Re-thinking Thomastik Jazz Roundwounds?

[coreyfyfe]

I like the short sclaes (JR324). I use them on my medium scale and just installed a set on my string through body short scale after removing a set of short scale hibeams. Haven’t tried full scale set, but I usually use DR fest beams and hi beams for rounds and TI for flats. The nickel rounds aren’t as bright as the stainless, but they play great and sound pretty consistent once they’re worn in.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I love the tone of TI Jazz Rounds.

Unfortunately the gauges in the long scale set are WAY too light for my playing style. I have to adapt my playing AND raise the action considerably to make them work. I don't like them very much to be honest.

Great as they sound, in my opinion these are niche strings that won't work for most bass players. And even though I love the organic tone they deliver, they aren't really at their best in a dense mix. These strings shine when the bass is given lots of space in the mix.

The short scale set however... For some reason the short scale set work much better for me than the long scale set. On paper the overall tension of both sets should be relatively similar (although there are some rather strange differences from string to string...) but the short scale set actually feels much tighter to me. And I use them on an actual short scale bass. They're actually designed for short scale basses with a tail piece, so they would also fit most medium scale basses where they would be even tighter.

With the TI Jazz Flats it's the opposite. I love the long scale set, but absolutely detest the short scale set with the floppy A-D-G strings and the absurdly stiff, heavy gauge E-string. I honestly don't understand what they were thinking when they designed that set. It has to be the most unbalanced set of bass strings ever made! Absolutely horrible.

Sometimes it seems like Thomastik just pull the gauges for their bass string sets out of a hat. Some sets are great, others are totally rubbish. And it's not like they give us many alternatives either, it's ONE set for each type of strings, take it or leave it. In my opinsion they could do with a full overhaul of their range of bass strings. At the prices they are charging I expect more.

 

[Petethebassman]

There really is no end all string. Just be open, try as many as you can but DO NOT overthink it, IME, most of the big manufacturers have string models that will be fit for a stadium show or 15 people in a coffee shop. D'Addario XLs have not disappointed big name pros. Very few of us are Jonas Hellborgs playing esoteric jazz on acoustic bass guitars with tabla, tampura or a string quartet in purposely built rooms for chamber music. But if you need to spend a lot of dough on a set because you get what you pay for is in your core consumer belief, Dogals are there for the taking.

Having said that I suggest the TI Super Alloys. Much cheaper. I use them on my 6 string bass. Jazz Rounds are good for lightening up you wallet. DR's will be as supple amd you can get 4 for the price of 1 TI JR

Finding the right strings for my needs is a personal quest and that quest has led me to TI Jazz Rounds and Dogal Jonas Hellborg roundwounds. Yes, they are really expensive, but so be it, they have a tone and feel I haven't found in any other brands. I get about two years out of a set of TI Jazz Rounds, the Dogals have now been on my main Precision for 18 months and they're still fine, so it remains to be seen how long they will last.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I think sunbeams are much better string than the TI rounds, plus you can choose gauges.

Sunbeams?

I tried to like them 20 years ago, as well as Low Riders. I thought they sounded okay but I had two sets of each that had string breakage from the strings being fairly new on the bass. Check over my bridge to see if that was an issue. Checked my installation and setup technique. It wasn't that as it was different strings breaking. DR replace them but after breaking on gigs it turned me off on them. I went back to my old-school brands. I have been using Dunlops as a newer string brand to me, over the last ten years or so.

The only string breaks I've had since was from other brands that have been on for months or years.

I'm sure they are fine strings just the same. Just not ready to try and find out again.

 

[onda'bass]

I can relate to breakage in years past also, but I just wasn't that impressed with TI strings, as I did try DR again. If they break then they are off my list permanently.

 

[markjazzbassist]

the sizing is what gets me, an e string of .89 and that a string of .68 are too tiny, not to mention the unbalanced string tension. why not use the exact same sizes they use for the flats? if it ain't broke! the 36" scale sizes are perfect, they should make them the same for long scale and short scale.

sadly TI are very defensive about their sizing, i've emailed them many times and they refuse to change anything.

 

[Iristone]

Even their flats aren't "end all be all" like some claim - I often play with a pick, and the TIJF sounds extremely weak with it. Even for fingering, I prefer the richness of La Bella 760 and articulation of Rotosound 77 over them. The good thing is that the TIJF and TIJR sound quite close, so that you could switch between them a bit easier.

 

[GIBrat51]

After using JF344 Flatwounds for years I’m still impressed and devoted to these strings. About a year ago I tried the less popular Jazz Roundwounds as I always keep a bass with rounds available. Any others here find unlike their sisiter flatwounds these strings are not the end all of rounds like some claim. These strings never gained big popularity must be a reason? For me the feel and gauge especial the A string are an issue and something about the tone when you’re in a loud mix. Will post after I get my Sunbeams back on and play in a band situation. Lastly they sound great alone at home with a sweet woody tone but I’m talking about when you have to dig in with a loud band they’re just not doing it for me.

Well...
My experience with TIJR's is limited to the TIJR324 set that's been on my '93 Gretsch Broadkaster hollow-body bass for several years, now. What do I think of them?
- I'll be honest; I don't like round wounds - any round wounds - at all. I don't like their tone; I don't like the squeaky noises they make; and I most definitely don't like how they make my nerve-damaged, frost bitten fingers feel like I'm running them up and down a very coarse wood rasp. Out of 27 basses? Only the Gretsch wears rounds. The others? Flats and tapes...
- Why does it wear these rounds? Mainly because when the Gretsch was made, they were putting the same ceramic-magnet Filtertron humbuckers in all their "professional" guitars and their basses. They are killer pickups for Rockabilly guitar players; for a bass? Well, not so much... For the first 12 years I owned that bass, I lost track of how many different strings - flats, tapes, and rounds - I tried on it. All of them sounded - at best - like a baritone guitar. The rest? Either like a hippo fart in deep mud, or a guitar. So, after 12 years, I tried the TIJRs. Mainly out of desperation, and also because I'd bought them by mistake - and wasn't about to put them on any other bass - ever.
- The result? Well, the TI's are brighter than I'd really like a big, hollow-body bass to sound, but... it does finally sound like a bass. And, for rounds? Well, I can play them longer than I can play any of the other rounds I've suffered. They squeak less, too. And, they've lasted quite a while, as well. They also seem noticeably stiffer than the long scale TIJF's I have on my Alembic Epic; a good thing, since I play the Gretsch like I play every other bass I own but the Alembic - with a pick.
So... bottom line? TIJR's are definitely not my most favorite strings, but they make the best of a bad situation with the bass they're on...