Flats on a jazz?

[Pings Bass]

I've got TI jazz flats on my not-really-a-jazz Jazz Bass Special fretless (80's MiJ fender PJ).

They're fine, but I've got rounds on my 70s reissue jazz.

The world offers a multitude if options for all tastes and preferences.

 

[wboyd68]

I have Labella 760s on mine and I love them.

 

[HaphAsSard]

Of course, so why did they have to specify the gender/sex of the front-singer(s)?

He did not have to. Maybe he felt like giving one more tangential detail about that project. Because he could. Because.

 

[kodiakblair]

Anybody ever put flatwound strings on a Jazz bass?

I never had a choice.

First jazz bass I ever saw was strung with flats so I just took it as the norm, same went for the P-bass.

There was one music shop in town when I was young. Very traditional place, salesmen in suits, a lot of brass and woodwind, reams of sheet music.
One fateful day 3 electric guitars appeared in the main window, bookended by 2 electric basses. All had the same drab stained wood finish, all bore the shop's name and both the Jazz and P-bass had flats.

Come to think of it my very first bass, Audition semi hollow, had flatwound strings. Second bass, Kay from Taiwan, also had flats. I bucked the trend whn buying my first set of strings, those were Rotosound nylon tapes

 

[roccobass]

I use flats on my fretlessJazz basses. I have La Bella Lo-Tensions on one and TI Jazz Flats on the other. Both have a good sound and feel.

However, I think the La Bellas have run their course. Next week I’m switching out the La Bellas and going TI flats totally. They seem to me to be a bit “brighter” for better choice of words.

 

[salmon256]

D'addario flats on my jazz bass. They are super bright to begin with flats, they are know to be the "flats almost round bright" but they are breaking in after a bit, and I love em, I also have put some Fender Flats on and thought they were great. I much rather Flats on my jazz but also I am pretty much a jazz bass guy to begin with. Think they work great for all genres but especially older roots Reggae and such.

 

[Swamp_Ronin]

But what about all the juicy overtones?

 

[Jefenator]

One school of thought is to use brighter sounding flats on a J; mine ruled the roost for a long time with Chromes.
But there's also the more thumping, old-school camp. I had a set of Pyramid Gold flats that had been driving me a little nuts on various P-basses. Just too dull! I went ahead and threw them on the J just to see what would happen, and I wound up loving it! Turns out a nice set of single coil pickups was what those strings were really needing all along. (I could say that about most strings.)

 

[ryco]

Shouldn't you use gut on a Jazz?

 

[Hundred proof]

Used TI flats for years on my old 73 Jazz, sounded great

 

[Low-end76]

I put labella deep talkin on my
5 string jazz. I love it. That’s all I ever use. Love labella strings.

 

[Low-end76]

Used TI flats for years on my old 73 Jazz, sounded great


View attachment 7118046

 

[Low-end76]

Nice rig

 

[LowendG]

I mean, it IS one of the classic electric bass sounds after all. The "P must wear flats and the J must wear rounds" thing is only because when people started getting all slappawacka all the time, the J w rounds seemed a better candidate for that. That and Jaco.
But a J with flats is as classic a sound as a P w flats if you look at the history of recorded music.

 

[Mike N]

Why don't you think this would it have worked just as well with a male-fronted modern country band?

How many guys sing Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler and Miranda Lambert songs??

 

[edencab]

love it...started my journey of flats on everything...I always recommend Fenders on a Fender as as good starting point

 

[ahc]

Anybody ever put flatwound strings on a Jazz bass?

I have a Sire Marcus Miller V3P. But I don't really like it, because I play with a pick (yellow Tortex), and the single pickups have a very bright sound, even with the tone turned all the way down. I was going to get rid of it, but then I thought....what happens when you put flats on a jazz?

No offense, but this is a silly question. Jazz basses were developed using flatwounds. Rounds or any other kind of string variation didn't appear for about another 10 years.

 

[KJMO]

I hate flats on jazz basses because it nullifies everything that makes a jazz sound like a jazz. You can still hear the character of a p bass when you put flats on it, so I’d rather do that if I need flats. If you put flats on a jazz and turn the tone all the way down you might as well bring a cardboard box with you and hit it with your fist. It’s very light, sounds the same, and you don’t have to worry about where to put your fretting hand.

 

[CoughSyrup]

Get a new capacitor for your tone pot while you're at it. IIRC, the Sire V3P comes with a .022uf cap that doesn't roll off enough treble. Swap it for a .068uf and it'll mellow out plenty, especially with flats. Give the flatwound strings a few months to break in, too.

 

[ELG60]

I have flats on several Jazz basses . . . Mostly TI Jazz Flats, and a couple with Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats. All of em sound good to great.