Flatwounds vs Roundwounds in 2025

[dbsfgyd1]

That's pretty convenient for the Rickenbacker corporation selling more strings isn't it? I saw Yes twice back in the 70's and there was nothing thumpy about the bass sound, so I'm as 100% certain as I can be that he was using rounds. (But I suspect his warranty terms and ours were quite a bit different.)

Like he had enough money buy a bass ever 5 minutes if he wanted to.

To your point, I faithfully dutifully continued to buy Rickenbacker string for almost 3 years before we moved. Local stores didn’t have them and driving 4 hours to get some was a non starter. SOOO, I installed as set of GHS. Bass Boomers and the neck didn’t fall off, the bass didn’t disintegrate, short out, my car didn’t explode, and my house didn’t burn down and a kk the things they threatened me with never occurred . What did happed was a major revelation and that was the last bass I owned that had flats on it. Well untill the bass I bought last year that came with them.

I will say this Rick, the dual truss rod design really worked. I had that bass for 34 years and that neck never budged.

 

[RomanS]

Flatwounds on every bass I own!

I haven't used roundwounds on any of my basses since the mid 90s, but very recently, mainly because of threads like this, and similar ones, where everyone keeps yakking about how much more versatile roundwounds are, and how you can fake a flatwound sound with a sponge & turning down the tone pot, I felt the urge to try roundwounds again, after 30 years, and put some GHS Balanced Nickels on my P Bass.

Well, yanked them off again after two weeks.
No warm, full thump, instead lots of nasty zingy, stringy, twangy treble - hated it! I play the BASS, not the TREBLE, dammit!
Sponge & tone pot didn't help, either, that nasty stringy attack still came through.

So, flats for me 100% - LaBellas for thump, or Thomastiks for more midrange cut, between those two I can play everything I want to play, and if a style of music required roundwounds, it's probably not a style of music I'd enjoy anyway...

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Flatwounds or roundwounds — where do you stand? Are flatwounds still the go-to for jazz/funk, or are rounds creeping in everywhere?
Share your experiences, favorite setups, and any surprising discoveries!

depends on what the gig calls for. I use both on various basses, again depending on the type of music but also I keep at least two basses tuned down a half step (Eb), one of which has d'addario chromes.

 

[micguy]

That's pretty convenient for the Rickenbacker corporation selling more strings isn't it? I saw Yes twice back in the 70's and there was nothing thumpy about the bass sound, so I'm as 100% certain as I can be that he was using rounds. (But I suspect his warranty terms and ours were quite a bit different.)

It’s ridiculous. Round wounds of the same gauge tune to pitch with less tension than flats.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I tried a set of the Thomastik flats, which I think were supposed to be lower tension, but I thought they felt a bit too loose. The tone was OK, but I guess I was just too used to the feel of the La Bella's.

Coming from your .045" to .105" there's no surprise there. Give lower tension strings time to get used to, along with your learning to play with a lighter touch, and in time you may find your playing improve as you have more control, with very little effort required for things like dynamics and feel. I have been using both TI JFs and TI JRs for many years now so they feel very comfortable and not floppy/loose feeling at all. You can raise the action on your bass(es) and still get all the benefits of lower tension strings.

 

[BigBoneRed]

Pino and few others might disagree with that take....

True, No doubt...
...and in full disclosure, my '80 Fender fretless P is wearing TI/JF at the moment. HOWEVER- flats are not my "go to" (for any genre), and I really prefer the sound,and playability when strung with DR hi-beams, and may change it back soon...

Yes to flats. Yes to rounds. Pick the strings for the bass and the bass for the gig, or the song

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^. Yep~

 

[mikecd1]

As others have described, in the beginning it was all flats in the 60s and then came Rotosounds and I even snapped the truss rod on my 72 Ric 4001 with round wounds and like others I fell in love with the sound of rounds. Also used half rounds a while and for last 20 years its been mostly DR Sunbeams except for the TI Flats on my Hofner which I dearly love. The past year I bought an ash body pbass that came with chromes and when I went to change them out for the Sunbeams I fell in love. When I play my Jazz with flats and engage the series switch I'm in heaven. I'll never go back on this bass. I had a set of Labella DTF 760's lying around and now have those on my Pbass which has always had sunbeams and haven't made up my mind yet, but am digging the vibe. Still have the sunbeams on my Stingray and Cirrus, but am having an affair with my jazz at the moment that seems to have no end in sight. lol Whatever sounds best is still best and all basses and pickups react different to our ears so go for what sounds and feels right.

 

[BigBoneRed]

No warm, full thump, instead lots of nasty zingy, stringy, twangy treble - hated it! I play the BASS, not the TREBLE, dammit!
Sponge & tone pot didn't help, either, that nasty stringy attack still came through.

It CAN be done, not hard to tame it down (if you want)...
Cheers~


Love that Zingggg...

 

[Nebadon2000]

Flatwounds on every bass I own!

I haven't used roundwounds on any of my basses since the mid 90s, but very recently, mainly because of threads like this, and similar ones, where everyone keeps yakking about how much more versatile roundwounds are, and how you can fake a flatwound sound with a sponge & turning down the tone pot, I felt the urge to try roundwounds again, after 30 years, and put some GHS Balanced Nickels on my P Bass.

Well, yanked them off again after two weeks.
No warm, full thump, instead lots of nasty zingy, stringy, twangy treble - hated it! I play the BASS, not the TREBLE, dammit!
Sponge & tone pot didn't help, either, that nasty stringy attack still came through.

So, flats for me 100% - LaBellas for thump, or Thomastiks for more midrange cut, between those two I can play everything I want to play, and if a style of music required roundwounds, it's probably not a style of music I'd enjoy anyway...

"All Righty Then"

 

[ra0ulduke]

For the first 10 years I played roundwounds because I didn't know any better and didn't care. When I first tried flats, it was like a revelation. I've been playing flats for over 20 years now and can't imagine playing anything else.

 

[lowplaces]

I’ve got a set in my closet for my #1 bass. I’m really excited about giving them a try again.

Try them yet ?

 

[John D Harris]

I am really loving the Dunlop DBFS45125 SS Flatwounds that I bought back in January of 2025 and put them on my Cort B5 Element August 18, 2025 (so I've had them on a few months and I play everyday).

I don't know if I've adjusted to the tension or if getting the bass set up better helped, - I notice the tension, but it doesn't really bother me.

My experience is more tension = punchier!

Boatloads of punch with these.

I love the frequency balance and the feel.

The harmonic content will always be different between non-dead roundwounds and any flatwounds, but I really like what these strings put out!

I usually back the treble down a small amount with these, so they do have IMO, plenty of upper midrange for a flatwound - similar to the Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats!

I bet they would sound good on most any bass guitar, but I wish I'd tried these when I still had my EB MM StringRay 5.

They are not cheap, but I'm hoping that my string search has ended with these.

[Full disclosure - if I owned another bass guitar, I'd be experimenting with various roundwound sets, which is what I've played for most of my 27 years of playing bass guitar.]

Strings used in the past (all 5 string sets):
EB Slinky Nickle RW
DR Lo-Rider SS RW
DR Lo-Rider Nickle RW
D'Addario Nickle RW
DR Sunbeams RW
Rotosound RS775LD Monel FW
EB Cobalt FW - sounded pretty good to me initially, but got harsh in the midrange after a while; also these did not like my body chemistry; I'd clean them daily and they still felt grungy.
~~~~
My favorite RW was the DR Lo-Rider Nickel RW.
The Dunlop SS FW's are the BOMB!!!

 

[bassist4dalord]

Try them yet ?

Not yet! I’m thinking I’ll install them sometime this week. I’ll report back.

 

[GIBrat51]

Flatwounds or roundwounds — where do you stand? Are flatwounds still the go-to for jazz/funk, or are rounds creeping in everywhere?
Share your experiences, favorite setups, and any surprising discoveries!

Well...
Don't know where else round wounds are "creeping in", but I guarantee you - they ain't creeping in to my Bass Herd. With the exception of TIJR 324 Jazz Rounds on a Gretsch Broadkaster, the other 29 basses I own wear - with 2 exceptions that wear tapes - flat wounds. All kinds, scales, and gauges of flat wounds... I use them for Jazz; Rock; Surf; Rockabilly; really Vintage Rock; vintage C&W; and R&B...

 

[bassist4dalord]

Try them yet ?

Installed them yesterday. Immediate first impression is I maybe should have gotten the Regular Slinky 50-105; the 45 is a little slack on this set.

That being said, the strings have a nice growl to them. I have rehearsal tomorrow so I’ll know more then, but so far, so good!

 

[dougjwray]

There's one venue where I play which has really horrible acoustics. Two story metal ceiling, windows all around, and even glass behind me, from about waist high to the ceiling. It took me lots of trial and error to arrive at the right formula to be heard: A Jazz Bass with old flats (Chromes) through a GK 400RB (EQ at 12:00, except for high mids at 2:00, and the Hi Boost button engaged) into an Ampeg 1x15 cab.
Not only that, but the Jazz's knobs are all maxxed-- what we think of as the scooped setting!
I think the flats are the crucial ingredient. They take up less real estate in the mix than rounds would -- a narrower path. Less competition with the other instruments.
It took me a while to absorb this, because it seemed counterintuitive. Muddy room? Bright round wounds with one pickup turned down on a Jazz! Nope!!

All of this is to say that there are no simple answers to these tone-seeking questions.

 

[Lowlou17]

Hello to all.
I have a Ric 4003 that I bought earlier this year. I still have the factory strings on it. I played it this weekend and I hadn't noticed how clanky and noisy (esp finger noise) the factory strings are. I'm looking to replace them and it seems that the D'Addario NYXL45105 Gauge NPS Long-Scale Bass Strings
are a pretty solid choice. I have flats on all my other basses but I really like the bright sound and punch the Ric delivers. Open to suggestions. I'm 99% sold on getting the D'addarios and added bonus they're not expensive. @MrAB4003, I read your comment and am interested in hearing what you think. Thanks all.

 

[MrAB4003]

Hello to all.
I have a Ric 4003 that I bought earlier this year. I still have the factory strings on it. I played it this weekend and I hadn't noticed how clanky and noisy (esp finger noise) the factory strings are. I'm looking to replace them and it seems that the D'Addario NYXL45105 Gauge NPS Long-Scale Bass Strings
are a pretty solid choice. I have flats on all my other basses but I really like the bright sound and punch the Ric delivers. Open to suggestions. I'm 99% sold on getting the D'addarios and added bonus they're not expensive. @MrAB4003, I read your comment and am interested in hearing what you think. Thanks all.

Hi @Lowlou17 ! Thanks for mentioning me tonight!

Short Answer: The NYXLs are my favorite roundwounds and the best ones I've ever played!

Long Answer / Story Time:
This is the story about how I the NYXLs became my preferred roundwounds. I played Rotosound 66s (both the SS and NPS versions) and later the 55s for 12 years (2012-2024). Why? Because my teenage bass heroes did and I was kinda impressionable when I was 18. Those strings sounded great, but they felt like cheese graters on my fingers! Ouch! I even bled a few times in practice because of these strings! Thankfully, my main Ric 4003 was not harmed. Despite their sound, the 66s became THE worst strings I have ever played!

In early 2024, my bass tech put D'Addario medium gauge (50-105) "regular" XLs on my 4003. They were the heaviest rounds he had in his shop, so we made do. But it was enough to steer me away from Rotosound forever. The XLs were awesome strings, especially when I first put them on. They very were bright and clanky, but with a lot more smoothness than the Rotos. They're also still my second favorite rounds. But the brightness only lasted me 3-4 months at most and I had enough of that after a year or so. That's when I decided to switch to the heavy gauge (55-110) NYXLs. I chose the heavy gauge because I tune to D Standard if anyone is wondering.

The NYXLs became my favorite roundwounds and the best ones I've ever played! I love how they last for months, they are bright and clanky on my 4003, and they are very well made. They sound like 66s, but they feel like "regular" XLs. I can't recommend them enough, especially to a fellow Ric bassist!

The light top / medium bottom gauge (45-105) NYXLs set is a good fit for standard tuning. They're a lot more balanced than the more standard gauges, including the heavy gauge that I play.

Best of luck with the change! Please keep us posted about your decision!

 

[Jeff Scott]

Hello to all.
I have a Ric 4003 that I bought earlier this year. I still have the factory strings on it. I played it this weekend and I hadn't noticed how clanky and noisy (esp finger noise) the factory strings are. I'm looking to replace them and it seems that the D'Addario NYXL45105 Gauge NPS Long-Scale Bass Strings
are a pretty solid choice. I have flats on all my other basses but I really like the bright sound and punch the Ric delivers. Open to suggestions. I'm 99% sold on getting the D'addarios and added bonus they're not expensive. @MrAB4003, I read your comment and am interested in hearing what you think. Thanks all.

Going back to '08 I have been using TI Jazz Rounds on my Ricks. They sound like broken-in rounds, and have a very smooth feel to them. They are quite low in tension but that just takes a short while to get used to, although if you are a heavy handed player they may not be right for you.

Here are a couple of recordings of two different 1973 4001s (March, and July), both with TI Jazz Rounds on them. Both are live recording from the same gig.

 

[woodyng2]

I saw Yes twice back in the 70's and there was nothing thumpy about the bass sound, so I'm as 100% certain as I can be that he was using rounds. (But I suspect his warranty terms and ours were quite a bit different.)

He was a Rotosound Swing Bass endorsee, and used to put a fresh set on for each show!