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DR Legend, I presume...

DumbDrummer

DumbDrummer

Feb 8, 2020
19
14
#1
One more string ID, please. I have a bass I picked up a while back that came strung with what I think are DR Legend and just wanted to confirm. Gold/yellow silks on tuning post end, nothing on bridge end and plain brass ball ends. They are as smooth as glass and have a deep tone - strong fundamental and very melodic sounding, not thumpy at all, yet can punch if I dig in. Tension is on the high side and they hurt my fingers for a few days until I got used to them. These strings seem to be a love/hate thing from what I've read and I've been loving them.

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#3
michael_t said:
Are they strung thru-body by any chance? I ask because of where the silks are lined up at the headstock.
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Great eye! Yes they are. I'm hoping that's not a problem since they're flats. I don't think it is based on what I've seen in searches out here. Seems like they can take the bend since they have a round core. They sound great now and I'm hoping the thru-body stringing doesn't shorten their life.
 
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#4
DumbDrummer said:
Great eye! Yes they are. I'm hoping that's not a problem since they're flats. I don't think it is based on what I've seen in searches out here. Seems like they can take the bend since they have a round core. They sound great now and I'm hoping the thru-body stringing doesn't shorten their life.
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DR Legends should be fine strung thru-body. If they're feeling good and sounding good, then leave them be. ;):thumbsup:
 
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#5
Here's mine, strung through the bridge (where they also have yellow/gold silk). In this case the potential risk is mitigated to the bend around the E tuner. This is a 2008 AmStd Pbass with normal tuners; the thin fluted tuners of the AmProf series may be prohibiting for such long flatwound strings as the bend would be very tight.

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#9
Sid the Kid said:
Update. Took a good hard look at the Markbass flats on my Dad's P bass. Definitely brighter yellow, not the gold pictured above. Great sounding and feeling flats though!
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Interesting. Have DR Legend on my Pbass (for their dubby tone) and considering trying the Markbass flats at some point. How do you like them, tone-wise and tension-wise?
 
#10
DumbDrummer said:
One more string ID, please. I have a bass I picked up a while back that came strung with what I think are DR Legend and just wanted to confirm. Gold/yellow silks on tuning post end, nothing on bridge end and plain brass ball ends. They are as smooth as glass and have a deep tone - strong fundamental and very melodic sounding, not thumpy at all, yet can punch if I dig in. Tension is on the high side and they hurt my fingers for a few days until I got used to them. These strings seem to be a love/hate thing from what I've read and I've been loving them.

View attachment 4370562
Click to expand...

michael_t said:
Gold silk + ultra-smooth finish = DR Legends.

Are they strung thru-body by any chance? I ask because of where the silks are lined up at the headstock.
Click to expand...

Well... unless DR Legends used to have plain ball ends; or the previous owner cut the silk off the ball ends of those strings; they aren't DR Legends. I just checked the ones on my Headless Kramer Duke to be sure, and... yes; yellow/gold silk on both ends. But, the DR's ultra-smooth finish and the plain brass ball ends are spot-on. Although, personally? I might give the smoothness crown to Galli's Jazz Flats; those things are smoother than a wet ice cube... the DR's ain't far behind, though. Do the Markbass flats have silkless ball ends? :cool:
 
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#11
DumbDrummer said:
Gold/yellow silks on tuning post end, nothing on bridge end and plain brass ball ends. They are as smooth as glass...
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GIBrat51 said:
Well... unless the previous owner cut the silk off the ball ends of those strings, they aren't DR Legends. I just checked the ones on my Headless Kramer Duke to be sure, and... yes; yellow/gold silk on both ends.
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I completely missed the part about no silk at the ball end as my mind was fixated on "gold silk" and "smooth as glass". My bad!
 
#12
michael_t said:
I completely missed the part about no silk at the ball end as my mind was fixated on "gold silk" and "smooth as glass". My bad!
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I wondered about that... but, no worries. ;)Aside from how the Legends sound (an awful lot like Boomers - which I loved - on the Duke), they were the only short scale flats I could find, with ball end silks short enough to work on the headless, 1/2'' from ball anchor-to-zero fret setup on the Duke. Very happy that they do, though...:cool:
 
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#14
michael_t said:
These flats with gold silk are strung thru-body. Can you actually see there is no silk at the ball end? Or, is it possible the silk is there but hidden because of the thru-body installation?
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Could be hidden in the body I suppose. I can't see any yellow down in the holes using a flash light. Either it's too short to see from the top or it got removed by whoever installed the strings.
 
#15
DumbDrummer said:
Could be hidden in the body I suppose. I can't see any yellow down in the holes using a flash light. Either it's too short to see from the top or it got removed by whoever installed the strings.
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Here's what @GIBrat51 said about the silk at the ball end on the Legend:

GIBrat51 said:
they were the only short scale flats I could find, with ball end silks short enough to work on the headless, 1/2'' from ball anchor-to-zero fret setup on the Duke.
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According to this post, the silked portion at the ball end is relatively short on the Legend. So, it's very possible the silk is hidden. If you were to loosen one of the strings enough to be able to pull out the ball end, you would probably see the gold silk.
 
#18
DumbDrummer said:
Ah, I bet that's it. Will have to check when I get a chance. I'm pretty confident they're Legend based on what I've read about them.
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I think I'm quite satisfied with the outcome of this investigation at this point, confident they are in fact the Legends without you having to go to the trouble of loosening the string, etc. I would suggest you just go play them.
 
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#19
These are really neat strings. I've seen them described as thumpy, but they don't come across like that to me unless I really dig in. They are warm and melodic sounding - they kind of sing, yet have a solid fundamental. I'm enjoying them a lot more that some GHS Precision Flats on my short scale bass. These have a good deep bass tone without getting thuddy sounding. A guitar player friend stopped by and didn't like them at all - said they sounded kind of dead (definitely not - they have a pleasant sustain - guitar players, sigh!) He favored the Ernie Ball Cobalt flats that came on a Squire I picked up recently. Those sound rather brash in comparison to the Legends. I like having the contrasting tonal palettes. I can play along with The Beatles or some Motown with the Legends and hop over to the Cobalts for some hard rock. I'd say the Legends will sit nicely in a mix and the Cobalts will slice through it. :)
 
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