Over the past few years, I've been a user of Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt flats. I love the sound of these strings, and it's hard to find flatwounds that are wound with something other than stainless steel, which I don't care for. But I will use them no more. It's bad enough that they raised their price 25% a few months back, as was noted in another post, but now they're making shoddy strings. I bought two sets of them a while back, and recently bought a new bass, so I put a set on this bass. I intonated the bass, and the G-string played in tune only when open and on the 12th fret. It was radically sharp on fret one, gradually getting closer to pitch until, at fret 12, it was on. Above fret 12, it went flat. I took it to my luthier, who ran a series of checks on it and told me it was the string. I put the G-string from another new set of the EBs on it, and this one couldn't even be intonated. I took the G-string off my Jazz Bass. It is also an Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt flat, but an older one. It's fine on either bass. So I got two bad G-strings from two new sets in a row of Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt flats. One set I bought about a month ago through Amazon and the other one six months ago from Sweetwater. I don't know if anyone else has had issues with these, but I recommend avoiding them if possible.
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Defective Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt Flatwounds
- Thread starter jglunt
- Start date
Email EB customer service. They are familiar with their Cobalt flatwound bass string issue.
Rusty, Break , factory winding issue, fail intonation.......
Rusty, Break , factory winding issue, fail intonation.......
I actually did email them this morning. They replied promptly. They asked me a few questions that I answered. They offered to replace the product, so I provided an address. They didn't mention any other ongoing issues concerning defects, and I wouldn't have expected them to, so I'm glad you've mentioned that they exist. I was beginning to feel delusional. I mean, how many people have two sets of strings that were purchased four months apart from different retailers and have the same problem with both. Geez! It's enough to give a guy a complex.
I been post here few months ago about new from pack G string break on tuning post while intonation setup.
Also meet string break and rusty issue on early batch on year 2019.
I can say EB Cobalt flat are unstable product especially their winding process and inner core quality. Cobalt also pretty sensitive to body PH, humid/moisture and environment condition. GHS fastfret to help on maintenance care.
Just like you, i love Cobalt flat too. Juicy up my jazz bass tone and aggressive enough on my PJ bass.
Hopehelp.
Yes, even though that is less likely to have an effect on a G string than any of the others. Necessary none the less. Thanks for the reminder. That's easy to forget.
Is there any chance that the String is binding in the nut? I mean this is kind of a mystery but I don't know if I can blame 2 different strings. I'd love try one of the bad strings on one of my basses and see if it's impossible to intonate.
This is where EB should step up and ask for the string back for testing and then give us answers.
Not that I don't trust your Luthier but I'll even paypal you shipping costs to send me the string and I'll verify that it's defective(or not).
I'd like that. PM me an address and I'll send you the last of the bad ones. Like you, it seems farfetched that three strings are bad. The first two are occupying the local landfill, but the last one is still on the bass since I didn't know exactly what to do with it.
I don't seem to have any problem with the string binding in the nut. I did clean the slot out and gently ran a nut file through the slot. I also capoed the strings at the 1st fret re-intonated at the 13th fret, and the problem was still there.
As a Cobalt Flats fan, I’m glad you two are doing this.
Please post further findings in this thread?
~5 packs spanning about 7 years and never any issue for me.
Please post further findings in this thread?
~5 packs spanning about 7 years and never any issue for me.
They're my favorite flatwounds. My luthier, whom I trust implicitly and have for 40 years, says it's the strings. Frankly, I hope it is because I just plain can't find anything wrong with the bass.
I’ve had issues with G-strings, too. But I like the strings well enough that I’ve worked though it with EB customer service (they’ve been great) to make them work.
I had a bass that I wanted to get professionally setup. Took it, and a new pack of EB Cobalt flats, to my guy. He snapped the g-string bringing it up to tension. I ran to GC and got another pack, he snapped that one, too. Man, was I not happy.
Took the bass home (with three strings), got in touch with EB customer service and they sent me two replacement g-strings. I strung it up myself, no issues. I used the other set (+replacement) on another bass, no issues. That said, once I get these strings on a bass, they stay on, no need to tempt fate twice.
I wish EB could crack the code on the g-strings, but man I love them once they are on.
I had a bass that I wanted to get professionally setup. Took it, and a new pack of EB Cobalt flats, to my guy. He snapped the g-string bringing it up to tension. I ran to GC and got another pack, he snapped that one, too. Man, was I not happy.
Took the bass home (with three strings), got in touch with EB customer service and they sent me two replacement g-strings. I strung it up myself, no issues. I used the other set (+replacement) on another bass, no issues. That said, once I get these strings on a bass, they stay on, no need to tempt fate twice.
I wish EB could crack the code on the g-strings, but man I love them once they are on.
Luckily I've never actually encountered any of the issues I've seen people complain about on here, closest thing to a defect I've seen was a couple gaps in the outer wind, but didn't seem to affect anything negatively.
Sounds like EB does a good job of replacing duds tho
Sounds like EB does a good job of replacing duds tho
They are having issues lately - mostly with the G. Mine were different issues - silk wrap unraveling and winding breaking and unraveling mid - point on the string.
They will send you a new set. I gave my remaining strings on my 5 string set to someone who does BEAD
They will send you a new set. I gave my remaining strings on my 5 string set to someone who does BEAD
They didn't offer to send me total sets, but did say they'd send me two new G-strings. Since the rest of the strings are OK, that's fine by me. Once more, I closely examined the bass to see if there was any problem with it, but nothing jumped out to me there. The E, A, and D strings are all perfect. Ever played a 3-string bass??
I do and quiet often -- My Hybrid+Guitar Charlie Hunter style -- the bass side is only 3 strings. Unfortunately EB Cobalts cannot take the string through and guitar sized tuning pegs only GHS and D'Addario can
I’ve had a G string from one of these sets that wouldn’t intonate as well around the year 2020, seemed to be loose windings. EB sent me a replacement string that was fine and the set has been rocking on my main fretless ever since with many, many hours of play!
They apparently can be quirky strings, but IMO they are well worth it!
They apparently can be quirky strings, but IMO they are well worth it!
I do
Thanks for sharing that. I've been fighting this strangeness for a few weeks now. It's pretty discouraging wondering if it's the bass or the strings. I'm glad to know this has worked out for you.
Here's a stray question in regard to this. I think somebody mentioned it a week or so ago, and a friend of mine just happened to bring it up and jog my memory. What are the odds that it's the pull of the pickup on the G-string? Had it just been a single string, I wouldn't even think that, but three strings? The bass is a G&L Kiloton with one of G&L's proprietary MFD pickups. It's a single humbucker that is quite powerful, but the pickup is adjusted to G&L specs--in fact, it might even be slightly backed down from their specs. My friend's reasoning was that, with such a powerful pickup and with the G-string being the thinnest string on the bass and with cobalt being a very magnetic material, could it be? If so, why isn't it affecting any of the other strings? And why hasn't this occurred on any of the other G&L MFD-equipped basses I have? (And BTW, this is the first time I've ever tried EB Slinky Cobalt flats on any of my MFD-equipped basses. I have strictly used them on Alnico-equipped basses.)
