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Flatwound Club

#587
My first bass was a pawnshop Harmony H22 with the gold-foil De Armond pickup, sooo Bill Wyman-- bought it in the early spring of 1967. I was fifteen and just learning about magnetics, and my amp was a sad little affair, so in an effort to get a little more poop out of the rig I decided to go to the heaviest strings I could get-- more metal moving in the magnetic field, right? the theory was sound-- the strings turned out to be some kind of imported La Bella flatwound, the size they used to build the Narrows Bridge, and the rig definitely got louder. My chops got better fast, too. Later I was able to play through a real amp and realized the La Bellas just sounded like krapski no matter what you did, but boy they were loud. The H22 was replaced in 1969 with an EB3, then by the Fenders I now play, and I have always run Roto rounds on the P Basses and flats on the Jazzes, except the Jazz V, that gets that MONSTER piano bottom B with a round-- anyway, I should probably arrogate myself a number here, but I quit counting--
 
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#591
Sadowsky Blue Label Flats on my P.....
Sadowsky Black Label Flats on my J....
An old set of GHS Tapewounds on my G&L SB1.

The Blue Labels have become my favorite flatwounds. They sing on the Pbass. Mids like TIJF's, but just a touch stiffer. I've had them on my CS'59 P for 7 or 8 months now, and they have worn in beautifully.
 
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#598
SO MUCH BETTER

Switched out a set of chromes 100-45 with a set of dunlop flats 105-45. They feel great and they sound great. They move the bass and make it vibrate (2012 american standard p bass)

Question...I strung these through the body. I know some sets like labella and sadowsky say don't do that, but the dunlop didn't have any warning. I assume no issue right?
 
#599
Just installed a set of TI Jazz Flats on my Ric 4003. I like the sound, but the third string is a little too light, I think. I get a bit of fret buzz on that string, and only on that string, which I never did before. If I tune it up one step, the buzz goes away, but obviously I don't want to do that. I think a .075" would have been better than .070". The buzz is worst at the first few frets, so raising the action wouldn't help much. Neck relief seems fine, so that's not the issue. One workaround is just to pluck the strings more gently.
 
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#600
Craig4003 said:
Just installed a set of TI Jazz Flats on my Ric 4003. I like the sound, but the third string is a little too light, I think. I get a bit of fret buzz on that string, and only on that string, which I never did before. If I tune it up one step, the buzz goes away, but obviously I don't want to do that. I think a .075" would have been better than .070". The buzz is worst at the first few frets, so raising the action wouldn't help much. Neck relief seems fine, so that's not the issue. One workaround is just to pluck the strings more gently.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the nut needs to be less deep to accommodate the characteristics of the new string. Which may be the down to the diameter of the string as you suggest, but I guess maybe also due to different flexibility ? If it was me, and I liked the strings, I would, as an experiment, pad the nut slightly, maybe by adding a few folds of paper, and if that worked, seek a more permanent solution like, either a new nut (via local guitar tech/luthier), or reshaping the one you have. I'm sure I've heard of people reducing depth of a nut with a mixture of superglue and dust from plastic filing.
 
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