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Been playing bass 28 years...

#81
I just ordered 2 sets of DR "Legends" flat wound strings. I am going to put one set on my 51 Reissue Fender Precision. The other may go on my Electra X610 or my Fretless Precision. I am a "slapper" and have been since the mid-late 1980's. So I have everything else strung with DR High Beams.
 
#82
Humbled said:
It's nice to know that there is a first-class source for strings out there.

If I run out before I die (however doubtful), I'll certainly check 'em out.
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I feel the same way with my basses. Three Precisions, each set up with relatively new Thomastik Flats. I will turn 59 next month. My basses and with their present strings should outlive me. I do need to buy a couple dozen more sets of strings for my 4 Strats though. Good to see someone else has a string collection. Safe bet that we aren't the only ones.
 
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#88
erayser said:
Funny, I just discovered this forum to research my 30+ year old Fender P-bass to see how much it was worth. I was considering selling/trading for a Fender Jazz. While reading through the P-bass thread, I noticed how popular flats were in the thread... all I ever used were roundwounds. I bought a new Tort PG and threw on some flats, and now I'm in love with how good my bass looks and sounds. :)
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Yes, P with tort and flats. That's basically everything one needs from life.
 
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#91
dgrizzly said:
Just saw this on my local CL. Not a Squier, but may be up your alley... Caught my attention at least!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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Thanks but they're actually quite different animals (plus, Denver's something of a trek from the NE). The Fenders were lowest-of-the-low-end "student" models with anemic pups. The Squiers have a burly pup, plus cooler colors AND color-matched headstocks. Guy I know has one that I played years ago and I've been coveting it ever since.

Interestingly, though (or not), when dad bought me my first bass (thanks!) in '79, we walked out with a Guild, but I so wanted the white MM in the shop because it said "Fender" on the headstock.
 
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#92
Humbled said:
21st of September, 1958 for me.


I once asked my Dad if I was "planned".

He laughed and said: "No, you were the product of a New-Year's Eve party..."
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Haha, well you asked. A friend of mine got pregnant with her lover in Paris many years ago, and gave up the baby to a convent. Things were different back then, and shaming of unwed mothers was typical. A few years ago, through mutual seeking, she and her son were reunited. She told him the full story which he accepts, and they socialize often together now. Funny thing is, he asked her a couple of weeks ago if he was "planned". Haha!
 
#93
SpazzTheBassist said:
thanks for replies so far......very helpful.......i actually forgot the most important question: "When you used rounds, how often did you change strings?"...edited and added to my post above....Sorry for the thread derail but this is great info
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I changed mine out every weekend, BUT I only had about 4 sets for the year. I kept a couple sets soaking in denatured alcohol at work. I would pull a set out, blow them off, and rotate every weekend. Keeps a fresh sound like this. Just now experimenting with flats, after 30+ years, but I still have the Ole coffee can of denatured alcohol sitting on my bench in case I decide to go back.
 
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#94
michael_t said:
Hey, welcome to the club! This means we were born in 1957, which is the same year the venerable Fender Precision Bass with the split single-coil pickup was born! :thumbsup:

Just curious... Which date in Feb?
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You bunch of geezers
(said the guy who was born March 2nd 1958)

This may have got lost:
Do pressure wound / ground wound strings loose their initial brightness as fast as round wounds?
 
#95
Jim C said:
Do pressure wound / ground wound strings loose their initial brightness as fast as round wounds?
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Keep in mind my love for the Pressurewound is for their very lack of the ringy-dingy-zingy top end to begin with.

That said, the actual difference between the way they sounded right out of the package and the way they sound now after over four months is not nearly as great as the way a typical set of SS rounds would lose their initial freshness after only a few weeks.

Thanks to Alloy 52 and its magnetic properties, my Jazz still purrrs and grrrowls happily all day even after four months.
 
#96
A couple years ago I was at a function where I was not in the band, and their bass player had missed his flight from Dallas. Bandleader knew I was a bass player and asked if I could sit in for the set. Hell yes, it was mainly blues anyway.

Dude had a Fender 5 string J with flats. I'd never played flats on a gig in my life. I can't say I was totally converted, never to return to roundwounds again, but I did see the appeal of the flats "flavor." It's a very useful flavor for the thumpy R&B I hear all the time these days.

It was a cool thing. I have a Strings & Things P/J, which is an excellent 80-s vintage P clone, that's occupying no clearly defined role in my herd. I decided to put flats on it and have it be that bass for the next blues gig I get called for.
 
#97
OK,
Now to throw some gasoline on the fire.
Are flats / ground wounds really that different sounding than rolling off the treble with the tone pot with round wound nickel plated strings?
 
#98
Flats are great, I keep both depending on the situation. I made a record with a band and used the same bass; half the songs with rounds and half flats. I was surprised how little difference their is in the mix. It always sounds like a great p bass to me. I split my signal between an old ampeg tube amp and an Avalon U5. I'd say play what you like the best.
 

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