If you're gonna go for chromes, I would just get Fenders. Made in the same factory, except feel and sound better and much more flexible.
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"House" bass
- Thread starter alex1fly
- Start date
@alex1fly i like the idea of a quick change bridge, but other than that… you’re donating so pick the specs you like best. Sure rounds may be more versatile, but if you prefer flats and that’s what you play when visiting then do flats.
I don’t think most of the “multi-instrumentalists” that will be picking up the house bass will care about strings as much as TB does.
TLDR: pick what you want. The random players will have to be happy.
I don’t think most of the “multi-instrumentalists” that will be picking up the house bass will care about strings as much as TB does.
TLDR: pick what you want. The random players will have to be happy.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Nothing wrong with keeping it stock. That bridge was the standard for decades. Frankly, not many players use a thumb rest. Type of strings would depend on the music played.
I like them a lot too. I was just trying to get into the shoes of rounds-only players, and they would indeed find Fender flats familiarly flexible; on the other hand, Chromes would keep their roundwound-like, metallic clang longer, and selecting their lightest-gauge set could offset their being on the stiff side...whilst, on yet another hand, offering less "meat", as in gauge, to the plucking hand, which some may not like. Eh. Can't please anyone, can one?
Anyway. The OP has clarified it's gonna be La Bellas, and, as pointed out, most bassists will BtheirOB, and as far as guitarists...it'll be the house way or the highway.
90% of the people who pick it up will have never played flats or even heard of them. They're going to pick it up and hate it. Flats take a bit of getting used to, and "feel funny". I have ground wound's on a lot of my basses and get the same reaction, but if handed a random bass I'd expect rounds. I've got flats on one bass and while I like it, it's still "a bit odd". They'll sit down after playing and tell their friends how the bass is "bad".
The 10% who would like to play on a bass with flats will bring their own bass anyway.
(and someone will break a string, so in 6 months it'll have 3 flats and 1 round string on it!)
The 10% who would like to play on a bass with flats will bring their own bass anyway.
(and someone will break a string, so in 6 months it'll have 3 flats and 1 round string on it!)
I did/do lots of being house bassist for jams. I wouldn't put flats on it, just a good set of nickle rounds and call it a day. Maybe some better strap buttons with more bite, but I wouldn't install any other parts nor swap what isnt broken.
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I wouldn't bother changing anything. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
It's a house bass. Definitely LaBella flats. Whiners who hate flats can bring their own basses next time.
BobDeRosa
Commercial User
- May 16, 2012
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Some decent nickel roundwounds would be my choice. Labella Flats?
It's a P bass. Flats belong.
FullumMusic
Commercial User
- Oct 13, 2022
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An adjustable strap, and then permanently attach it to the bass. Not T-nut strap buttons. Not lock straps. Some sort of washer or strap-button that literally prevents the strap from being removed without unscrewing it. It may mean having to spin the strap around to untwist it more often, but it means not having the bass fall to the floor while someone is playing it, completely unaware that they didn't attach the strap correctly or it's flipped and slowly unmounting itself.
I'm always amazed at how many guitarists and bassists, even ones who have been playing for decades, don't bother to check that the strap is on the buttons properly before they play, only to have the instrument pop off the strap and fall to the floor. At the jam i go to, in the past year i've yelled from the bar to the players no less than 10 times "Check your bottom strap! It's flipped and gonna pull out!" Half the time they're playing someone else's instrument. (Also i have to yell from the bar that the two guitars are out of tune with each other, but that's another story.)
And with lock-straps, you think you'd be safer, but people who don't know how to lock them, or people who never used them in will somehow figure out how to unlock the strap, and then put it back on the bass without locking it, again, only to have it fall to the ground. Saw one friend do that to another friend's brand-new week-old Fender Jazz Ultra with lock straps. Took a big chunk of paint out of it. (Free relic job????)
I know the house-bass you bought isn't the most expensive in the world and it's gonna get banged around a little bit by nature of being the Jam Bass. But making it a little bit harder for someone else to destroy it wouldn't hurt.
No thumbrest.
+1 on bulletproofing the electronics.
You don’t need “strap-locks” just a couple of big rubber washers.
Also, Im going to go a little against the grain on this flats vs rounds issue.
A “house bass” at a jam is more likely to be used by a “guitar player”
than a bass player, who would likely be smart enough to bring their own bass.
Every guitar player that has ever picked up a bass, in my experience, has always preferred FLATS, with their soft fragile little fingertips.
+1 on bulletproofing the electronics.
You don’t need “strap-locks” just a couple of big rubber washers.
Also, Im going to go a little against the grain on this flats vs rounds issue.
A “house bass” at a jam is more likely to be used by a “guitar player”
than a bass player, who would likely be smart enough to bring their own bass. Every guitar player that has ever picked up a bass, in my experience, has always preferred FLATS, with their soft fragile little fingertips.
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You assume only local bass players show up to jams.
I've had plenty of guitar players decide they want to come up and jam on bass. And I've had overseas visitors that are bass players either on vacation or visiting family come up and jam.
My drummer and I also do all ages jams, so kids, and nothing weirds people out more than flats...a previous poster is correct in saying 90% of folks don't know what they are.
yea, i tried the lightest chromes for a few months and tried desperately to like them. (the blue silk just looked so good on my surf green 60s P) They stayed too stiff for me and never lost this gross metallic overtone that i just hated in ever way possible. that overtone is especially bad when using a mute. i don't get the comparison to rounds, at all, personally. bright bridge cables yes, zingy flexible flats...definitely not.
Fender on the other hand are very similar but have mostly all good qualities and none of the bad qualities of chromes. They still have that slight metallic overtone but it's dialed way back, and goes away much faster, and they bark really nicely when spanked. On a maple P, with high mids cranked, you get an amazing old school rock tone. The only issue i have is they sound a little hollow, just like chromes, but again it's dialed back a lot. Both strings lack that rich LaBella mid tone, which to me is just so lush and perfect.
if i had to pick an all-around flat, not for me but for "the house" - I would possibly choose GHS Pressurewounds or Ernie Ball cobalt flats. Both can do bright or thumpy, although at a compromise both ways compared to the best of each of the former descriptions. Cobalt flats break in REALLY nicely and get even more flexible, but they have to get greasy. I speed up the process with hand cream on the strings.
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LOL.
In all seriousness - rubbing a pea-sized amount of hand cream (classic Eucerin works best, it's SUPER thick, or Sean Hurley uses Vaseline) in your palms and then deeply into your strings, then wipe it off. Ages the string sound at least a 6 months to a year immediately. Start small and repeat until you get where you want to be. It also makes the strings VERY slick without residue or anything. I love it. It works on rounds or flats, but on rounds it REALLY works intensely so I recommend starting VERY small steps or you will kill the strings dead.
It also makes rosewood fretboards get SUPER dark and lush looking, like a vintage Fender. I purposely rub it into the rosewood as well. When done, het a clean cloth and wipe the neck super good. It doesn't leave any residue except in the grooves of the strings.
Hadn't encountered a First Worldian complaint for a while. That said, the occasional player who is "weirded out" by flats can therefore enjoy a learning moment.
If I were the one supplying a bass - free for use by all comers, at that - I wouldn't hesitate for a second to string it with flats. If nothing else, I'd escape having to hear the inevitable whine of "When did you last change these strings?"
