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Daddario Chromes flats...pleasant surprise

R

RED J

Lol
Jan 23, 2000
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4,173
#1
Big Brown brought me a U.S.A. Peavey Super Ferrite Fury yesterday from G.C. used.
It had almost new flats on it, I @@#%@%! I haven't used flats in years but have really tried many and was disappointed.
I identified them by purple wrap and colored ball ends as D'addario Chromes. Wow !! Super feel, great sustain, tone was nice and balanced as well.
I've found a set of flats I like that don't break the bank. If you want a set of flats that dont just thud but have the flats feel with a pretty bright sustaining tone, these are great ! :hyper:
 
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#2
Chromes have blue silk.

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#3
That's cool. You know how color perception can be. Even in your very fine pic they look sligtly purpley to me. Sorta like Fender Midnight Blue. But I concede. Blue it is.
 
#8
Heres the deal,,, Use Tone Finger ease , This deep cleans and lubricates the strings , fretboard and frets. use a lint free cloth and wipe down after every couple of hours of play time. Do not use solvents like pure acetone, or boil the strings. the best council given me when a 15 year old was: Keep the hands clean , scrub them, keep fingernails short and clean. Wipe down the strings, and do proper housecleaning. When you see sloppy dirty guitars, you may find that some musicians have issues. Never cheap out on guitar maintainance, just keep in mind that you have a custom show guitar even if it only cost you $150. Treat your guitar well. I have seen exotic bass guitars being blown away by well looked after "economy guitars" If you bring your guitar in for a hospital check up yearly to a good luthier and have the truss rod checked , you are doing your job, and also supporting a service that most towns do not have. On average I get about one year out of good flatwounds, They do loose brightness after 100 hrs of use. I keep a guitar journal and service dates, string changes. write down problems and deal with them. If you are commanding good coin for gigs, $50. is not going to beak the cookie jar for new strings now and then. We always have enough left over to give to the orhphanage, and remember these kids need your support. :help:
 
#10
GHS Precision Flats are the stuff. I've tried all the other flats out there, and the only other ones that come close in my opinion are Pyramid Golds. Considering the P-flats are about 1/3 the cost of the Pyramids, everyone should give them a try.
 
#12
I put D'Addario chrome flats on my Hamer Chapparal just to see what it sounded like. I was pleasently surprised. These strings renewed my love of playing this bass, now it's a blues and country rock monster. Flat sound but there is a brightness that works with the active EMG pickups of the Hamer. I would not have guessed that they would have sounded as nice as they actually do. I also have D'Addario's on my Fender Jazz 5 (nickel-wound rounds). So I have pretty much settled on three brands - TI's, Labella and now D'Addario strings.
 
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#16
RED J said:
Big Brown brought me a U.S.A. Peavey Super Ferrite Fury yesterday from G.C. used.
It had almost new flats on it, I @@#%@%! I haven't used flats in years but have really tried many and was disappointed.
I identified them by purple wrap and colored ball ends as D'addario Chromes. Wow !! Super feel, great sustain, tone was nice and balanced as well.
I've found a set of flats I like that don't break the bank. If you want a set of flats that dont just thud but have the flats feel with a pretty bright sustaining tone, these are great ! :hyper:
Click to expand...
The first D'Addario Chromes I've used, were an old, scroungy set that I salvaged from a nasty, scroungy project bass. Just as a test, I cleaned them up, and put them on a new-to-me G&L ASAT Bass. Gotta say, I was pretty impressed. They were a bit brighter that I like my flats to be, but... that's what tone knobs are for. No idea how old they were when I got them, but I played the snot out of them for 3 years or so, before they just... died. They got replaced by a set of Fender 9050L's; which, to my ears, was the tone I really wanted. But, here's the thing with me and all D'Addario strings; They finish-polish all their strings with something that I'm very allergic to, and that makes my fingers itch like crazy. Getting their strings clean enough for me to play, requires using solvents that you really don't want to breath, or get on yourhands. And then, I have to use other solvents to clean that stuff off the strings. Considering that I can just take other company's strings out of the package; put them on a bass; and play them right away? Nice as D'Addario's strings are, they are not nice enough to go through the biohazard cleaning process. And, yes; I know that Fender's flats are made by D'Addario; I do not know why they don't make my fingers itch - but they don't.. Actually, though, I do have a bass with "new" Chromes on it. My '24 Birdsong Fusion fretless bass came stock with ECB82 Chromes on it. Could have had them put something else on the thing, but I figured I'd give them a shot. Yes, I had to take them off, and do the hazardous decontamination thing; but, so far? It's worth it They sound really good, but... when they die? Something else will replace them; La Bella LTF-4A's probably; I have those on my G&L Kiloton Fretless; liking those strings a lot...
So... bottom line? It's not that I dislike D'Addario Chromes, so much as the Chromes don't like me... :whistle:
 
#17
I just got a bass that has a new set of chromes on it. Not strings I wanted to try based on their reputed stiffness. However I am pleasantly surprised that I like them. Just like the first time I tried TI flats and thought they weren't floppy like many said they were these don't feel extra stiff(?). They sound great on this bass(SBMM Ray35A) I'll be playing them on this bass for the foreseeable future.
 
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