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Praise Report: GHS Precision Flats

#2,021
Jon Moody said:
Exactly. If you wanna say “Tone is mainly/largely in the fingers,” I could agree to that.
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Phrased like that I 100% agree!

Musicians of all types tend to focus way to much on how gear influences the sound of an artist, and often think that if I can just get the same gear I will be really close to getting the sound of that artist. But, there is one instrument that shatters this myth: the voice. If I get the same microphone of Steve Perry will I "sound" like Steve Perry?

Of course if I am trying to get a Jamerson Motown sound I am probably going to grab a P bass strung with flatwounds, but do I really need to get a '62 sunburst P bass with really old LaBella flats to get that tone? This is probably why a knowledgeable musician coined the phrase "Tone is in the fingers" to help musicians not go down futile rabbit holes and instead convince them to focus more on talent and less on gear.

I wish I got a dollar every time a musician bought Van Halen's gear only to find out that they sound nothing like EVH. Then the guy was constantly changing gear, so I would probably become the world's first trillionaire.
 
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#2,022
Root 5 said:
In my opinion there about equal in terms of brightness; both are a go to string for old school thump; both mellow out nicely & quickly.




GHS make short scale Precision Flatwounds.

To determine if they're long enough for your bass, measure the strings you have on now: Mark the E string with tape on the headstock side of the nut.

Take the string off and measure the distance from the inside edge of the ball to the tape.

If your measurement is more than 32", GHS flats may be too short for your bass; they're too short for 30" scale Mustangs for example.

Good luck!
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GHS 45-95 Precision Flats fit my Ibanez Mikro short scale bass perfectly...
Greywoulf
 
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#2,023
Well i got to say that im really liking the 45-95 set alot...i put them on and used some fast fret to get rid of the initial stickiness and played two gigs with them this past weekend...fantastic thumpy fundamental, even response from all strings up and down the neck and super low tension for my old hands...going to order another set for my other pbass...win win!!
20200617_062350.jpg
 
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#2,024
Something I have not been able to find much on are sound samples of GHS Prec Flats with piezo pickups. Here are two sound samples of just that, both using the 45-95 light set; one 32 3/4 inch winding, one 38 inch winding. The upside of buffered piezos is a very wide, flat frequency response that lets you hear everything the fingers and strings are doing. The downside of buffered piezos is a very wide, flat frequency response that lets you hear everything the fingers and strings are doing. Either way, here are two short samples of GHS Prec Flats with piezo pickups!



 
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#2,027
bassist4dalord said:
Very nice! I just put that exact set on my Ibanez AEB5E acoustic bass. So far I’m enjoying them very much!
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It takes away a lot of the brightness the mezzo naturally has. I don’t mind it but it can be too harsh at times when I want a mellow-ish tone when it had nickel wounds. So I figured why not try flatwounds on them since I got tired of EB flatwounds.
 
#2,030
I ended up buying a set for my Maple Fender P bass. I was close to opening up my La Bella’s but I like the tones from the GHS strings better. They sound even and broken in compared to other flatwounds where I don’t have to put a lot of mileage in just to get that dull/thumpy sound. It’s very convenient.
 
#2,031
My PFs have been on my P basses for over 6 months and not much has changed. Sure, they mellowed a bit, but these still have some highs when needed, and the mids are just as rich as they were new. What I really love about these strings is the really strong fundamental they produce. And the B string is amazing in its clarity yet causes tremors that can be felt for miles. As I said when I first put them on: These strings are never coming off the bass.
 
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#2,033
Papuzzo said:
My PFs have been on my P basses for over 6 months and not much has changed. Sure, they mellowed a bit, but these still have some highs when needed, and the mids are just as rich as they were new. What I really love about these strings is the really strong fundamental they produce. And the B string is amazing in its clarity yet causes tremors that can be felt for miles. As I said when I first put them on: These strings are never coming off the bass.
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How is the sustain and the pitch definition for you as you play up the B-string (up to and past the 12th fret)? Does it match the other strings well?
 
#2,035
Papuzzo said:
I don't think I have ever played past the 12th fret of the B string....
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Well, how do you like it up to the 12th fret (or as far as you've played it), then?

To be fair, I don't play past the 12th fret on the B often or, I think, by much -- it depends on what I'm playing and if the bass in question sounds and feels good up there -- even if it sounds great, I don't do it much, but I like to be able to.

I definitely play up to around the 10th or 12th fret on the B semi-frequently, though. If the B-string sounds wonky in the 5th through 12th fret area, for me, it takes away a little of the joy and utility of having a B string.
 
#2,036
MarkA said:
Well, how do you like it up to the 12th fret (or as far as you've played it), then?

To be fair, I don't play past the 12th fret on the B often or, I think, by much -- it depends on what I'm playing and if the bass in question sounds and feels good up there -- even if it sounds great, I don't do it much, but I like to be able to.

I definitely play up to around the 10th or 12th fret on the B semi-frequently, though. If the B-string sounds wonky in the 5th through 12th fret area, for me, it takes away a little of the joy and utility of having a B string.
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Of course, so much of that can be related to the mag strength of the pickups and their distance from the B-string ...highly sensitive and very bass-specific.
But yes, it also varies by string type. I find flats less prone to “warble” and “go harmonic” up there - not sure why. Also not sure if PF’s are different from others.
 
#2,037
P-Bass 3.JPG Warmoth Mini P 1.JPG Eastwood Flying V 1.JPG I have the 45-105 M3050 Precision Flats on my '78 P-Bass (and yes, there's a mute in the ashtray). Not quite broken in, but... yeah, this is the "P-Bass with factory flats" sound I remember - or think I do. (Hey; I'm old; whadda ya want?!?) :rolleyes: My Warmoth Mini-P and my Eastwood Flying V both wear the 45-95 3020 short scales. Little Thump Monsters, the both of them... But, clean, articulate little Thump Monsters. I was... apprehensive... about the loss of highs and harmonics that you sometimes get with short scale flats - especially with the mini humbuckers on the Eastwood - but... nope. They can rattle your fillings out, fer sure; but they don't leave a muddy taste in your mouth doing it. I am liking these GHS Precision Flats - a LOT...:whistle:
 
#2,038
TomB said:
Of course, so much of that can be related to the mag strength of the pickups and their distance from the B-string ...highly sensitive and very bass-specific. But yes, it also varies by string type. I find flats less prone to “warble” up there - not sure why.
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I would add the construction and the materials/mechanical properties/resonances of the bass itself -- setup, too -- but yeah, depends on the bass as much as on the strings.

Your comment about flats being less prone to (magnet-induced) "warble" is interesting -- maybe because they tend to be less flexible than rounds, they are less susceptible to their vibration being adversely influenced by magnetic pull?

On the other hand, flats, in general, seem to me to be more prone to inharmonicity (overtones not lining up with the fundamental, giving you a weird, metallic sound and poor pitch definition) than rounds, particularly on thicker strings and as you play up the neck (shorten the sounding length of the string relative to its diameter), which I attribute at least in part to this increased stiffness (for most flats vs. most rounds).
 
#2,039
MarkA said:
I would add the construction and the materials/mechanical properties/resonances of the bass itself -- setup, too -- but yeah, depends on the bass as much as on the strings.

Your comment about flats being less prone to (magnet-induced) "warble" is interesting -- maybe because they tend to be less flexible than rounds, they are less susceptible to their vibration being adversely influenced by magnetic pull?
Y
On the other hand, flats, in general, seem to me to be more prone to inharmonicity (overtones not lining up with the fundamental, giving you a weird, metallic sound and poor pitch definition) than rounds, particularly on thicker strings and as you play up the neck (shorten the sounding length of the string relative to its diameter), which I attribute at least in part to this increased stiffness (for most flats vs. most rounds).
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Interesting - I’ll need to check that out. My observations above are from set-up memory mostly; I don’t play that much above A on the B string in live settings, so it’s only a minor nuisance.
 

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