Bright flats vs "real" flats

[TinyE]

I found this thread very informative. I went to by flats and got talked into half rounds by the sales guy. He said they were a good intro to flats giving you a bit of both extremes. I hated them, and was convinced all of you were crazy on here touting flats. I will now go for full flats and give them a try sometime.

 

[donn]

Now you know. That's how I found out about half rounds. It seems to me, back in the day we called them "ground rounds?" Anyway, whatever you call them ... an idea that seems to make sense, but doesn't work out like you think it's going to.

 

[ROOTSnFIFTHS]

I found this thread very informative. I went to by flats and got talked into half rounds by the sales guy. He said they were a good intro to flats giving you a bit of both extremes. I hated them, and was convinced all of you were crazy on here touting flats. I will now go for full flats and give them a try sometime.

I can't stand Half Rounds. VERY 'grabby' to my fingers as someone said. The sound was the worst of both worlds, IMO.

Go for full flatwound.

 

[maxiegrant]

wow, a lot of hate for half-round types! i think they have a decent tone, kind of a thick "pre-deadened rounds" sound, and they can be good for excessively buzzy short-scale basses, or for fretless folks who don't like flats but don't want to chew up their boards either.

they are all kind of "grabby" on the fingers though, aren't they? has anybody tried the GHS pressurewounds as maybe a way to get a smoothed-out rounds string without the square corners on the windings that make them so grabby?

Someone gave me a 10-year-old set of the GHS brite flats, and I loved them. They sounded for all the world like they'd been ON the bass for 10 years.

Also, if you want your strings to sound deader, just play with greasy, dirty hands (like, after you eat) for a few days. They will get quite dead-sounding.

I used to use GHS pressurewounds. They are not what flat players are looking for.