Definitely Not a Thread About Flatwounds

[Von Fett]

Greetings bass players. Prepare for a quick and painless flats discussion (yeah, I totally lied).

Don't worry, I'm not looking for a comparison or a recommendation. I decided a while ago that I wanted to try out Chromes. What I want to know is how the transition from round to flat will affect the neck of my J bass. And also, I'm really interested to know how you J bass players dig flats. Mostly I only hear of P-basses equipped with flats. So fill me in on the tonal perks and perhaps some of the shortcomings.

Okay... Here we go.

 

[gary m]

In short, they'll exert more tension on the neck. After a truss rod tweak, you may find that you can lower the action a bit. Might as well check the intonation while you're at it.

When you're done, enjoy the new tone and feel.

 

[soulman969]

Well you can hear this from a JBass player who feels that flats on a JBass totally rob it of most of the tonal variation you usually expect to get from it. My Jazz had GHS Precision Flats on it when I bought it used and I consider those strings to among the best sounding flats made. But from stop to stop there was so little change that I thought the tone pot was shot.

So I went looking for the right set of DR Rounds that weren't too overly bright to bring back some life and tonal variation again when Jason @ bassstringsonline suggested GHS Pressure Wounds to me. Bingo. For me they were perfect fit for a JBass. The tonal expressiveness of my bass returned but without the zing and over brightness of some rounds that needs to be played out of them.

They will mellow out a bit as you play them more but it's shades of gray and not the difference between black and white. I would tell most anyone playing a JBass who is looking for a string change to spend $20 and try these. I've been playing JBasses for over 30 years and without a doubt these are the best match for that bass and my playing style I've ever found.

I just went to slightly heavier gauge on my bass to compensate for playing dropped a half step in the band I'm working with but I took the old strings, now about 7 months old, and replaced the deader rounds on a friends PBass with my old set of PWounds. They still have plenty of life in them and they sound great on that PBass as well.

To each his own and YMMV but FWIW this is my experience and also my recommendation for a great string match for a JBass.