Going back and fourth between flats and rounds?

[Worldeeeter]

Not on the same bass. My fretless has D'Addario Chrome Flats on it, and my fretted basses have LaBella RW steels. I wouldn't play flats on a fretted bass, and I decided I love them on fretless. Plus, they don't carve up the fingerboard like roundwounds do.

 

[bmax]

I've got 2 P's, with flats on one and rounds on the other. Every time I play one for a while, I have so much fun going back to the other. They make me play differently.

I have a Warmoth/MJT fretless P in the works, and I'm trying to decide whether to string it with flats or rounds. Might try tape or pressure (for the first time)

 

[MVE]

Yes

 

[McFarlin]

No way
I'll go back and fifth--hell, even sixth or seventh--but never back and fourth.

 

[tallboybass]

For those with two basses and a set on each

Do you find it hard going back and forth?

Not really...the feel is different of course, but mine are set up with similar tensions so it's pretty easy.

Hardest part for me is, I play in bands that tune to E and Eb... sometimes I've gotta do a neck adjustment on the bandstand. Not a big deal though.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Flats (TI) on some, for example and old set on a fretless ABG which I found worked better than Rotosound tape wounds, rounds (Dunlop nickels typically) on others which have very similar tension to the TI flats.

If there was a good value (TCO) flat that had the same sound and tension in every way to the Dunlops I'd use those rather than the rounds.

 

[Gnal]

For those with two basses and a set on each

Do you find it hard going back and forth?

No, it's just different. I've started to associate the feel to the tone, so having the "redundant" bass is more about muscle memory and familiarity with the control locations.

 

[Ricky Caboverde]

Yup! been playing flats for years; mainly TI flats and then moved to DA Chromes. However, my latest bass (Keith Elfin) is wearing DA XL rounds and I'm really loving the tone...although I do miss the higher tension.

 

[Justice Graves]

For those with two basses and a set on each

Do you find it hard going back and forth?

No I don't. But I almost exclusively played round for years so flats were a welcome change. The only thing that would bother me is if I ended up with a set of low tension flats, then it would freak me out. I can adjust to just about anything but extreme tension differences through me off.

 

[1stnamebassist]

I switch between rounds, flats and tapewounds all the time, especially on my Rick. I have 2 sets of flats for it, Fender and Ernie Ball Cobalts, 2 sets of steel rounds, Blue Steels and Rotosounds, Rick stock Nickel rounds and a set of D'addario Tapewounds. I'm experimenting with strings and trying to nail it down to a couple favorite sets so I won't keep going through this nonsense!

 

[Thuddy Waters]

No, I'm totally sane so I don't use flats.

I'm not. So I use flats exclusively.

 

[bassbully]

Nope flats only.