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Modern bass with dead flats

#43
First gig with this bass was earlier tonight. Used it, the REDDI, and my B-15 stack. I think I need to let the strings go more dead before I use it again on a gig. Was not feeling it. Seemed a little thin on the high notes. One thing I like about Fenders and most other bolt-on basses is the big thick high notes. I do 50's, 60's and 70's music, which uses a lot of higher notes, and you can't let the bottom fall out. The Guitar Factory bass is more even response up the neck, and I always think the high notes can use a little help on the bottom end when I use it. Plus open notes are a lot more usable on a Fender.

This may be something that dead strings could fix, so I'm not giving up on it just yet. It wasn't that it didn't sound good...it just didn't sound right.
 
#44
OK, so since you all were so eagerly following my story :p I'll give you the epilogue.

Ain't happenin'.

I've come to the conclusion that this bass doesn't like flats. Period. Sounds great with rounds, but when I use flats, even dead ones, same thing...the bottom end on the high notes and the open notes falls out. For some reason, that doesn't happen with rounds...or maybe it does and the lower notes with rounds lose some bottom by comparison with flats and evens out the response better. Maybe that's it. But it just doesn't like flats, so I'm not even going to fight it...I'll just make it a bass with rounds.

And I may start using it again anyway. Used rounds on that bass for years in this band and nobody ever complained. But that means I just wasted a set of Chromes since I have Sperzels on it and they require me to cut a lot of excess off of it. Or maybe I'll peel back the outer winding and use them on my Dano until D'addario gets busy and makes me my light gauge Chromes sets in small scale ;)

Anyway, that's it. Feel free not to comment ;)
 
#45
JimmyM said:
...Yeah, I'm going to try it. Wanna make something of it, punk?

:D

Went through my herd of basses this week and spent a little quality time with all of them. I love them all except for my Jay Turser violin bass, and even it's not all that bad, just not up to the rest of them sonically. Mostly I've been playing Fenders for the last 10 years and to me they'll always be the ultimate in versatility and tone. But the bass that makes it easiest for me to play is this 4-string on the right here:

1996 Guitar Factory bass, mahogany/maple/pau ferro, EMG PJ's, neck-through-body, and I don't know if you can make it out in these pics but it has a Kahler whammy bar on it ;) All my basses play well but this one especially plays well...darn near perfect if you ask me. BTW, the one next to it is a GF bass also, but I stripped the original finish off and redid it with tung oil. I was playing it today and wishing it sounded more suited for the 50's-60's-70's music I'm mostly doing, and then it occurred to me...just put dead flats on it!

Why didn't I think of that before? I guess it never occurred to me till just then. I mean, it's ridiculous to put flats on a more modern style bass, isn't it? But they've been working quite well for me on my P Lyte with EMG PJ's, so why not this one? I'm going to order a set of Chromes for it, rub them down good every day for a month with greasy crap, and it should rule pretty hard by my estimations.

I realize this makes me an outcast...I can no longer be in the Purists Club because Jamerson and Jaco never did it, and the Driftwood Club won't have me because I'm committing the ultimate sacrilege and putting flats on it, not to mention the whammy bar and the lack of more than 4 strings being bad bad things.

It's really strange how little I care, though. I just wanted to see if there were others on here who do it, or if it was my brilliant idea alone. At any rate, I'm going to have a lot of fun bringing this one back onstage. Been quite a while...only used it twice since 2005. Killer bass.
Click to expand...

Had to comment. Your cat looks like he's holding down the cushion and if he lets go, he'll float away!!
 
#46
Hey Jimmy, I'm no expert, and I know you like your wussy-gauge strings, but I found that fatter strings give a fuller sound on those high notes. I love the sound of the high notes with the GHS flats I'm currently using -- .105, .090, .070, .055. I did try Chromes before these, would not go back.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have started playing in D standard tuning, but these strings are still higher tension than anything else I have ever had on this bass in over 30 years.

The higher tension does allow you to lower the action. You'll get used to them in no time at all...

-Alex
 
#51
Yeah, these last two posts sound about like my experience with the P Lyte. Fenders (I know you said Sadowsky, babaseen, but they are very Fender-like) just seem to like flats and rounds equally, regardless of the topology of the pickups or model of the bass.
 
#53
punisher911 said:
I'm using Roto 77s on my Stingray. Still pretty new, but I like them so far. Hoping they deaden up soon though. 3 practices a week.
Click to expand...

How do you like the tension on those things? I gave them a try, kinda liked the sound, but the really high tension was killing me.

What can I say, I'm a wimp. :)

I've got a set of Fender 9050L (the light gauge) on my G&L right now, and am really liking it.
 

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