for short/medium scale, I really like Pyramid flats, or Ernie Ball group flats.
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Flatwounds
- Thread starter jbug
- Start date
If I anything, I think the flats will increase your sound quality. A Mustang with flats is a beautiful thing, imo. Great warm, thumpy tone with your fingers or a cutting percussive attack with a pick. Also, Mustangs don't seem to suffer from dead spots the way full 34" scale Fenders do, so there's not as much to worry about with notes that just die out super quickly.
Congrats on your new bass.
As for which strings, that is a matter if taste, the music you are going to play, your preferred timbre, and players you wish to emulate. Just remember, buying strings does not mean a lifetime commitment. There are a lot of different strings and string manufacturers to chose from, each with their own characteristics.
No strings will “diminish” sound quality. All strings will alter sound quality. It’s an endless road of possibilities.
My Mustang still sports original Fender flats.
It’s all fundamental. No overtones. Sounds fantastic, plays amazing. I understand why the OP wants flats on his Mustang II.
It’s all fundamental. No overtones. Sounds fantastic, plays amazing. I understand why the OP wants flats on his Mustang II.
I'm kinda tired of the flatwound obsession. Overtones rule.
Still better than the Pinto. Ever see the film version of Cujo? The Pinto they end up trapped in is scarier than the dog.
Also, to remain relevant to the thread, Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats would be my recommendation. I have a set on my Ibanez Mikro which, though a different vibe from the Mustang, also has a PJ pickup configuration. They sound awesome on that bass.
You can offset any diminishment by playing lots of augmented chords.
Different strokes. Different folks. There are very divergent opinions about not only "sound quality" but "quality sound". I've had flatwounds for literally 30 plus years. I try them every once in a while. I never like the sound, and they don't work in the music I play, in the way I play it, to sound the way I want them to sound. I don't want to be the guy to say something like this: "Hey I'm looking for flatwounds that sound exactly like brand new bright roundwounds." Of course the answer is simply that I'm a roundwound string kind of guy, I'm not trying to get any strings to be something they are not.
I DO very much like the brilliance (and overtones) of brand new roundwound strings. It is a primary component of MY sound.
I fought with buzz and clank* for years believing the sound I heard in my head could be got with roundwounds because everyone said I'm supposed to use rounds because they're better (examples in this thread). I took a chance and tried Chromes and the quality of my life improved by a full 4.63%. Flats for me on every fretted bass now.
*Buzz and Clank are not a comedy team or buddy cop duo.
*Buzz and Clank are not a comedy team or buddy cop duo.
Similar experience here. I occasionally try flatwounds, hoping that they will magically sound better to me... but they never do. I do have a set of EB cobalt flats on one of my P-basses, but then, those strings are about the most "un-flatwound-sounding" flatwounds there are.
I will say this, though: I've heard plenty of bassists who use flats and it sounds fine to me. But if I were playing that player's bass I'm positive it would sound like crap--dark, muddy, indistinct. Why is this? Well, over the years I've concluded that it is just the way I play bass. Flats don't work well for me. I have a very soft touch (pluck) and my fingertips are rounded and soft. That being the case, I need the sharper attack and brighter upper mid/treble range in order to get a decent sound. Other players don't have that issue and flats can work just fine for them.
As an example, I just bought a used Fender Custom Shop '60 Jazz Bass. It had flats on it when I got it. I plugged it in and nearly crapped my pants. It was about the worst I've ever heard a Jazz bass sound (with me playing it). I thought, "Oh my God, I just dropped three grand on a dog." I then put nickel rounds (35 - 95) on it. After using it for a couple weeks now, I can't seem to put it down. It's about the BEST sounding Jazz Bass I've ever heard (with me playing it), if not the best of any passive bass, period. And I've had hundreds of basses over the years. So, it's a combination of the player, the instrument/amp, and the strings.
The comment made above about being "tired of the obsession with flats," however, I do have agree with. It's only flatwound players that see fit to mention that they "play flats" or that "that bass needs flats." I never, ever hear a player that uses, say, stainless steel rounds constantly bringing up the point that he uses stainless steel rounds or saying "that bass needs rounds." I don't know why it is this way, but it seems to be. How many times have you read the comments on a bass video on Youtube and half the comments mention needing flats or "I play XXX flatwounds"? And have you ever heard anyone go on and on about roundwounds?
To be fair to whatever strings and basses and even to ourselves, it is my opinion that we hear (however slightly) differently when we're playing than when we are not and can fully be listeners disentangled from the physicality of playing. Still, we ideally really SHOULD like the sound while we're the players, no matter how much we may like the sound when we are not the players.
My fingers are calloused but like yours, soft callouses. Maybe my hands sweat too much. Maybe that's why I don't have dry hands and thick "clacky" callouses. I don't know.
For my own gigs, I'm a HUGE stickler about strings. They really MUST have the bright, piano-like tone, even if there's no slapping, and I will literally choose a bass (almost always a 5 string) on the basis of how bright and new-sounding the strings are. I can play each of my 5 Stingrays acoustically for about 10 seconds or less acoustically and unplugged and I'll instantly know among the 5 Stingrays, which of those 5 I'm taking as the main bass, and which one of the others is a backup.
My fretless MIJ Jazz Bass sounds (to me) terrible with flatwounds, and frankly it might as well be fretted because none of the singing tonality of the instrument comes out. But when you put roundwounds on... the whole character of the bass changes, IMO for the better. Strings MATTER.
I have a bass that has 30+ year old strings on it. Never changed. Never cleaned. If I want that sound, I've got it. But most of the music I do, most of the time requires a different approach. Different strings. Different esthetic about strings and tone.
"Sound quality" is so subjective. Some people think that the freshest brightest rounds with loads of overtones have the best sound quality but to me they just sound like a "big guitar" and lose a lot of that fundamental bass tone. Some people think flats are one-dimensional and boring but to me they sound like a warm hug.
I like both for different reasons. Rounds are more practical for gigging and such because you can cover so many genres, but my "home tone" is just my P with flats plugged into a Portaflex. Sure it's cliche, but it's also what makes me happiest. I can sit around enveloped in that warm hug for hours, whereas with zingy rounds I start to feel fatigue.
I like both for different reasons. Rounds are more practical for gigging and such because you can cover so many genres, but my "home tone" is just my P with flats plugged into a Portaflex. Sure it's cliche, but it's also what makes me happiest. I can sit around enveloped in that warm hug for hours, whereas with zingy rounds I start to feel fatigue.
That was my realization as well. Rounds seemed like the way to go, but with flats, I found the bass becomes a more distinct instrument with its own sonic space instead of a "big guitar". Suddenly I could get more creative with my note choices because the bass now has a more unique voice instead of sharing all the overtones with the guitars, keys and drums as well.
I would agree with GHS precision flats because they are a bit more stiff and you want stiffer strings if you play a short scale. Light would be rubbers
Well...
Here's the thing about short scale basses. Because of the physics of the strings, the sound quality is "diminished" before you start. With very few exceptions (and a Mustang II is not one of them), a short scale bass can't give you the harmonics and overtones that a long scale bass can. The old saying that "short scale basses are all about the fundamental note" is true. I own 11 short scale basses (I think; haven't counted in a while), and there's only one of them that can give me any overtones - at all. Takes the right strings, and a lot of amp tinkering, though...
In any case? By all means; put flats on that bass, if you want. I own 30 basses, and only one wears rounds; a 30.5" scale Gretsch Broadcaster, with TI Jazz Rounds. And, no, it has no harmonic overtones, either. It's also losing those strings very soon... If you want flats that aren't just "Old School Thump"? Yes, the #3020 GHS Precision Flats are a good choice. I have them on a couple of my short scale basses. But, any light gauge, round core flat would probably make you happy. TI Jazz flats will work, too, but they might be a little long. Still, some Mustang players have made them work - and like them. Personally? I'd go with the GHS P-Flats...
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