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Flatwounds for Fretless...

O

owensea777

Inactive
Jun 16, 2007
386
1
#1
story short, my endurance decreases a lot when switching to the fretless with flatwounds. This is a combo of the fretless action and the flatwound tension, I'm sure (probably chromes on the bass). It's wierd b/c I play with extra large D'addario chromes on my acoustic electric, and can play all day, cause it's fretted. As soon as I pick up the beloved fretless and start playing, I soon feel like a weakling. It sucks

What I need is a flatwound string that will help increase my endurance on the fretless. Should I go with a lighter guage? A string with less tension? What are the drawbacks of using a lighter guage string and/or one with less tension? I like the sound of Chromes. Should I just go with light guage Chromes?
 
#7
TI Flats are light gauge strings to begin with and basically they're just a super light gauge roundwound with a stainless tape wrap. That makes 'em really flexible and the outter layer keeps the roundwound part clean so they can sound alive for years. I have a set that's been on one bass for at least 4 years...I can't really remember but I know I haven't changed 'em since I moved into the place I'm living now. People seem to either love 'em or hate 'em....I love 'em. Wish they made a 30" scale version that'd fit the Longhorn though.
 
#8
+1 the ti flats. I am going to put a set on my GL L2500 after recently falling in love with them on my fretted bass. I had low riders on my G & L and my hands were just killing me. Ti Flats are the softest strings I have ever played, and they have monster tone. Check out Xavier Padilla with Gypsy Kings. He uses TI Flats on his Fender and he sounds great!
 
#14
owensea777 said:
I think they sound more like the double bass, but it seems like I've heard people say they sounds like rounds.
Click to expand...

Think stainless rounds with a nickel flat outer wrap. The main things people either love or hate about 'em is the super low tension and the fact they feel like a flatwound but sound waaaaaaaaay brighter, more like a nickel roundwound without the string noise...but not really. They're unique. The nice thing about trying a set is that even though they're not the cheapest strings out there they last a long time (years) and if you don't like them on one bass you might on another so don't cut 'em right away. They're also one of the few non-bronze strings that are low enough tension to work on ABGs and can really make one of those sound more like an upright than those ridiculous bronze things ever will.
 

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