Flatwounds and Headless ?

[el murdoque]

...so a small pile of cash has accumulated in a jar on my desk, It keeps growing because I have a hard time spending money in the present situation.
Which led me to pondering the possible acquisition of an electric bass guitar.
Now the only electric bass guitar available for the contents of that jar that might spark my interest would be the Ibanez EHB 1506.
Knowing me, I would want to play that thing with flats.
The forum search came up surprisingly empty about flatwounds on a headless.
Is that possible?

 

[overit]

I don’t know if that bass requires double ball strings but they make them. I had Labellas on an old Steinberger and Hohner for reggae.

 

[Inara]

I used to play a Steinberger Synapse fretless, and used Thomastik flats on it, since the bass has an adapter in the headstock so that it doesn't require double-ball-end strings. I assume the Ibanez also has something like this. I liked it a lot.

 

[el murdoque]

The Ibanez looks like it'll simply clamp down the strings and won't require double ball ends.

 

[Aidil]

The Ibanez EHB series are using common single ball end strings. And yes, the strings are clamped down on the "headstock" area.

Mine is the 5 string multi-scale EHB1005MS. It came with D'Addario XL Nickels Super Long Scale (38" winding length) and I've swapped them with just the long scale version of D'Addario NYXL (with a 130T taperwound low-B). D'Addario long scale 37.1" winding length is long enough to clear pass the nut. So, the string winding length requirement matches just about any available strings in the market.

In case you are getting the 6 string EHB1506MS, there should be plenty of string options, including flatwounds, cause the scale length on the 5 lowest strings are identical as mine.

 

[el murdoque]

The Ibanez EHB series are using common single ball end strings. And yes, the strings are clamped down on the "headstock" area.

Mine is the 5 string multi-scale EHB1005MS. It came with D'Addario XL Nickels Super Long Scale (38" winding length) and I've swapped them with just the long scale version of D'Addario NYXL (with a 130T taperwound low-B). D'Addario long scale 37.1" winding length is long enough to clear pass the nut. So, the string winding length requirement matches just about any available strings in the market.

In case you are getting the 6 string EHB1506MS, there should be plenty of string options, including flatwounds, cause the scale length on the 5 lowest strings are identical as mine.

Thank you. Will the strings need to fit so the silk wound end is clamped down like when you put them on a regular bass and you risk breaking them when you wind the unprotected part on the tuning peg ?

It seems like I will have to find a place where I can get my hands on one of these.

 

[Aidil]

Thank you. Will the strings need to fit so the silk wound end is clamped down like when you put them on a regular bass and you risk breaking them when you wind the unprotected part on the tuning peg ?

It seems like I will have to find a place where I can get my hands on one of these.

Obviously, there's no need to wind any strings with the clamping mechanism on the EHB, so there's no reason to be worried about breaking the unprotected/no silk portion of the string.

 

[GIBrat51]

I don't see why not. My headless Kramer Duke Special is happily wearing short scale flatwound DR Legends as I type this. The ball ends fit into notches in the cover plate at the head of the neck, as you can see. And, in case you're wondering; yes, those nasty thick silkwound string ends fit through the little holes in those Schaller guitar machine heads just fine...

 

[pwilson]

OK... I just tried this on my 4 string EHB1500 using D'Addario Chromes. The E string clamp hit the string right where the silk starts. The pressure from the clamp made the string fall apart. I could have overtightened it but I don't think so. YMMV.

 

[NinjaPyrate]

I’ve had the same problem installing Low Tension Flats on my EHB. I contacted LaBella and they said that LTFs were not designed for headless and that they might unwind. I lost a couple E strings but have had them installed for 6 months now with no issues. I’m about to install them on a Kiesel Thanos and am wondering if there is any trick to prevent this - like where the strings should be clipped?

 

[Naigewron]

I'd ask in the EHB thread. There's a fretless EHB available too. It comes with rounds stock, but I'm sure someone there has tried putting flats on it, since that's how most people prefer fretless basses.

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ibanez-ergonomic-headless-bass-ehb-club.1488387/