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Flatwound Club

#602
I've had the same set of rounds on my Stingray (strung BEAD) for 5 - 8 years if I remember correctly. I play a thick, warm with plenty of low-mids and lows, often palm-muted style and this has worked well for me. My tone left me looking at flats and I just got the Ray back with La Bella Low Tension Flats, still strung BEAD.

It's been a crazy 2 weeks with low playing time, but so far I really like them. The finger feel, the tension, the tone, I really like em! I remember lurking on a thread or email list when @SLaPiNFuNK was part of a demo or test program for these awhile back, and to finally experience them is terrific.

One thing I will say, in my week or so of research prior to purchasing, I find La Bella's naming convention of calling everything 760xxx is very confusing. I never know which people are talking about.
 
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#603
I’ve got a set of Ernie Ball Cobalt flats on my Schecter Raiden Special-4 and they sound great. 50-105 set tuned EADG. In the past I’ve had them on another bass tuned DGCF, then I had D’Addario Nickel XL on the Schecter tuned BEAD but now I’ve come back home.

Played the bass at church yesterday and loved the sound and feel. These Cobalts have won me over.
 
#604
Looking for a flatwounds for a 34" scale six string bass. Been using Ernie Ball up until now, but I downtune a full step and the .32 high C has consistently sharp intonation when tuned down to Bb. I gave the LaBella gold flats a try and had better luck with the intonation, but I wasn't a fan of the high tension or tone (lack of output didn't help either).

Any recommendations? I ordered a set of the Rotosound Monels, though I vastly prefer balanced tension strings and these look like they might be all over the place tension-wise. I may try the LaBella Deep Talkin' flats, but they're usually described as "old-school" and I'd be using them in a heavy metal context, so I need a little more high-end bite. I've used Chromes in the past and may switch back.
 
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#605
I'm flats (almost) all the way now. If I want extra treble boink, I'll put on Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt flats. And unlike rounds, they won't sound like palm dirt after a few months. I use different types of flats on different bases - I am a big fan of Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalts, TI Jazz Flats, and La Bella DTF's for my old style Fender Bass VI's. I'll take #56 if nobody's taken it - it's one of the TI gauges. Otherwise - whatever fits in.
 
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#610
BigBeatNut said:
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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1/8 counter-clockwise turn on both truss rods did the job. It makes sense that the rod might need adjustment, since the TI's are lower-tension than the Rotosound strings that were on it before. The neck looks straight to the eye and the fret buzz is pretty much gone.

I love the feel of the TI's -- very smooth to the touch. I've ordered a five-string set that should arrive today; that will be going on my Ibanez SR505.
 
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#613
Pbassmanca said:
I sold that L2000 about 4 years ago and have regretted it ever since!
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I got away from bass playing for a few years. Just purchased a Geddy Lee Jazz USA. My tech thought I was nuts when I asked him to set it up with flats. Like i was commiting a sin or something. Then I showed him the art of EQing flats. He switched his bass to flats. I never liked rounds. I don't think they do justice to the tone of the bass. I don't like the high end sound of flats or the string noise.
 
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#614
Davesdamnbass said:
I got away from bass playing for a few years. Just purchased a Geddy Lee Jazz USA. My tech thought I was nuts when I asked him to set it up with flats. Like i was commiting a sin or something. Then I showed him the art of EQing flats. He switched his bass to flats. I never liked rounds. I don't think they do justice to the tone of the bass. I don't like the high end sound of flats or the string noise.
Click to expand...

Ooh, would you mind sharing your flats EQ philosophy? I’m a month into my first set so I’m not very experienced in this.
 
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#615
Ebay find:

A British music shop had three of the discontinued 9050CL sets for sale. Now they have none :bassist:
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#616
Took my 4003 with its new TI's to band rehearsal last night. Loved the sound. They're still new strings, of course, so they probably sound brighter than they will in another month or two, but I would not call these flats dull. I actually had to roll back the tone knobs a bit to control the Ric treble grind.

I now have TI's on my Ibanez SR505 as well. Can't wait to try that with the band.
 
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