Not silly at all. I was a round-head my whole life and then pivoted to flats - and I concur. I just like playing with them on my basses better. Try the La Bella DTFs or the EB Cobalts. Both lovely sets, for different reasons (and as a snap ruling I would recommend the DTFs. They feel and sound great. Cobalts take a bit to truly "break in").
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Flats and various basses
- Thread starter RitterSport
- Start date
Ok, the GHS Pressure Wounds and the La Bella Low Tension flats are on the way. My plan is to put the flats on my gigging bass, the L2000 and the GHS on the Yamaha PJ, which has the J pickup and can make better use of the additional highs.
But, I'm willing to be talked out of it! Should I put the GHS on the gigging bass because it will have a more flexible sound? Or, am I in dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin territory here? The band plays a wide variety of popular music -- blues, rock, pop, soul. I usually sit back in the mix, since I'm a relatively new player, not a soloist by any stretch.
But, I'm willing to be talked out of it! Should I put the GHS on the gigging bass because it will have a more flexible sound? Or, am I in dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin territory here? The band plays a wide variety of popular music -- blues, rock, pop, soul. I usually sit back in the mix, since I'm a relatively new player, not a soloist by any stretch.
Sounds like a decent plan. Be aware that both flats and Pressure wounds take a little while to break in. You will lose some harmonics and a bit of the growl on the later, and they will sound better, after a couple weeks of playing. Flats take longer, and the main change will be stabilization of sound across strings. Be patient. Also, some flats can feel a bit sticky when new. Wipe them down with rubbing alcohol if this happens, it helps reduce the stickiness feeling.
Thanks for the advice! I have a major gig on July 12 and then I have a bit of a break, so that will give me some time to get used to them and work them in. Holding off on restringing the G&L until after that.
The only flats I like are Ernie Ball Cobalt. Traditional flats are not my thing. I tried to like traditional flats... but it never materialized.
I never liked Fender flats, or the old Rick flats, and I'm ambivalent about the LTFs on my Sire P5R (got those for through body stringing), but I absolutely love light chromes on my two fretless basses. They are perfect for a low set-up on a 4 string fretless.
I recorded my G&L Tribute L-2500 with 4 different sets of flats and uploaded them here:
Please excuse my sloppy playing as I was recording a lot of tracks.
The strings I used were:
I hope you find this helpful.
Please excuse my sloppy playing as I was recording a lot of tracks.
The strings I used were:
- Year-old Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats
- Year-old D'addario Chromes
- Two years old but barely used LaBella Deep Talkin' Bass Flats 760FS-B
- Brand new Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats JF345
I hope you find this helpful.
I made a living for decades with a '73 Precision and round wounds but for the last 15 years or so it's been flats on every bass I play except for one. First it was Chromes but now it's La Bella DTFs. I like the feel, the stiffness and the tone. One bass has Rotosound RS77 Monels which are sort of flat but more textured. They sound great but don't feel as nice as La Bella. I doubt I'll ever go back to rounds again.
I tried tape wounds and they sounded great and felt nice but were a little too flexible for my style. Some basses work well with particular strings and not so well with others. It can be an expensive and time consuming search to find what works best for you and your instruments.
Many players here recommend Thomastik for their flexibility and tone. They're expensive though. Personally I've never tried them due to the stiffness that I prefer.
Good luck. It may take some time and money before your questions are answered to your satisfaction.
Another vote for Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats, if you want a flatwound feel but want an ALMOST (keyword) round wound like tone. They’re not as smooth as La Bella’s, but do feel better after a few days.
La Bellas came in yesterday, still waiting on the pressure wound. I have to wait until after my big gig on the 12th before I use the La Bellas, but I'll try out the GHS as soon as they come in.
So, the GHS Pressurewounds came in, but they are very heavy gauge -- the E is 106, vs. the factory 100s. And, the feel doesn't seem THAT different from a regular round wound. I think I'm going to return these to SW. Another place (F-hole -- ever heard of it?) seems to have them for $30 with a max gauge of 102. Should I try those?
It's been so long ago that I don't remember which gauge I put on my Jazz Plus, but I think it was the lighter gauge. One thing to note, the feel of these strings changes as they break in, they get slicker feeling. I remember being disappointed at first, thinking they felt pretty abrasive, like cheese graters, on my fretting fingers. Now they feel very slippery, about 2.5 years later. I've posted comments about this on other threads and most TBrs feel the abrasiveness on their plucking fingers, not other way around like I did.
One other thing to add - - most feel these are slicker feeling than half-rounds. You can't expect them to feel a smooth as flats, though.
OK, thanks. Assuming I can return these to SW, I'll pick up the lighter gauge ones.
I want to add that these aren't long enough to string through the body of my Yamaha. Do I lose a lot if I just string through the bridge? Right now, the sustain on this bass is pretty impressing, but maybe that's due to how the neck is attached to the body.
There's no evidence that stringing through increases sustain vs top loading. So you won't notice a thing in that regard. The strings might feel a little less tense due to the decrease in break angle over the saddles, but that is perception. The real tension numbers remain unchanged.
my 85 L2000 sounded way too dark with flats, however it sounded magical with settled down dunlop nickels
haven't put flats on my 2009 stingray yet, but they sound amazing on my 94 LB100
haven't put flats on my 2009 stingray yet, but they sound amazing on my 94 LB100
I finally bought a set of Thomastik-Infeld jazz flat 34's for my EBMM Stingray 4H. Brought them to a shop to have a setup and the tech broke the G string. He, "never heard of them, you should get a refund". His eyes popped out when I told him how much they cost.
I ordered a single string replacement and followed the what I instructions I could find from the internet. They're too long not to cut, so needle nose pliers, 90 degree crimp, snip past the bend. Same result as the tech. The string core separates from the sheath and won't hold pitch. $50 down the drain. Love the strings that didn't fall apart but this is ridiculous. User error? Probably. But sheesh, these strings are divas.
I ordered a single string replacement and followed the what I instructions I could find from the internet. They're too long not to cut, so needle nose pliers, 90 degree crimp, snip past the bend. Same result as the tech. The string core separates from the sheath and won't hold pitch. $50 down the drain. Love the strings that didn't fall apart but this is ridiculous. User error? Probably. But sheesh, these strings are divas.
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Well, Okay...
No it's not "silly" to put flat wounds on your other basses. I have 33 basses, ranging from a cheap Chinese Starfire violin bass to an Alembic. Except for 3 that wear tape wounds? They All wear flats. Including both my G&L basses. My '23 Kiloton lined fretless wears La Bella LTF-4A Flexible Flats (the tone is to die for) My Custom Shop (it's a lefty) '17 Tom Hamilton Signature ASAT Bass wears Fender 9050L flats. And, ooohh, does it sound good...
As for the bridge pickup being "useless"? Uh... no. I'll grant you that, depending on the pickup's proximity to the bridge, the output might not be all it could be, but that's not the string's fault - it's where the pickup is. Plus, some basses (like, say, my 2 Rickenbackers) have bridge pickups with higher output than the neck pickup - for this very "problem"... And, what kind of flat wound strings you're using on that particular bass, matters as well. The two flats on my G&L's are plenty flexible enough to make a bridge pickup happy. I have those flats on a couple of other basses, in fact - both with dual pickups. They work and sound just fine. Any lighter-gauge and/or round core flats should make you smile...
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Sorry to hear of your problem.
I've never had a break on any TI flats, ever. That includes multiple swaps of very old sets between basses which sport string thru bridges, ie: steep break angles.
