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flatwound compared to roundwound

#21
Stumbo said:
I use dead half-rounds with an active 3 band eq. on an Ibanez Musician. It Does a great P tone among many others.

If you turn the treble down, the clank goes away. Turn the treble up and it still gets some spank when necessary.
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+1 On the D' half rounds !

I played the DeanMarkley ground rounds for year on most of my basses. Rounds on the Washboard B-10 (which I refuse to part with LOL). When I got the Schecter Studio5 I switched to the Halfs (.45~.135) and love them. THEN switched the B-10 to them... Made it much more "useable" !! Personal preference is the bottom line
 
#22
I happen to be a well-documented fan of Sadowsky Flats, but irregardless of brand, if you rub down your flats well (top & bottom) after playing them, they will typically get glassy smooth in a few months. As far as sounding clanky... that sounds like a left hand technique issue. Use a light touch, glide and squeeze, don't slap at the frets and you'll sound smooth and sweet!
 
#23
Try a set of Fender 9050CL's. They are 45-60-80-105, similar to the diameter of the rounds you're probably used to, and being steel wrap instead of chrome, they have a similar tone -- think subdued Roto growl, mellower. They are also relatively inexpensive. I was a roundwound guy for 35+ years, and these changed me to flats as well for the same reasons you describe. Also, they are very consistent both string-to-string and up the neck, so they don't "thump" out after awhile. These got rid of the eternal twangy G string and thumpy E string.
 
#24
D'Addario Chromes are awesome. They have a fullness and are well rounded in different parts of the sonic spectrum.

D'Addario Halfrounds are... and interesting string. Typically Nickel Strings feel softer on my hands than raw steel. D'Addario polished these after grinding them "smooth". It's all very artificial feeling to me, and people have complained about them feeling sticky. They may take some getting used to playing fingerstyle, but if you use a pick, the Halfrounds will wear your picks REALLY quickly.

One more thing about flats - if you're used to playing nickel roundwounds, going to stainless steel flats will probably need some getting used to on your plucking hand. It may take some getting use to "not missing" playing, because when I started out on rounds, the grooves in the winding fit to my fingers. When I started using flats, I started noticing some stiff slipping. Practice makes... better.
 
#28
The reason flats clank or go zzzt when depressed onto a nickel fret is because they are stainless steel.
Stainless steel is much harder than nickel, so you will hear some noise once in a while.
There are nickel flats, such as Thomastik infeld... Which are $$$$$
Try the half rounds. In my PBass case I have this.
New round wounds
Old round wounds
Flats
Half rounds.
Depending on what is going on with the band or recording session.
 
#29
Also if your stainless flats are buzzy.. It's most likely they could be greeting out behind the fret in which you are playing, meaning you could use a setup, or the nut/string slot is too low or your truss rod maybe too tight.
Most 70's pbasses have gorgeous hump from the 3rd fret to the 6th fret... It's just how done of the truss rods worked..
A balanced tension set of flats will help with throes lumpy fender necks, where you have a lump on the bass side and a concave /opposite effect on the treble side of the neck....
Fwiw, I'm a luthier, almost 30 years now.
And I play a '94 Pbass. It's great.
��
 
#31
Right now I'm awash with different brands of flats. My emerging fave: TI flats on my Jazz. THey've been on about a month now and are finally setting down a bit.....they were kind of twangy or odd at first and now they are getting really focused and smooth sounding. They are hands down the most comfortable strings I've played. I don't understand the comments I see about them being "floppy". I have them strung thru on the Jazz fwiw.

I have used Sadowsky flats in the past and like them a lot. Then I was into super smooth stainless like webstrings detroit flats and DR Legends. I bought a Danelectro Longhorn with GHS precision flats which I've really liked. Of course, I've used chromes on everything at some time or other.

I think I'm going to be focusing on TI flats and GHS precision flats for the time being. Oh yeah....The P-Bass I just bought has Fender flats, so I guess I'll see what those are about. If I don't like 'em, precision flats go on.
 
#32
From what I've read here at Talkbass, lots of people have had the same experience I had: thought I'd try half-rounds to get the best of both, and then found that I really didn't like them as well as either rounds OR flats. I prefer the real thing.

For quiet on the frets, Tapes are definitely the quietest I've experienced (only tried Roto flats). Both tapes and flats are much quieter as far as finger noise. They're both easier on my fingers too.
 
#33
Anybody here using flats or half-rounds with a Hartke aluminum cone setup? I was wondering if the flats warm up those aluminum cones a bit.
 
#36
As soon as I switched to Chromes I heard the tone I'd been after for years but really struggled with the added stiffness. Tried halfwounds and found they just sounded like a dead round wound with less sustain. Finally settled on the chromes 100 E string set and never looked back. Stick a VT bass pedal in your rig and you can get these strings to rock as well as thump.
 
#38
Silas Stingy said:
As soon as I switched to Chromes I heard the tone I'd been after for years but really struggled with the added stiffness. Tried halfwounds and found they just sounded like a dead round wound with less sustain. Finally settled on the chromes 100 E string set and never looked back. Stick a VT bass pedal in your rig and you can get these strings to rock as well as thump.
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Everybody knocks the half-rounds, but I love 'em. Flats were just too stiff and dead sounding for me. Half-rounds were the perfect balance.
 

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