over copper core is brighter than the Black, and white over gold core is brighter than the copper. I picked the white to match my white bass. The white ones are semi-opaque and you can see the color of the core through them. Those just happened to be the best for me and my bass. They didn't seem to need time to break in and they haven't gone dead yeat after 4-years of playing them. I'd recommend you give these guys a shot.

TalkBass sells them at the store. Here's a link to the Tape Wound, use the options in the left column to choose your color:
https://store.talkbass.com/collections/la-bella?pf_t_winding=Winding:Tapewound

 

[Raman]

Hello everybody!

This is my first post. I come with a question regarding a topic that is widely covered here on TB, but I'd like to ask you a more specific advice. Here's my story: I've been playing bass (for fun) for more than 20 years, and my main bass has always been a MIM Jazz Bass; I tried some different roundwound strings but I settled with D'Addario XL nickel 45-100, I like the sound and I fell comfortable with them. This is where I feel "at home". I would like to try flats on my new bass, an Orange O-Bass I recently purchased used, and I'm looking for something similar to what I'm used to in terms of tension or stiffness. I've read about Low Tension Flats but I'm afraid they would be too floppy. Do you have any advice for me? What should I try first? I don't expect to find the pertest ones at the first attempt, but I'm worried about spending a lot of time and money before I find the good ones, since trying flats are generally more expensive and take time to break in. I have my taste about tone but now I'm more concerned about playability.

Thanks in advance for the help.



P.S. English is not my native language, I hope that what I wrote is understandable

Your English is fine. I'm not sure where they fall regarding tension, but D'Addario Chromes seem to me like a good "starting point" for flats. Readily available and cheap, and you could spend a lot of time searching and do no better, sound- and playability-wise.

I was exactly where you are a few months ago and I completely agree with D'Addario Chromes.

I had tried flatwounds many, many years ago and really disliked both their feel and their tone. I don't know what brand they were, but they didn't do it for me at all: They were rough on the fingers and sounded, well, flat, as in lifeless. So, for 20 years, I only ever played with rounds. Then I became curious to try flatwounds again. After reading advice and asking around, I finally went for a set of D'Addario Chromes on my new P bass. And I love them! Great tone with surprising brightness, very smooth on the fingers and they feel right at home compared to the tension of rounds. I like them so much that I just installed a set on my 5-string G&L L2500 too (I went for regular light gauge 45-132). As mentioned, they are very affordable too, so you don't risk too much if you're not happy.

I understand that they'd be a good "starting point", because you retain a lot of the punch and brightness of rounds. I don't know if I'll move on to different flatwounds with time, but I'm super happy with the move so far.

EDIT:
As I was researching and shopping around, my 1st choice was actually Fender flatwounds. Many people here recommended them. But they turned out to be impossible to find in local shops. Then, a seller mentioned that Fender has their strings made by D'Addario now and that they are equivalent... I don't know if that's true though.

 

[Phaidrus]

All flats sets I've tried were good and liked them all, for different reasons. At the moment I have a custom 50-70-85-105 set of Dunlop flats on my Pbass (for across-the-board dub fatness ). Nice versatile strings, can sound old school but also new school depending on how you EQ them. You could try the standard 45-105 set, which seems to have about the same tension as a D'Addario set of rounds of the same gauge, possibly due to a thinner core wire). Jah Rastafari!

 

[Baffenstein]

I would also recommend the Labella 760fx set over the 760fl set, IME the 760FL set feels kind of stiff, when I tried Labella's first I tried the 760FL set and it really put me off then years later I tried the 760fx set and they are much more manageable

Thank you! Is there any difference between the two sets, other than the gauge?

 

[funkinbottom]

Five out of six basses that I own wear flats. Two with Dunlop, one with La Bella, one with Fender, and one with DR Legends. All a little different, and all sound good, but the La Bella's are my fave. Just bought another set of La Bella but not sure which bass I'll put them on. The only one not sporting flats has GHS Pressure wound, also a great sounding string and nice between flat and round feel.

 

[shoulderpet]

Thank you! Is there any difference between the two sets, other than the gauge?

No just the gauge

 

[Baffenstein]

This has not been my experience. I liked them right away, but liked them more as they mellowed. I play fingerstyle with a pretty bright tone and felt like the broken-in chromes required less aggressive EQ than the rounds I was used to.

As far as tension goes, I was used to .045-.105 Dunlop rounds, and went to .45-.100 chromes and found it to be an easy transition. The .045-.105 Rotosound 77 flats I've tried since felt like bridge cables and came right back off.

Thank you! Bridge cables is exactly what I'm trying to avoid!

 

[el murdoque]

Casting an oddball here: Optima Flats.
They are quite middle-of-the-road in many aspects. I'd recommend them to a flatwound beginner.

 

[coy garcia]

I really like the D'Addario chromes. I disagree that it becomes a useless thud. I have some over 20yrs old that still sound great.

 

[OldSchoolFlats]

I went with the La Bella "Deep Talkin' Flats": 760FL-B 5-String - Light.

On my 4-string, I use Di Addario EXL165 (nickel hex-core), and find the light DTF strings similar in tension/stiffness. The DTF strings also come in heavier gauges which are very stiff, but the 760FL strings are similar in stiffness to the rounds I use.

I never tried La Bella Low Tension Flats, but many here like them.

With any flats, check the length of the string, and where the silk winding starts. Depending on your bass, it is possible to get a string where the main part of the string (rather than the silk winding) starts wrapping around your tuning-peg. La Bella has a good string-guide on their site to help you pick the right string-set.

 

[jj4001]

I've used LaBella 760FS, LaBella 760FL, .045-.100 D'Addario Chromes, TI Jazz Flats, Optima RB4440, and my favorite flats by far are Fender 9050L. They're also the cheapest flats out there, but I'd still be using them if they were the spendiest. I've got a set on a '63 reissue Fender Precision and also a '66 Fender Mustang. I like that they're looser feeling than LaBellas but not floppy like TIs or Optimas. I also like the extra growl and midrange they have over LaBellas while at the same time not sounding nasally like TIs. I found them to have a wonky break-in period before settling in very nicely on the Precision, but they sounded great right out the box on the short scale Mustang.

Good luck on your quest. The O-basses look really cool and fun!

 

[mrperkolator]

@Baffenstein

That orange bass is 34" and very similar to a p bass. Nice catch. I've played on many of La Bella's offerings. If you're wanting something similar to rounds in feel, try the La Bella Low Tensions. I'm not sure what they measure, but they feel like I'm playing on rounds tension wise. They are low tension compared to other flats, which are stiffer. I've got a set on a fretless. I've also tried several of La Bella's tapewounds. Tapes tend to feel a hair under tension compared to rounds.

My thoughts...... keep rounds on your jazz for that tone. And throw La Bella Low tensions on the orange for when you want to hit that mowtown vibe. That would be a nice gigging kit. Nothing you coulndt do between those two.

 

[7dollarbologna]

Be sure your bass can handle the added tension of flats - a medium set might be too much for your o bass - neck looks skinny

 

[Yahboy]

I dint own the O bass, but i been setup once few years ago. This bass actually has natural warm deep P vibe compare to P bass. More to Violin bass or Hollow bass vibe to my ear. I strung a set of La bella copper white nylon on it and she just sound sweet bloomy voice which make owner quite happy with the result.