Yeah Prosteels are still being made but not in the length and gauge and I need
Thus I have high expectations for Pyramid
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Pyramid Strings: Official Thread
- Thread starter johnpaulbass
- Start date
Yeah Prosteels are still being made but not in the length and gauge and I need
Thus I have high expectations for Pyramid
I won't say absolutely that they aren't, but... I've never in a brick and mortar store in the US that sold Pyramids. Flats in general are... well, not as prominent on store shelves as rounds are. I gave up looking years ago, and just buy my strings from the online dealers you mentioned. I particularly like Strings By Mail. I'm a sucker for "exotic" brands of strings - and those guys have a bunch of them...nope rounds
...Yes.
Meaning that what they call "short-scale" Gold Flats are about 33.5" long ball to silk (vs. the more typical ~32" winding of the competition), which could fit some mid scalers (if barely), but they also accept orders for a slightly longer version (Casady/Lesh fans habitually do so for their Starfire basses, which are 30.75" scale but have a ginormous bridge plate).
D
I've seen lots of talk about ordering slightly longer Pyramid Golds for Starfire basses. In my experience this isn't necessary. The standard Pyramid Gold short scale set works fine with my Starfire. It's VERY close, with a TINY bit of silk extending into the nut slots on two of the strings. This doesn't affect the tone whatsoever and if it bothers anyone it's just a matter of peeling away a tiny bit of silk. Still, Pyramid is known to be very helpful with custom orders so if you want to be absolutely 100% certain I guess a slightly longer set could be an alternative.
I'm a HUGE fan of the short scale Pyramid Golds. They're my favourite bass strings ever! The tension is perfectly balanced across the strings and they have a amazing tone! They're obviously not suitable for all genres of music as they're very 60s/old school but for the right genre/song they're superb! And they last forever. In fact, they just get better with age.
I'm not a fan of the Pyramid Gold long scale sets though. They're not nearly as nicely balanced as the short scale set. The long scale E-string just gets TOO "dead"/thumpy and can even be difficult to intonate properly. The 12th fret tone is basically just a "thud" that both my ears and my tuners find it difficult to translate into a solid fundamental.
I also love the Pyramid Pure Nickels, both long and short scale. They're one of my favourite roundwounds. Possibly the fattest/warming sounding roundwounds I've ever played, once they're broken in. The tone/feel is all roundwound but they're a bit like flats in the way they just keep getting better and better over the years. I've had one issue with the PNs though. A couple of years ago I got a bad string in two consecutive sets. The strings vibrated weirdly, causing fret buzz where other strings didn't, including other, identical Pyramid PNs. I rarely buy new sets of these strings (because they last so long) so I have no idea if this was a case of poor QC or just extremely bad luck. Pyramid used to be the cheapest roundwounds I could find so I didn't see this as a huge issue at the time. Pyramid strings have gotten a lot more expensive lately though. I wouldn't be happy if I got a faulty strings with the prices they are charging these days! They used to be considered a "budget" brand for roundwounds. Now they're more expensive than some of the bigger brands. Still, as long as they sound great they're definitely worth it.
The nickel plated roundwounds are also great but slightly on the bright side for my taste. I've never tested the stainless steels.
The Pyramid tapewounds are also nice. I'm generally not a huge fan of tapewounds but from the brands I've tested I preferred the Pyramids as they seemed to have a "bouncier" feel than most, which is something I like.
Their electric guitar strings can be a bit hit-or-miss IMO. I like some of the pure nickels sets, especially the ones in the green packaging. The ones in the blue packaging never feel quite as nice to me. I have no idea why, they seem to be identical except for the silk, maybe different core/wrapping ratio??? The round core pure nickel "Classics" in the orange packaging sound/feel great but they won't intonate properly with all guitars in my experience, especially with tune-o-matics or other guitars with a similarly restricted intonation range. The nickel plated sets are ok but nothing exceptional. The monel "Classics" are utterly useless due to the unbalanced output volume across the strings. They have much lower output from the wound strings due to the monel wrapping.
Their acoustic guitar strings are ok but nothing exceptional. They're also a bit lacking in output volume in my experience (although this might be caused by the fact that their acoustic sets generally have lighter gauge bass strings than most other manufacturers). The roundcore "Western Folk" sets feel amazing under the fingers but they're also VERY mellow sounding and most suitable for bright sounding guitars that needs to be toned down a bit IMO.
Last edited:
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,165
- 256,859
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
Just recently installed a custom set of Pyramid Gold flats on this 2018 Chowny CHB-1
and am hugely pleased. These are the flats for this bass, which is also sporting a new Nordstrand Tone Drop. It is that Chas Chandler thing I had in mind with this bass, as well as the Lesh/Casidy thing.
and am hugely pleased. These are the flats for this bass, which is also sporting a new Nordstrand Tone Drop. It is that Chas Chandler thing I had in mind with this bass, as well as the Lesh/Casidy thing.
Hello fellow low toners - got a vintage 62 jazz bass to check out it. The bass has Pyramid bass flatwound strings - they sound great and feel super - they have purple silk wrapping ? Which Pyramid strings are those ?
Inquiring mind ?
taras
Inquiring mind ?
taras
Purple silks are normal for long-scale Pyramid Gold flats. Unless custom-ordered, they come in "Classic" (set 640/1; gauges 40-55-75-105), "Regular" (640/C; 40-60-80-100), "Heavy" (640/A; 45-65-85-105) and "X-heavy" (640/B; 50-70-90-110) -
per their catalogue, p.16.
I loved the long scale on my fender jazz when I had one. Currently it’s a hofner club bass with short scale pyramids and I love them as much or more.
Pyramid are my favorite string manufacturer bar none.
Pyramid are my favorite string manufacturer bar none.
For those that have used the pyramid tapewounds, how smoothly were they polished? i have a long scale and short scale set and the short scale have a significantly smoother feel while the long scale look fury and almost dusty, especially the E string. I assume the short scale are what they should feel like?
All their strings are handmade and so there can be differences in the finish product. That being said email max at pyramid if you have an issue, customer service is excellent there.
I have Pyramid Gold flats on my two jazz basses: a Fender '62 AVRI and a Lull V4. They sound wonderful on both.
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,165
- 256,859
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
Love Pyramid Golds.. need to try their pure nickel version at some point.
has anyone used the Stainless Steel Roundwounds or the "Black Wires" Coated SS Rounds? I'm on the lookout for Short Scale strings (not a lot out there) in the SS variety and these look interesting.
