I was thinking about tapewounds on my Fender CB 60 acoustic bass that I play exclusively w/o amp (band rule, no amplifiers) but I have been told that they will make the guitar less l[oud and I already can barely hear myself with the band. So the rounds will stay and my hands will suffer. But for my Glarry PB II and my SS Jaguar, they will be getting flats when it is time for a string change. I have learned to finger pick so hard that my other band's [pedal steel player (obviously we use small amps for that band) whose primary instrument is bass has hold me to pick less hard because I am too loud (I only finger pick because my carpal tunnel, makes my wrists painful with every pick I have tried---I can't thumb pick for the same reason---this is an odd turnabout for me since when I [played the first time I started with thumb and then started using a felt bass pick (this is 1967) and honestly could not finger pick) What a difference a half century makes.
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Once you go flat, you never go back
- Thread starter GodPlayedBass
- Start date
Every time i try flats, I regret it.
I go back every time.
Le'me guess, you try 'em for a few weeks and get frustrated? In all fairness, to each his own and flats may not be your thing, that's fine... but IME they do take a friggin' long time to break in (quite a few months) but when they do, the bottom tightens, the highs 'sweeten' and the attach is fantastic. I find it worth the wait but understand the frustration.
I love the sound of flats for my own enjoyment, but it seems easier to get the mids of rounds to jump out of a mix.
I’ve played dead/broke-in flats and I used chromes for a couple of years. I just miss the ability to pull the singing highs out when I need them. It’s not just the lack of brightness, it’s the shape of the envelope. That’s what draws me to flats on recordings, and what frustrates me when I play the myself. Flats go “Bonk”, or “Boop” when broken in. If you add highs, they go “Beenk”. I like to have sustain and harmonics to work with. I can get rid of those through technique when I don’t want them, but I can’t add them if they aren’t there.
Flats can get a beautiful and powerful attack that rounds don’t have, but for me that doesn’t make up for the things that they lack. I have more technique-based tone-shaping ability with rounds, so I try to shape my attack by how I pluck or pick. I often also use a compressor set to a slow attack to emphasize the attack in my sound. I’ve always loved the sound of broken in flats played with a pick, with some of the lows cut. But after a few songs I’m always looking for the tone and sustain boost knobs, only to realize I’m trapped in an eternal cage of my own making.
Flats can get a beautiful and powerful attack that rounds don’t have, but for me that doesn’t make up for the things that they lack. I have more technique-based tone-shaping ability with rounds, so I try to shape my attack by how I pluck or pick. I often also use a compressor set to a slow attack to emphasize the attack in my sound. I’ve always loved the sound of broken in flats played with a pick, with some of the lows cut. But after a few songs I’m always looking for the tone and sustain boost knobs, only to realize I’m trapped in an eternal cage of my own making.
No, that guess is incorrect. Strings stay on for years sometimes. Its just not what I like.
GHS Precision flats, big, warm chocolate sound...and their flexibility is beautiful to me, not floppy nor firm.
I started out using flats, then went to rounds. Now, for the past several years, I've gone back to flats. With the music I've been playing, and with the better selection of flats out there, I doubt using rounds again. If I did though, it would be either DR's or GHS Pressurewounds. Currently, I use EB Cobalt, Dunlop, and GHS flats on my basses. One also wears a set of medium scale set of Chromes.
I am wondering if the decision about rounds vs flats is ever discussed in the light of finger tip skin health and finger tip comfort. I have consistently found that stock Gibson, Fender and Warmouth rounds feel like little knives on my fingers. I was fortunate back in high school when I had a 12 year callous build up from playing violin in orchestra for an hour a day 5 days a week and then practicing for an hour every few days at home to daily practice when preparing for violin competitions that the flat wound Fender strings that came on my '67 Mustang and my '67 Jazz Bass and even on the Kay guitar I started with I could play comfortably for hours , In 1968 when I bought a Gibson EB-O the flats performed poorly so I switched tl rounds for great tone but my finger tips very quickly became raw and irritated, meaning the Gibson rounds had peeled away my caluses. I switched to Guild Tape Wounds and all was well. Fast forward 53 years and I am playin again and every bass I have purchased has had rounds: Squier Precision PJ, Fender Acoustic Electric CS-60, Squier SS Jaguar, Squier Mini Precision, and Glarry II bass. The Fender acoustic strings feel like little knives and during 4 hr sessions create great discomfort. The rest of them are not as bad but still I end up with finger tip pain. Obviously I will be making string changes to either flats or tape wound strings except for my Mini Precision for whom ther3e is a real shortage of alternatives to Fender rounds. Have others experienced this quandry?
Will my Chromes ever lose their slight huskiness? It seems very unrelated to the lovely deep core of the sound, just blurs the tone.
I would like to try flats again. The Chromes I once tried felt like somebody coated them with glue, and the tension was just too high, which was probably my fault. I bought the 100 or 105 set, don't remember.
I am so familiar with differing tensions on rounds, but there are so many flats available now so I don't know which set from which manufacturer has the feel I want, which is like a hex core nickel round in a 45-100 set.
I am so familiar with differing tensions on rounds, but there are so many flats available now so I don't know which set from which manufacturer has the feel I want, which is like a hex core nickel round in a 45-100 set.
Flats can have a sticky feel until they’re broken in. Once they are, they’re smooth as butter. Thomastik Infeld Jazz flats are probably the lowest tension flats you can buy. I find Dunlop and Ernie Ball cobalt flats also similar in feel. Not quite as supple as the TIs but in the same ballpark.
I own 20 basses and half of them wear flats of differing brands. I honestly prefer the feel and sound of flats, but there are a few basses of mine that just sound better with rounds. Tried flats on my T40 and hated them. Absolutely love them on my T20. I think it really depends on the bass.
I like hex core rounds, so not looking for low tension. I don't want cables either, though.
Not at all IME. I played violin for 20+ years, practiced for several hours a day, never had any kind of callouses from that. Now I’ve been playing bass for about 30 years no I do have callouses but not very thick and my fingertips don’t look any different. I play rounds and the roughness has never caused a problem. The tension did at first, but never the roughness, on either hand.
I’m guessing you are playing way too hard.
The last four sets I have bought have been EBCFs. I have 7 basses. The P bass always had flats. The fretless always had flats (roundwound strings must reek havoc on a fretless neck). All my other basses had roundwounds. Then I tried the EBCFs on my #1 and I was blown away. I use a pick when the song calls for it, I slap when the song calls for it, and I wear my fingers out most of the time. These strings can do it all. They sound so close to the zing of the roundwounds but:
1) they don't have string noise
2) they don't eat my fingers
3) they don't eat my frets
4) they keep their tone for as long as I have had them
5) they stay in tune
I was a child of the late 70's early 80's. All my heros used roundwounds. My '76 Stingray will always have roundwounds on it, and the '70 Modified Fender Jazz requires them as well. I keep them on my Schector Stilleto Studio-4 just so I have a roundwound bass on the wall (if the song calls for it).
But Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats are the bomb! I love 'em. They are certainly worth trying. My opinion of flat strings was completely changed once I did.
I have a list of the basses I have that are going to get flatwounds. I play 4 hours every Saturday morning with the Oak Park Farmer's Market Band and the Bronze Round wounds just tear up my fingers so much that I can't play until the next Saturday because my fingertips are so cut up
Since we're reopening this can of worms, figured I'd follow up on my experiment in rounds. The final answer was flats across the board on all 3 basses. Rounds are cool, but flats are where it's at for my taste. Dunlop flats to be precise.
I'm still loving the Roto flats. I've never tried them before but they're a perfect pair with a P bass!
