I think Sundogue should be given D'Addario endorser status for all of the Chromes this thread has sold!
Seriously, I was begining to think my P w/ chromes was sounding a little too dead. So, I did the total anti-flats thing - I put on a new set. Once I got them broken in I was right back to that tone I had come to love. Still, not bad, I got almost a year of playing out of them, and I play A LOT. I practice by myself for about an hour a night after the kids go to bed, I teach for three hours on Thursday nights, plus all of the rehearsals and gigs with my band. I'd have easily gone through 15 sets of rounds in that time.
Sundogue, you da man. Thanks, again, for starting this thread.
You are welcome...and many thanks.
Way back when I started the first thread on this, I was only expressing my thoughts on what I found to be true for me. Never did I think it would turn into this extremely long dialogue that has helped change the culture of string choice, or more importantly the culture of thinking about the bass player's role in music. What amazes and moves me most about the longevity of this thread (or continuation of the original one) is that it became not just a dialogue about strings, but of how and where the bass fits into music. That it actually has gone on this long (in the Strings forum no less) is nothing short of a tribute to what the bass is all about and just why we play bass and not guitar.
I am pleased that it has at least opened the minds of many who viewed flatwounds as just an old, outdated dull string used on recordings back when it was the only string choice available. But I am even more pleased that it has helped many who had gotten into a rut and fell into the abyss of "
Cut Through the Mix Syndrome".
Read all the threads on this syndrome and one will understand just why many still are trying to do just that and haven't really understood why. They try to sound more like a guitar and then wonder why they can't separate themselves from the sound of the guitars, no matter what bass, rig or settings they use.
The first thread, especially at the beginning had A LOT of heated debate on flats versus rounds, which was never my intention. I still use rounds myself at times. It's all about context and most arguments about string choice in the early parts of the first thread left out the context. I was not trying to change anyone's mind, but only attempting to open it to possibilities.
Where would music be, or more to the point, where would bass players role in music be without the advancement of roundwounds? Entwistle, Squire, Geddy, Stanley, et al really changed the landscape of bass playing and that has not been lost on me, yet all the while many who are not ever going to be in that position of essentially "fronting" the band's sound lost the idea of what bass playing is all about. And thus, they relegated flatwound use to those that only wish to be in the background...like
that was a bad thing!
It would be easy to just say flats are dull and only serve one purpose...that "one trick pony" thing, yet many bass players are really frustrated guitar players who just don't get (and understandably don't want to get) the purpose of playing bass in the first place. They don't want to be supportive to the rest of the band, they want it all. And I certainly can appreciate that point of view, even while I don't subscribe to it.
Sometimes less is more. While that is certainly true of notes played, it is also true of sonic space. We can debate the validity of my argument, but there is no debate that the more sonic space we fill the more difficult it is to hear ourselves among the other instruments who also share that space.
Obviously my original post struck a nerve far beyond string choice. I find that the most satisfying aspect of this thread. There are enough people who have "converted" (as it were) over to flats for the very reason I originally posted about to know that my thoughts on the subject are justified. For that, I'm really grateful.
As far as "endorser" status...well, if D'Addario wants to throw some Chromes my way, I'd be happy to take a few packs from them, but we all know that ain't going to happen and even if it did, we also know that we don't need more than a single pack of them (unlike the roundwounds where a person could really benefit from getting 12 free packs of strings a year
).
OK...enough from this blowhard.
Carry on.
EDIT: For those who may have come to
this thread late, and aren't aware of the original thread (Started almost two years ago in February of 2009...with almost 1500 posts and over 90,000 views)...you can find it here...
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=519803&highlight=confessions
EDIT #2: Wow, I just realized I'm coming up on my 10th year of being here on Talkbass. Which just shows that anyone can waste enough time online if they really put their mind to it.
( not trying to kick anybody's cat ) 
