Help identifying flats - no silk, colored brass ends

[Thom Fioriglio]

I was at Guitar Center and tried a new Fender American Professional II Precision Bass in Olympic White with a Rosewood fretboard. And as I was playing, I noticed the thump of the strings. There were flat wounds on them! However, they had a little texture to them, not glassy smooth like a LaBella, and the brass ends were individually colored like D'Addarios. However, no silk on them at all. Anyone have any idea what they could be? I thought maybe Fender 9050s but those have green silk. Thanks for any help.

They felt really good. Not too much tension. Could they maybe be a ground wound??

 

[michael_t]

You mean D'Addario ball end colors, gold - red - black - green (E-G)? "Textured flats" with no silk? D'A Half Rounds, maybe?

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

Correct, the gold, red, black, green brass ends. And no silk.

I’ve never played half rounds so not exactly sure what they feel like. They had a nice flatwound thump to them

 

[michael_t]

Or, were the ball ends red-white-blue-gold (E-G) by any chance?

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

No. I know red white and blue are Rotosounds. Definitely D’Addario colors

 

[michael_t]

Correct, the gold, red, black, green brass ends. And no silk.

I’ve never played half rounds so not exactly sure what they feel like. They had a nice flatwound thump to them

Half Rounds are roundwound that's ground down to a flat surface, but they never feel as smooth as true flats. And yes, half-rounds can thump like flats.

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

Half Rounds are roundwound that's ground down to a flat surface, but they never feel as smooth as true flats. And yes, half-rounds can thump like flats.

Do you know if the D’Addario half’s have no silk?

 

[michael_t]

Do you know if the D’Addario half’s have no silk?

They used to have silk, but that was a long time ago.

 

[kodiakblair]

Do you know if the D’Addario half’s have no silk?

No silk on the set I have, just the coloured ball ends

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

No silk on the set I have, just the coloured ball ends

Thanks! I think those must be it then. I had a pair of flats laying around and just put them on my P bass and they are definitely way smoother than what I played on the bass I describe. They must be half-rounds.

Thanks for helping me out.

 

[kodiakblair]

Thanks for helping me out.

You're most welcome, glad I was in a position to help

The timing was impeccable. I pulled a bass out the cupboard last night, in response to someone's pickup thread, and it just happened to be the only one I have with halfs

 

[rmayer]

The real question is what’s a “new” Fender American Professional II doing with D’Addario half rounds on it?
Shouldn’t it be strung with Fender strings?

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

The real question is what’s a “new” Fender American Professional II doing with D’Addario half rounds on it?
Shouldn’t it be strung with Fender strings?

That’s what I was thinking! It still had the plastic on the pickguard and Am Pro II sticker. Very odd.

 

[RBC64]

Half rounds, no silk

 

[RBC64]

ECB82’s on the Peavy. Not sure which ones are on the Wilkins, they were on there when I bought it

 

[Swerve]

That’s what I was thinking! It still had the plastic on the pickguard and Am Pro II sticker. Very odd.

Could be a return. GC gives you 45 days. Someone probably bought it and changed the strings and left all the stickers on.

D’Addario half rounds are great once the sticky is gone. I also would never know they are half rounds either if I played them blind, they feel and sound entirely like flats to me.

 

[Heavy Blue]

D’Addario half rounds are great once the sticky is gone. I also would never know they are half rounds either if I played them blind, they feel and sound entirely like flats to me.

Agreed! Straight out of the package, mine were pretty grotty. They were just filthy with machine oil residue and tiny metal bits that I presume were left over from the grinding process.

So I got some isopropyl alcohol and some clean white rags and proceeded to clean them until there was no longer any oily residue or metal bits on the rag. It took awhile. About 45-50 minutes total for all 4 strings.

Once that was done. To my fingers, while not quite as silky smooth as a set of LaBella DTFs or GHS Precision Flats, they felt more or less just like normal flats and totally, are far more in the flatwound camp than anything like a roundwound. I'd describe their tone as even with just a touch of that old school thump and a rounded top end but with more overall clarity than what "old school" flats generally have.

I also liked the tone much better than their Chromes too. I've tried 2 different sets of Chromes on several different basses and they just sound kind of sterile to me. They're easily my least liked flat to date.

The Half Rounds saved the day for my '15 Squier VM60s Jazz that I was having a hard time getting a good tone from and had already tried several other string sets on. Squier should've kept using the Duncan Designed pickups that the '08 to mid-'13 VMs had. However, it does demonstrate how the right set of strings can make an otherwise mediocre pickup set sound pretty darn good.