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Making TI Flats go dead

JimmyM

JimmyM

Apr 11, 2005
127,255
125,177
Plymouth NC
Disclosures
Endorsing: Yamaha, Ampeg, Line 6, EMG
#1
Had them for 3 months about 3 years ago. Liked the low tension, but for the sound they might as well have been roundwounds. Couldn't get them to go dead to save my life. But I'm at a point where I just don't want to work as hard as it takes to play Labellas or Fenders, and I really want to switch to flats and get that dead Labella tone. Dead rounds just don't quite get it. So I'm considering trying the TI's again because of the low tension and easy feel, but boy are they bright and hard to tone down.

Has anyone had any luck getting them to go dead? If you could get them to go dead, do they sound anything like Labellas or Fenders? There ought to be an ultra-light flatwound Fender set, like .035-.090, for lazy people like me who want the dead flat tone but don't want to work too hard.
 
#2
I've had the same set of TI flats on my P bass since March and to my ears they've mellowed quite nicely, warm and thumpy. Depends of course by how dead you like your strings: if it's the 20-year-old-flats-with-no-sustain-whatsoever tone you like, putting a piece of foam under the strings might do the trick with TI's.
 
#3
Have you tried rubbing Ketchup on them? :p

Seriously, I heard that a notable player used to do this to deaden his strings. Admittedly they were rounds, but I don't see why it wouldn't work on flats too.
 
#5
metalmariachi has hit the nail on the head. I use GHS Precision flats (.45-.95) and the seem to have just a little more tension and more of what I call the classic uummph flat sound. The light gauge is also just right due to my suffering of arthritis. They are much easier for my fingers to move and yet are still full of that "fat " sound.
I actually like the TIs for the qualities you name, and find they are great in that sound type area. Just goes to show that there is no one miracle string when it comes to sound.
 
#7
Ketchup? Probably gets in the seams like dead skin and sweat would do over time to produce the same vibration dampening effect. Ketchup?

Depends on your ear and desire. I think my 6 month old have lost that new sound twang and thud pretty good.
 
#12
Every set of TI Jazz Flats I've used were kinda dead out of the package. Dead in the good way. I've had the same set for a long time now, though. They just keep getting moved to different basses. :)
 
#13
JimmyM said:
Had them for 3 months about 3 years ago. Liked the low tension, but for the sound they might as well have been roundwounds. Couldn't get them to go dead to save my life. But I'm at a point where I just don't want to work as hard as it takes to play Labellas or Fenders, and I really want to switch to flats and get that dead Labella tone. Dead rounds just don't quite get it. So I'm considering trying the TI's again because of the low tension and easy feel, but boy are they bright and hard to tone down.

Has anyone had any luck getting them to go dead? If you could get them to go dead, do they sound anything like Labellas or Fenders? There ought to be an ultra-light flatwound Fender set, like .035-.090, for lazy people like me who want the dead flat tone but don't want to work too hard.
Click to expand...

I don't think you'll ever get the T.I.s to sound like Labellas. I had a set on a P bass for over 8 years and they never went that dead. I can eq them to sound close though, but I like the sound of broken in TIs. It takes about 2 gigs to break them in properly for me. Have you tried a bit of foam muting under the strings at the bridge?

I played a student's Sadowsky with Sadowsky flats on it and they weren't too bad. They were fairly light and low tension. I imagine they'd go dead in a more conventional flatwound way.
 
#16
Make TI Flats go dead? I don't think it's possible. I've had the same set for over three years...taken off and put on different basses and just generally abused.

After all this time, I just put them back on another bass recently and they still sound like they did the day I first took them out of the packaging.
 
#18
CindyB said:
Have you tried rubbing them with sunblock? It certainly makes roundwounds go dead fast. I would think something really goopy like Bullfrog would help. (Remember to reapply if you drop your bass in the pool! :D)
Click to expand...
Thanks sweety, but we just moved and we don't have the pool anymore. We do, however, have a bigger birdbath ;)

Ya, GHS is looking like the winner here. They make a flat set that starts with .040. Worth a shot.
 
#19
I recently put on a set of Pyramid Gold flats. Nice, balanced tone. Rather low tension IMO.

Disclaimer: My previous strings, a set of Steve Harris flats (.050-0.110) were extremely high tension. These Pyramids are definitely much lower in tension but I'm unsure how they compare to other flats. I think their tension is a bit higher than the TI's, but not that much. I think the chromes are higher in tension but it was a long time ago since I tried them (on a fretless I borrowed). On my fretless I have a set of TI's but I can't really tell if there's a difference in tension between them and the Pyramids, due to the fretted/fretless issue I think.
 
#20
Hmmm...Pyramids looked interesting until I saw they are $89 a set at [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. I paid that much for the strings on my upright! (Thomastik Superflexible mediums for those scoring at home).
 

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