Half Wounds

[ClassicJazz]

Hated them!! In fact any half wounds I tried I did not like them. My goto strings are GHS Pressure Wounds. If you search they are very well liked here, for good reason! Great strings! I have them on my P-Bass and both my '79 Kramers.

 

[ClassicJazz]

Same experience here. I tried the GHS Pressure Wound strings on my fretless, and they came right off the next day.

You do realize that Half Wounds and Pressure Wounds are two completely different types of strings.

 

[Thumb n Fingers]

I used half rounds (D'Addario's) for a while, but found they just weren't for me. Neither are flats, but I do keep a bass strung with them for when that's the only sound that will work for what you're doing. New, they do not have the bite of round wounds, but they are crisper than flats.

 

[MonetBass]

You do realize that Half Wounds and Pressure Wounds are two completely different types of strings.

Yes, of course. But people who want the flatwound feel from roundwounds sometimes go for the pressure wounds, so I wanted to put that out there.

 

[BassicJazzy]

You do realize that Half Wounds and Pressure Wounds are two completely different types of strings.

Yeah, I can see his point though. I don't think PressureWounds would sound great on fretless. They lack the brightness that you need, but on fretted basses they sound fabulous.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

What Do people think of half wound bass strings. I just ordered a set of D Addario half wounds that should be arriving later today and I was curious what people who have used them think. From what ive heard they sound similar to dead round wounds which is sort of what im going for. Trying to get that Roger Waters live at Pompeii or John Wetton on Starless and Bible Black.

My experience as brief as it was, is exactly that. Dead rounds.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Here are a few songs from the one CD I recorded with D'Addario Half Rounds. The whole album played on the passive fretless Zon Sonus Special 5 near the turn of the last century.







I used a tc electronic SCF on "Blue Diamond".

In the late '70s I used Half Rounds on a 4001 for the two Top 40/Disco bands I was in.

 

[TomB]

Same experience here. I tried the GHS Pressure Wound strings on my fretless, and they came right off the next day.

You do realize that Half Wounds and Pressure Wounds are two completely different types of strings.

Which is why comparing them is an apples vs. oranges exercise. Some players even like both flavors - but they’re very different flavors.

 

[MrAB4003]

Here's my review of the Rotosound 55s from early 2024. The bold part sums up how I feel about this fourth type of bass string:

I had the Rotosound 55 Solo Bass pressurewounds as my main bass string for about 3 years. I switched to them from the Rotosound 66s after those strings made my fingers bleed. I wanted to maintain the brightness that comes from Rotosound strings, but not have the roughness. The 55s are indeed smoother than the 66s, but there are plenty of roundwounds that are smoother than the 55s.

One positive is that the 55s are made of stainless steel like the regular Rotosound 66s. This is a plus for bassists who are allergic to nickel or other common metals used to make strings.

These strings are middle of the road in terms of tone. Because they're halfway between rounds and flats, they're not great at getting either type of tone. They sit in the middle and not in a pleasant way. I switched to D'Addario Nickel Rounds because I wasn't getting enough clank from my basses. Plus, I lowered my tuning to D Standard, so the 55s were too light for that tuning. Just get a set of rounds if you want more clank or a set of flats if you want more smoothness.

My biggest complaint was that I received the wrong gauge on my last package. I ordered the 45-105 gauge set, but my bass tech measured each string and told me that I received 40-100 gauge strings. For $52 (after tax) for a 4 string set, I expect top quality. But Rotosound failed miserably in the quality control department and that was what made me switch to D'Addario Nickel Rounds, which cost me less than half for a similar 4 string set.

In essence, you're getting a subpar product for top dollar with this set, so I can't recommend them. Rotosound needs to do a better job with their quality control and significantly lower the price of this set if they want it to be competitive. Otherwise, they should discontinue it because there are better options that cost much less.

 

[trothwell]

Several mentions already for GHS Pressurewounds, but also worth considering are GHS Brite Flats -- another option for an actual half-round string, and I think sounds better than D'Addario Half Rounds.

Even so, I find it can be challenging to match the GHS Brite Flats to the right bass; they can sound great if paired correctly, but they can also sound kind of bleh and uninspiring on a bass that doesn't agree with them. I'm sure that's true of all strings to a degree, but it seems somehow especially true of half-round strings. But when they do work, they can sound really nice.

 

[DionClassic]

I used to run some on a ric 4003 and it was kinda perfect I like flats now but I look back now and realize how that was a really great sound.