Clanky strings

[pauliebass]

Hey all,
Any advice on a 5er set of flats that is least likely to be "clanky" on the lower strings? I have chromes on my Lull pj and the low strings need to be "kid gloved" to not get a metal on metal attack. I'm not talking about fret buzz, but rather a clanky click when pushing a string down. I would imagine there's not much to be done about this seeing that it is in fact metal on metal. In my quest to cut down on finger scraping noises, I have added a fret depression noise. I think that clank is there with rounds too, but it just gets absorbed a bit more by all the other production noises being made. Oh well, I'm going to go practice my double bass and fretless.

Thanks for pointing me in any direction!

 

[FretlessMainly]

While strings can make a difference in clank (flats do indeed have less than rounds in general), it's more of a technique issue than an equipment issue. Assuming you're a righty, try getting your right elbow up and away from the bass and get over the strings more so you can pluck them across the fretboard instead of down into it.

As another option, nylon tapewounds have very little clank, but some clack.

 

[AmadeusXeno]

Perhaps a larger gauge my help you, or higher action then what you are currently using. Sounds like the issue you are having is from the strings hitting the frets or pickups with anything besides a soft touch, so my suggestion may help you.

 

[pauliebass]

While strings can make a difference in clank (flats do indeed have less than rounds in general), it's more of a technique issue than an equipment issue. Assuming you're a righty, try getting your right elbow up and away from the bass and get over the strings more so you can pluck them across the fretboard instead of down into it.

As another option, nylon tapewounds have very little clank, but some clack.

No and yes, bad plucking hand posture can be a cause of fret buzz or throwing the string into the neck. Both of which I hate unless I really mean it. I'm talking about the sound of the string as it touches the fret. It is very pronounced on a flat compared to a round because I feel like it is more of a clank around the fundamental instead of maybe exciting some upper harmonics. I realize i'm being anal and some people would care less about this sound. I was just wondering if there was any flat out there that combated this a bit. I may have to try tapes.

 

[genericusername]

pluck near the bridge for less clank, over the fretboard for more.

 

[Catbuster]

You need to pull the string straight up and not overly hard. And, try raising the action.

 

[randysmojo]

Might need to raise the action. Something else to try, maybe before raising action, would be try muting with your right hand when fretting. Your finger will be going to that string to pluck after fretting, if you put your finger down just a hair early and mute it in between notes while shortening the ringing note slightly, might be the way to fix this, and if you ever had problems some notes coming out sloppy, might be a good technique to clean up some of that as well. Something that I do with some of my playing that might work for you too.

 

[pauliebass]

pluck near the bridge for less clank, over the fretboard for more.

You need to pull the string straight up and not overly hard. And, try raising the action.

Might need to raise the action. Something else to try, maybe before raising action, would be try muting with your right hand when fretting. Your finger will be going to that string to pluck after fretting, if you put your finger down just a hair early and mute it in between notes while shortening the ringing note slightly, might be the way to fix this, and if you ever had problems some notes coming out sloppy, might be a good technique to clean up some of that as well. Something that I do with some of my playing that might work for you too.

I appreciate everyone's comments, but I guess I didn't explain it well. I'm not concerned with the technique of playing a bass even though some of those comments are great for some people. I'm pretty sure I play with higher action than most, so instrument setup is not an issue. I'm purely looking to see if someone had suggestions specifically about flats that were less Clanky when pushing the low strings to the fretboard with the left hand. Let's pretend the right hand doesn't exist for now.

 

[randysmojo]

You could try tape wound strings but they usually take away even more highs. Chorms are supposed to be brighter flats, so ribbon wound flats like GHS Precision Flats, which GHS claims are darker than tape wounds. Otherwise, most flats are still going to be metal on metal when depressed and make a clank, unless a different technique is looked at. Is it actually audible through an amp to where it is a problem, or do you hear it more just acoustically when not plugged in?

 

[JasonKain]

I've actually run into this issue myself. I started out into flats with Chromes, but shied away after a few months for specifically the issue you mention, fret clank. Right hand is nowhere near the bass, but depressing the string to the fret produces a noticeable click. I've since tried La Bellas and Sadowskys, but the La Bellas did roughly the same thing, slightly lessened, and while the Sadowsky strings don't do this near as much, I prefer the rest of the sound of Chromes to them.

The sound is there with rounds IME, but it blends in with the rest of the string noise. My thought is there isn't as much of a gap in frequencies for you to notice, but with flats there is. Rough guess, I in no way know the science. I'd suggest going with Sadowsky from my limited experiences.

 

[pauliebass]

You could try tape wound strings but they usually take away even more highs. Chorms are supposed to be brighter flats, so ribbon wound flats like GHS Precision Flats, which GHS claims are darker than tape wounds. Otherwise, most flats are still going to be metal on metal when depressed and make a clank, unless a different technique is looked at. Is it actually audible through an amp to where it is a problem, or do you hear it more just acoustically when not plugged in?

The bass in question is an ash/maple that is loud acoustically, so the noise is very much there unplugged, and I can hear it amplified as well... not as much but it's there. Like I said earlier, I'm sure I'm being anal, but I want as close to perfect as can be. You can't forget about the bass while you play if you're always fixed on something that's bothering you.

 

[pauliebass]

I've actually run into this issue myself. I started out into flats with Chromes, but shied away after a few months for specifically the issue you mention, fret clank. Right hand is nowhere near the bass, but depressing the string to the fret produces a noticeable click. I've since tried La Bellas and Sadowskys, but the La Bellas did roughly the same thing, slightly lessened, and while the Sadowsky strings don't do this near as much, I prefer the rest of the sound of Chromes to them.

The sound is there with rounds IME, but it blends in with the rest of the string noise. My thought is there isn't as much of a gap in frequencies for you to notice, but with flats there is. Rough guess, I in no way know the science. I'd suggest going with Sadowsky from my limited experiences.

Thanks for the info on your experience. Sads may fit the bill, but I might try tapes first. I am digging the Chromes on my fretless, so I hear you on liking them. The main problem is on the B string on the fretted with some annoyance on the E.

 

[bassboysam]

I have tried all the flats mentioned in this thread and in my experience they all had the clank. The only way to get rid of it is with EQ. A parametric EQ like the Empress works really well for this and I was able to EQ the clank out. The other option is dial down the tone knob on the bass to cut all the highs then boost the treble on the amp. I find that helps emphasize different frequencies and in my case most of the clank was eliminated.

 

[pauliebass]

I have tried all the flats mentioned in this thread and in my experience they all had the clank. The only way to get rid of it is with EQ. A parametric EQ like the Empress works really well for this and I was able to EQ the clank out. The other option is dial down the tone knob on the bass to cut all the highs then boost the treble on the amp. I find that helps emphasize different frequencies and in my case most of the clank was eliminated.

Yeah, I've been dialing back the tone and then boosting back the treble on my bass. It works ok, but I find to tame it where I want it I have to dim the tone more than I like.

 

[mongo2]

I found that using a lighter touch with my left hand helped.

 

[96tbird]

^this, I just began using flats and had to adapt. But you say you have high action, try lowering it so you don't have as far to smack the string down, Flats don't need as much room to vibrate as rounds because they are less flexible.

 

[pauliebass]

I found that using a lighter touch with my left hand helped.

^this, I just began using flats and had to adapt. But you say you have high action, try lowering it so you don't have as far to smack the string down, Flats don't need as much room to vibrate as rounds because they are less flexible.

Lighter touch definitely helps it especially if you put on some "air breaks" right before the string touches, but I still find it slightly annoying. As far as string height goes... I'm not going to mess with my ability to play right over the fretboard... not that I do that all of the time.

I think with this bass I'm either going full out with rounds for slice and dice, or tapes to keep it smoove.

I ordered GHS nylons from bassstringsonline yesterday. I'll let you guys know about them next week.

 

[JasonKain]

Lighter touch definitely helps it especially if you put on some "air breaks" right before the string touches, but I still find it slightly annoying. As far as string height goes... I'm not going to mess with my ability to play right over the fretboard... not that I do that all of the time.

I think with this bass I'm either going full out with rounds for slice and dice, or tapes to keep it smoove.

I ordered GHS nylons from bassstringsonline yesterday. I'll let you guys know about them next week.

I look forward to that, because GHS nylons were next on my buy list as well.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

What kind of EQ options does your amp have? If there's a "presence" control (or some other name for a ridiculously high 15kHz+ EQ), you might as well just make it flat, or even cut it a bit - you probably wont hear a difference. Turning the gain up a touch too can help to distort the top end of your tone, masking the click.

Additionally, if you have a 32-band EQ or something to run through, try isolating some frequencies (probably between 1kHz and 2.5kHz) and see if you can EQ it out without too much compromise on your tone.

Of course, working on a lighter left-hand and perfecting left and right hand synchronization is important. If you can fret exactly as you're playing, the fret click will be less present and out of place.

Nylon tapes were recommended, and that sounds like a good choice. However, it sounds like you'd be dulling your tone even more, so I don't really see any added benefit over just rolling your tone nearly all the way off. Maybe a set of nickel flats is in order? It's a softer metal, so the click would definitely be less noticeable. In fact, most rounds have nickel or nickel-plated steel wraps, so that's probably a very large contributer to them sounding "quieter".


In the band context, it's probably not even noticeable, and will be even less noticeable if you work on EQing and technique a bit more.

 

[pauliebass]

What kind of EQ options does your amp have? If there's a "presence" control (or some other name for a ridiculously high 15kHz+ EQ), you might as well just make it flat, or even cut it a bit - you probably wont hear a difference. Turning the gain up a touch too can help to distort the top end of your tone, masking the click.

Additionally, if you have a 32-band EQ or something to run through, try isolating some frequencies (probably between 1kHz and 2.5kHz) and see if you can EQ it out without too much compromise on your tone.

Of course, working on a lighter left-hand and perfecting left and right hand synchronization is important. If you can fret exactly as you're playing, the fret click will be less present and out of place.

Nylon tapes were recommended, and that sounds like a good choice. However, it sounds like you'd be dulling your tone even more, so I don't really see any added benefit over just rolling your tone nearly all the way off. Maybe a set of nickel flats is in order? It's a softer metal, so the click would definitely be less noticeable. In fact, most rounds have nickel or nickel-plated steel wraps, so that's probably a very large contributer to them sounding "quieter".


In the band context, it's probably not even noticeable, and will be even less noticeable if you work on EQing and technique a bit more.

So true about the band context. I'm doing more small ensemble work now, though. Like I said earlier, it's mainly only a problem on the B string. Great comments all around.