Doner Designs
Steve Doner
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
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Flatwound Club
- Thread starter Surprise Panda!
- Start date
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- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,633
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
i think that you'll be more than happy with the EB cobalt flats. they're my string of choice for flats these days.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YBO081C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YBO081C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Thanks again. I finished my repairs on my bass and installed them last night. I like them a lot! They don’t seem to get harmonics like rounds but on this bass it is tougher anyways.
I’ll know much better after a rehearsal and upcoming gig.
Thanks.
First hit in the Google.
Applications of Cobalt
Super alloys do not rust and retain their physical and chemical properties at high temperatures
Well, what can I say? They’re on there now. I don’t have a rust issue with any strings I use.
I’ll use them until they’re dead. I have very dry hands.
I had cobalt flats on a bass a while ago, and they weren't my favorite. The sound was okay, but I had the E string snap its core... it was on a thru-body bass, which might have had something to do with it, but that bass has never broken any of the other flats it's had. The core snapped inside the body near the ball end, so I'm not entirely certain what caused it.
Plus, they always left a weird smell on my hands in the 6 months or so that I had them. Never had any other strings do that.
Plus, they always left a weird smell on my hands in the 6 months or so that I had them. Never had any other strings do that.
Well, thanks for of your help. But I took off the cobalts and went back to rounds. I liked certain aspects of the sound… but after playing a couple of gigs, my little finger was raw from playing next to the bridge all night trying to get that bite of rounds.
I guess I’m just a roundwound type of guy.
I guess I’m just a roundwound type of guy.
Well I went to one of my local music stores today and placed an order for a set of 45-125 DR Legends. I’m pretty excited, first time I’ve bought flats in about a year and a half. I’ve been on a DR rounds kick lately. I got the itch to get a set of flats again so I figured I would try DR.
They should arrive soon. I’ll install them on my SBMM Ray5, hopefully in time for Good Friday and Easter services at church. I’m eager to play some flats again!
They should arrive soon. I’ll install them on my SBMM Ray5, hopefully in time for Good Friday and Easter services at church. I’m eager to play some flats again!
The EB cobalt flats are genuinely unique flatwounds with a distinctive bite to the their sound. I've tried them on three or four basses and they didn't find a home until I put them on my Sterling Stingray 34. I've never had any issues with corrosion of the cobalt flats, but the cobalt rounds were nasty that way—and I have dry hands that don't sweat at all when I play. So if the cobalt rounds trouble me, they're *really* going to trouble a sweaty hands player.
As an aside, I think that the EB series flats are remarkably nice strings and they just don't get the attention that they should. Similar in some ways to Chromes but to my ear better out of the package, whereas Chromes can be very bright right away, only later reaching a satisfying warm full tone.
As an aside, I think that the EB series flats are remarkably nice strings and they just don't get the attention that they should. Similar in some ways to Chromes but to my ear better out of the package, whereas Chromes can be very bright right away, only later reaching a satisfying warm full tone.
LEAST WHINNY FLAT WOUND G STRING?
Please help me out folks and let me know what the least whinny G string you have liked is. Also, if the whole set was pleasing to you. I`m moving from upright bass in a country band to fretted electric in a blues band.
Thanks!
Please help me out folks and let me know what the least whinny G string you have liked is. Also, if the whole set was pleasing to you. I`m moving from upright bass in a country band to fretted electric in a blues band.
Thanks!
Realized today that I posted an answer here to someone's question about 7 years ago, but... never joined. So... count me in. Learned to play bass in 1968 - on a friend's shiny new Rick 4001. With the factory Maxima flats on it. Didn't own a bass until 1988 (why? Long story...) but I played other people's basses. And, almost without exception, those basses wore flats. My first bass was a friend's lefty (did I mention I'm very, very left handed?) "A-spec" necked '78 Fender P-Bass. It had always worn Roto 66's, according to my friend - and, since he'd always had a busy band, it also had only vestigial remains of frets. After that was fixed, it wore Roto 77LDs. Wore them until I started buying other basses, and the P-Bass became a dedicated Vintage - really Vintage - Rock and Motown Thump Monster. It wears GHS M3050 Precision Flats under the mute in it's bridge cover now... As for my 22 other basses? Only 2 wear rounds, and only one wears Tapes. What kind of flats do they wear? Well...
- '78 Kramer 450B; Optima 4099RL "Chromes". They mellow out the smokin' hot custom wound Kramer pickups; sound good, too...
- '18 Gibson Thunderbird; Roto 77LD's. IMO, the flats that sound the closest to the Bass Boomers that a T-Bird should wear...
- '13 Gibson Thunderbird; Dogal R44's. When I don't want Heavy Metal on a T-Bird; nice bottom, lotta mids - and decent top end, too...
- '12 Eastwood Magnum; Fender 9050L's. Modern middy strings for a general purpose bass. I love these strings...
- '17 Eastwood Flying V; SS GHS 3020 Precision Flats. Looks a lot like a Gibson; with these flats, it sounds like one, too. And that's the idea...
- '99 Dano DC59 Pro; La Bella 760FX's. Very light gauge flats for "that Dano sound". La Bella made the original Dano flats (760FDs)...
- '99 Dano DC59 Pro; Fender 9050L's. General purpose bass; very light; and doesn't sound quite so Dano-y... Did I mention I love these strings?
- '18 Dano Longhorn; short scale La Bella 760FX's. About as light as I want to go on a shorty, but... IMO? This is how a Longhorn should sound...
- '20 EBMM Stingray 4HH Special; Galli JF4505 Jazz Flats. Listen to the demo on Youtube; you'll want some of these strings, too...
- '17 Warmoth Mini-P; SS GHS 3020 Precision Flats. No mute like it's big brother, but it'll thump with the best of them...
- '15 G&L Tom Hamilton ASAT; D' Addario EGB 81 Chromes. An old, salvaged set, they're... nice. They may stay; they may not. We'll see...
- '98 Starfire violin bass; SS La Bella 760 FL's. Bass is kinda nasty, and doesn't intonate hardly at all. But, it does sound good with these...
- '95 Alembic Epic; TI JF334. My bass for Jazz, and... OMG! Does it ever sound good...
- '71 MIJ Epiphone EA-260; La Bella 760FL's. Vintage, short scale hollow body thumpy goodness - but clean and articulate, too...
- '06 Carvin LB-20; NOS Sadowsky Blue Labels. Takin' the "MEH" out of the Carvin's HB50 pickups; puttin' the goodness in...
- '81 Kramer Duke Special; SS DR SFL 45 Legends. Surprisingly versatile, aluminum necked, and headless; the DR's let it shine...
- '88 Kramer Forum III; La Bella 760FGS Gold Flats. Sound good - like La Bellas should. They match the gold hardware, too...
- '01 COY Rick 4003; Optima RB's. Close as I can get to the original Maximas that I learned to play on - and the sound I still love...
- '73 Rick 4001; Dogal CS90B's. Not the "Jaco" flats; extremely low tension (neck issues), and an interesting sound; I like them...
So... that's the flats. As for the basses that don't wear flats?
- '94 Gretsch Broadkaster; TI JR324 Jazz Rounds. With flats - any flats - it was a muddy mess. Now, it's not. I have no regrets...
- '94 Rogue VB-100; Roto Bass88 Tapes. If Sir Paul can use 'em, so can I. They suit this old Korean VB-100 perfectly - sound that way, too...
- '81 Kramer Duke; SS GHS Boomers. This Duke is not a lefty, so it wears what it came with. Maybe I'll put flats on it; maybe not...
P.S. My number? 636, natch...
Quite a few changes since I posted this:
- The '18 Gibson T-Bird has been sold. So has the Eastwood Magnum, and the 4001 Rick will go very soon, as well. The Epi EA-260 bass went back to it's original owner; I got tired of playing it upside down, and couldn't bring myself to screw it up by converting it. The right handed Kramer "Duke" was wheedled out of me by one of the owners of a local music store, who - surprisingly - records with it. Quite a bit, too... The Kramer Forum III is in pieces - again; it's La Bella 760FGS strings have been moved, as have some other strings...
As of last month, my bass herd is now complete, with the purchase of 5 new basses that filled long empty spots - or fill a spot better than a bass that I got rid of did...
- '17 German Hofner 500/2 Sunburst Club Bass. It will wear it's factory H1133 flats until they need replacing. Probably with the Pyramid Gold Flats I bought recently - and, which seem to be identical to the "factory" Hofners - down to the silk color...
- '23 Epiphone Jack Casady Bass. It's wearing the La Bella 760FGS Gold Flats that came off the Kramer Forum III - and they sound very good on it, too. Lots of low end, but not quite as much as regular DTFs...
- '88 Tokai TB48 Thunderbird. Same Optima 4099RL "Chromes" as the Kramer 450B wears. So far? They seem to suit this bass very well....
- '23 Guild Starfire I. Medium scale GHS 3120 Precision Flats - the Light set. Not broken in yet, but I like them a lot on this bass - so far...
- '24 Serek Sacramento Short Scale. I ordered it in February, and won't have it in hand for... a while. I ordered it with Dunlop Flats, but after a little research? Dunlop doesn't seem to make short scale flats...
So... we'll see what happens, on down the road. In any case, I have a lot of shorty flats in my string stash... And, finally;Basses with new strings;
- The old D'Addario Chromes on my G&L ASAT Bass finally died. It's wearing the Fender 9050L's from the Eastwood Magnum now. And, do they ever sound good on that thing...
- I took the Fender 9050L's off one of the Dano DC59s, intending to put them on the Guild Starfire I. But, they are seriously too long; so... I decided to put the Dogal's from the soon-to-be-gone Rick 4001 on it. That "CS90B" designation has always bothered me; that's the model # for a set of CarbonSteel rounds. After careful measuring with my Harbor Freight digital calipers, I'm pretty sure they actually are CarbonSteel "Jaco Flats" - the 40-98 JC106B set. I think somebody just re-purposed a roundwound box, to mess with my mind... In any case, they are still ridiculously low tension; every bit as flexible as TIJFs - if not more so; and sound pretty much like TIJFs and Fender 9050Ls. Decent lows; good low mids and mids; and a really nice high range, too...
So... I'm down to 22 basses - 23, if the Forum III ever gets put back together. And, all but 2 will wear flats - or they will, if the Serek actually gets here with Dunlop Flats on it...
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Holy moly flatwound prices have gone up!
I was looking at my Amazon order history.
In 2019 I bought a set of Fender 9050's for $22. Today they are $32 on Amazon. $40 at Guitar Center.
In 2020 I bought a set of Dunlops for $32. Today they are $65 on Amazon!
I know inflation and all that jazz but doubling of prices in just a few years seems crazy.
I was looking at my Amazon order history.
In 2019 I bought a set of Fender 9050's for $22. Today they are $32 on Amazon. $40 at Guitar Center.
In 2020 I bought a set of Dunlops for $32. Today they are $65 on Amazon!
I know inflation and all that jazz but doubling of prices in just a few years seems crazy.
I finally got my set of DR Legends installed on my SBMM Ray5. Initial impressions are that they might not be for me, but I want to give them a fair shake.
Out of the box, the B and E have that dead, thumpy sound I’ve experienced with GHS Precision Flats and La Bella Deep Talkin’ Flats (specifically on the B and E strings). I’m not a huge fan of that; it feels like the B and E are from a different brand. And yes, I mean they feel different; they react differently than the other three strings.
Like I said, I want to give these a fair shake. I play at church next Wednesday and Sunday, so I’ll be able to hear it in the IEMs and in the mix from our Sunday livestream. I’ll post here after that test.
Out of the box, the B and E have that dead, thumpy sound I’ve experienced with GHS Precision Flats and La Bella Deep Talkin’ Flats (specifically on the B and E strings). I’m not a huge fan of that; it feels like the B and E are from a different brand. And yes, I mean they feel different; they react differently than the other three strings.
Like I said, I want to give these a fair shake. I play at church next Wednesday and Sunday, so I’ll be able to hear it in the IEMs and in the mix from our Sunday livestream. I’ll post here after that test.
Make absolutely sure there's no twist in the mounted strings. Both the GHS Precision Flats and the Labella DTFs are very sensitive to this, so maybe the Legends are too. When there's any sort of torque on this sort of string—especially the E and B—they can sound dead/dull relative to their buddies. Without unmounting the two problem strings, loosen each so that the ball end can rotate freely into its neutral twist position. Usually this means loosening it until there's an inch or so projecting free at the bridge end. Then, carefully retighten the strings so that they stay in the untwisted state. You may get a pleasant surprise in terms of the tone produced: brighter, more focussed, more consistency of tone across the strings.
This is my first post on TB outside of the Mikro club thread. I use Dunlop shortscale stainless flatwound 45-105. Bout the cheapest I have seen in Australia at the moment is around $100aud on Amazon and Ebay. Great strings by the way.
Replace the LTF4A with TI flat yesterday, without truss rod tweak, the Ti flat has zero neck relief. Need counter clock 1/4 turn on truss rod to get the .010 reading back.
Even tension chart list LTF4A has lower tension than Ti flat, but she has more tense on this experience.
Even tension chart list LTF4A has lower tension than Ti flat, but she has more tense on this experience.
