Round wounds vs flat wounds

[Jazzfretless]

It all comes down to personal preference. I have never liked flat/tape/ribbon wound for 2 reasons for me.
#1) The tone isn't there. It's extremely limited and I can easily duplicate the tone of flats from any other strings.
#2) Higher tensioned strings means harder on the fingers to play over long periods of time. regular 4 hour (4-50 minute) sets are hard enough, I don't need the extra strain on my fingers and wrists. even on fretless.

That's it for me. I have nothing negative to say about people who like them, I just don't.
Tony Franklin, "The Fretless Monster", only tried flats recently and hated them. That's the way I feel as well. I've also been playing since the 70s, just don't like the strings, they way they feel and sound to me.

 

[Jazzfretless]

I believe in a round earth and round wounds. I have tried flats, but when I have, I'd darn near sprain my fingers trying to dig the sound I want out of them. They sound good when some other people play them, but me? Not happening.

The higher required tension of flats is one of the reasons I dislike them as well. Play on!

 

[Father Gino]

The higher required tension of flats is one of the reasons I dislike them as well. Play on!

The biggest complaint about TI flats is their low tension.
I’d have to play my bass 18 hours a day (with a band) for 50 years to try all of the bass strings in the world. I’d have to have 2 dozen of the same bass in constant rotation to properly compare them. Add to that the fact that what I like on Tuesday I might not like on Thursday.
These flat/round threads made me buy a set of Boomers to put on my P bass. This is I combo I’ve never experienced. But again, I’ll have to string it up and play out with them for months to really know what I think of them.

 

[rick harper]

back in days of yore ernie ball made FOUR different string tensions for both flats and rounds...i'm looking at their string gauge guide they used to give away circa '77 that compares every other brand of bass string. eb had firm/semi firm/semi flex/flex....i used group 3...and on my rics i always had to use ric flats...fyi, the ric bass strings gauges were .45 .57 .77 .100. had a micrometer, or whatever the gauge is called... and eb's were very hot, loud. then i had to switch 'settle' on chromes cos eb lowered the output drastically mid 80s...so dean markley [the best flats ever, imo - i still have the last set i used] and tapewounds were always my go to replacements. except for tapewounds the E string way too big. 115 or something...i thought guilds were best. and like many bassists who use a plec, i love the click! but i play with fingers/thumb most of the time...when i actually do anymore...

 

[Jazzfretless]

The biggest complaint about TI flats is their low tension.
I’d have to play my bass 18 hours a day (with a band) for 50 years to try all of the bass strings in the world. I’d have to have 2 dozen of the same bass in constant rotation to properly compare them. Add to that the fact that what I like on Tuesday I might not like on Thursday.
These flat/round threads made me buy a set of Boomers to put on my P bass. This is I combo I’ve never experienced. But again, I’ll have to string it up and play out with them for months to really know what I think of them.

Apparently TI flats, from what I've read other people say, has a lower tension than most flats. But, simply by their nature, flatwound strings have more tension than rounds.

* Just looked it up, TI flats are very close to the tension of the rounds I use.
Of the 4, 2 strings are higher tension, 2 are slightly lower.

 

[Jtown690]

I viewed results and it was round 108 votes and flats 109. So I voted rounds just to tie it up.
My true answer is both, that said I’ve got a mustang with DTB flats. A P with DTB flats, A P with chromes, a P with EB regular slinky rounds, and a Ric with chromes..
So.. I guess flats for me. But rounds certainly have their place in my life. The true answer is both and all and yes. There’s differences between types/brand of flats and types/brands of rounds.
There’s really no wrong answers just wrong attitudes.

 

[Father Gino]

Apparently TI flats, from what I've read other people say, has a lower tension than most flats. But, simply by their nature, flatwound strings have more tension than rounds.

* Just looked it up, TI flats are very close to the tension of the rounds I use.
Of the 4, 2 strings are higher tension, 2 are slightly lower.

But the TIs might yet seem looser, as in more flexible, easier to bend, less pressure required to push them down on the frets or board. You should try them out. It sounds like you’re a prime candidate for Thomastikfication.

 

[mdmarkle]

I prefer rounds - I had flats on one of my bass recently and I did not like them, - they sounded fine but the string tension was TOO high for my style. Maybe there is a lower tension flat but I havent gone looking for it - rounds will work for all applications - my 2 cents

I felt the same until I tried the LaBella Low Tension Flats. Now I can imagine my P Bass without them. So weird because I never liked flats before that. Except listening to other people play them (Pino Palladino, etc.)

 

[wluffman]

Of course, it depends on the music and the player; but I'm mainly into Classic Rock and the Top 40 Era, so I don't want "squeaky" strings when I play. Flats, tapewounds and groundwounds get the nod from me. (Admittedly, I don't really have a "squeak" problem with roundwounds on a bass, but flats are just added insurance.)

 

[DECEMBER]

Stainless steel roundwounds. For brightness and because I love the sound of a pick scraping against a rough string.

 

[fingerbun]

According to the latter, a Mr. Hamilton is the inventor of flatwound strings (1874); again, their acceptance among players of violin-family strings was gradual.
All-metal roundwound strings took over in the American acoustic guitar realm around 1920.
IIRC, catgut remained the core material of choice in metal flats for orchestral bowed string instruments until after WWII, when steel-core/steel-wound strings appeared.

My upright bass teacher, who was very traditional orchestral, used to talk about how the move from catgut to steel cores caused the bellies of most of the great old double basses to sag. He actually had catgut on some instruments. But he also said it was much easier to keep steel strings in tune.

 

[HaphAsSard]

Now I want to hear flats on a piano!

It turns out you might hear them, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY. See below.

Wire World : Nippon Steel SG Wire Co., Ltd.

According to the [article linked], a Mr. Hamilton is the inventor of flatwound strings (1874); again, their acceptance among players of violin-family strings was gradual.

So far I've been unsuccessful in finding other mentions of this mysterious Hamilton and his 1874 invention/patent of the flatwound string.

However, apparently flats/ribbon-wounds had been actually invented - but not patented - some fifty years earlier (in the 1820s roughly), by an Alpheus Babcock, for use in his...pianos, of all instruments!
See here
https://www.survivorlibrary.com/lib...struments_in_the_metropolitan_museum_1985.pdf
[Laurence Libin, American Musical Instruments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York:1985; p175]
and here
Link Removed
[Laurence Libin, "Incidental Notes on Antebellum Pianos"; Keyboard Perspectives, Vol. VIII, Ithaca, NY:2015; p156 (p2 of pdf) &ff]

Cool or what?

 

[rholler]

Which do you prefer, and why?

I've always preferred wound strings, because I like that clanky, metalic, "piano" sound that they provide. Although, I have heard that some flats are now providing nearly the same level of brightness as wound strings, so I might try some of those at some point (i.e. when I have extra money, or when I'm feeling lucky... or both).

But with $$ as tight as it is right now, I can't afford to experiment, so I'll stick with what I know for a while longer. <sigh>

 

[Terry McGill]

I keep trying rounds but sorry they sound clanky,thin ,frettyand trebly to me hate the grainy feel on my fingers...Flats fat ,punchy warm woody sounding to me beautiful smooth feeling to my fingers no screetching noise while I move around the neck....I have 2 -70,s P,s and 2 modern P,s all 4 have Labella Deep Talkin Flatwounds.I play Classic Rock my Basses sound deep woody and punchy

 

[The Hook 1988]

On my fretless basses flats are ok ,although i don't really like the feel. Any fretted basses i have , roundwound only. I would never consider flats on a fretted bass. Prefer nickel rounds, but experimenting mixing in some stainless steel on one bass.

 

[rick harper]

back in days of yore ernie ball made FOUR different string tensions for both flats and rounds...i'm looking at their string gauge guide they used to give away circa '77 that compares every other brand of bass string. eb had firm/semi firm/semi flex/flex....i used group 3...and on my rics i always had to use ric flats...fyi, the ric bass strings gauges were .45 .57 .77 .100. had a micrometer, or whatever the gauge is called... and eb's were very hot, loud. then i had to switch 'settle' on chromes cos eb lowered the output drastically mid 80s...so dean markley [the best flats ever, imo - i still have the last set i used] and tapewounds were always my go to replacements. except for tapewounds the E string way too big. 115 or something...i thought guilds were best. and like many bassists who use a plec, i love the click! but i play with fingers/thumb most of the time...when i actually do anymore...

 

[DrThumpenstein]

Flats for tone and feel. TI Jazz flats for great tone and great feel.

I keep my fiver strung with rounds to cover those tones.

 

[rick harper]

i think this is the third time i've tried to post this. just drop me if this doesn't go thru. ain't that important. at all.

back in days of yore ernie ball made FOUR different string tensions for both flats and rounds...i'm looking at their string gauge guide they used to give away circa '77 that compares every other brand of bass string. eb had firm/semi firm/semi flex/flex....i used group 3...and on my rics i always had to use ric flats...fyi, the ric bass strings gauges were .45 .57 .77 .100. had a micrometer, or whatever the gauge thing is called... and eb's were very hot, loud. then i had to switch 'settle' on chromes cos eb lowered the output drastically mid 80s...so dean markley [the best flats ever, imo - i still have the last set i used] and tapewounds were always my go to replacements. except for tapewounds the E string way too big. 115 or something...i thought guilds were best. and like many bassists who use a plec, i love the click! but i play with fingers/thumb most of the time...when i actually do anymore...

 

[NKBassman]

I prefer flats for playing music where I want a flatwound sound. I prefer rounds for playing music where I want a roundwound sound.
It's pretty complicated, I know.

 

[HaphAsSard]

back in days of yore ernie ball made FOUR different string tensions for both flats and rounds...i'm looking at their string gauge guide they used to give away circa '77 that compares every other brand of bass string. eb had firm/semi firm/semi flex/flex....i used group 3...

Are you able to scan or take digital pics of that string guide, and post them here? Among the most important determiners of tone for electric instruments, strings are the one for which there is the least easily retrievable historical information on the internet. If you can, thanks in advance!