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No flat wound strings allowed with fretted basses?
- Thread starter CaribooBass
- Start date
My first bass, obtained in '67 was a used Magnatone I picked up for a hard to come by $100. It had flats, of course. In '74 I lucked into a '63 Fender Jazz for a mere $225, which being in my early 20's, was still hard to come by(It's in my profile pic, circa '75). It had the original flats on it which I absolutely loved. To my dismay, one of them finally broke in '80 and the only thing I could find was rounds. I hated them. Since then, I've run flats, rounds and nylon tape wrap, of many different brands and gauges. I've been gigging for 56 years now, so I've had plenty time to experiment. Put flats on your bass. I'm sure SRV heard you have to have a low action and light gauge strings, or your guitar won't work!
Depends on the bass. Nickel round wounds and Roto swing 66 for my Jazz, Ric and my deluxe Precision. And that’s only because I’m a fan of prog from the 70’s which I grew up with. Not a grove style of playing like Jamerson which is usually dead strings or wounds.
But that’s only 3 out of 105.
Really depends on the bass and what music you’re in to.
Bolderdash! Even Warwick sells flat wound strings for use on all their basses.
You can use Flats, or Nylons. I use D'Addario ETB92 Nylons with no problems on any fretted, or fretless bass.
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There was a Warwick 5-string at a local shop a few years ago with flats on. It sounded killer with a super growly B-string. (Seems like growl and heavy weight and awesome 34" low Bs are kind of their thing.)
@CaribooBass the only effect frets have on the string, is it causes it to have a witness point for vibration, much like the saddles at the bridge, or the nut. What the string is made of, or how it's made, matters more to our fingers than the fret. Since it matters to our fingers more, you will hear a thousand different opinions here.
String choice matters on a few things. Fingers, ears, and style. How hard we play with our fingers does change how we hear it, and this affects our style, etc. Fingers matter more. I have callouses on my hands from work, so I tend to get too much string noise with rounds, so I play mostly with flats/tapes. Again, this starts with fingers.
But the frets dont really care except if you use stainless rounds on nickel frets. then you will cause minor damage over a great many of years, and will need a refret. Flats are actually a bit nicer to the frets. Either way, most people expect a refret every now and then, depending on how much you play. like once every 10 years for people who play a lot. I've not had to do it ever, but I don't practice near enough (hence the mediocre bass club number).
String choice matters on a few things. Fingers, ears, and style. How hard we play with our fingers does change how we hear it, and this affects our style, etc. Fingers matter more. I have callouses on my hands from work, so I tend to get too much string noise with rounds, so I play mostly with flats/tapes. Again, this starts with fingers.
But the frets dont really care except if you use stainless rounds on nickel frets. then you will cause minor damage over a great many of years, and will need a refret. Flats are actually a bit nicer to the frets. Either way, most people expect a refret every now and then, depending on how much you play. like once every 10 years for people who play a lot. I've not had to do it ever, but I don't practice near enough (hence the mediocre bass club number).
i must be doing something wrong cuz all the basses i have with flats are fretted.
Do it. Stefan lessard of the Dave Matthews band played a Warwick dolphin with ti flats on the song crush. So, five that a listen to see what it could sound like.
I did a Warwick with dead worn rounds for a long time, and loved that tone for Jazz and Metal. If I ever got another Warwick (and I do think about it sometimes), fretted or fretless, I would probably do a brighter flat like Chromes or GHS to get a similar dark, growly tone in a more refined way. It just depends on what you're looking for.
There's a story that Squire visited the Rickenbacker factory in the '70s, and was shown the repair department. Supposedly they were upset with him because of all the extra work they had repairing basses still under warranty that players had used roundwounds on.
Where do people come up with all these restrictions, especially on their own basses?
Just give it a try. You might like it, you might not. There’s enough evidence that people play flats on fretted basses, myself included. I also prefer rounds on fretless, but some fretlesses I’ve preferred flats. There’s no right answer here, it’s what sounds and feels good to you.
Just give it a try. You might like it, you might not. There’s enough evidence that people play flats on fretted basses, myself included. I also prefer rounds on fretless, but some fretlesses I’ve preferred flats. There’s no right answer here, it’s what sounds and feels good to you.
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Beats me. I like the use of the word "allowed." It's like someone's mom is going to swoop in if you put flats on your fretted bass and send you to your room. "No soup for you, fret boy!"
But seriously, whoever gave OP that idea is just silly. I have flats on my #2 bass and it is fretted. One of the things I love about having flats on it is that it gives me more glide up and down the fingerboard and I don't feel the frets so much, but they continue to assist with intonation. So you can get a bit more fretless feel and a smoother sound without actually being fretless.
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