Still in Search of My Perfect String. Does it Exist?

[physics]

I've had 2 sets of Chromes on my bass and both have had a significant amount of some kind of dark residue that I noticed when I scrubbed them with alcohol. I'm guessing that this residue is from some sort of polishing compound that D'Addario uses to finish polish the strings. After I alcohol scrub the strings they become more shiny and noticeably smoother. I wonder if your strings might become acceptably smoother under sweaty conditions if you were to scrub yours as I do to mine.

 

[Jason Hollar]

I've had good luck with roto 77's. They've got a little texture - almost like a flat ground wound - if that's even a thing.

 

[pedroims]

Im very happy with Dunlop Super brights nickels, they are the first strings that I buin bulk, I have them in all my basses: P, J SR.

Low fret noise, full lows, crispy highs and a price that cant be beat ...

 

[beaglesandbass]

Im very happy with Dunlop Super brights nickels, they are the first strings that I buin bulk, I have them in all my basses: P, J SR.

Low fret noise, full lows, crispy highs and a price that cant be beat ...

I got them as a present for my Christmas/my birthday. They're my next to go on my SR5. Kind of excited to try them out!

 

[SongySan]

There is no perfect string.

TI Jazz Flats are near perfect. My only complaint about them is the price.

 

[michael_t]

If you MUST have flats, try the Ernie Ball traditional flatwounds (not the Cobalt Slinky ones). They have a lot of the best qualities of La Bellas right out of the pack, but with infinitely better consistency, i.e. all 4 strings actually sound alike. La Bellas only get that way after about a year of playing the snot out of them IME.

My experience with the La Bella flats has been a little different from what's described here.

The 760FL set I have on my P bass came out of the package fairly well-balanced already to begin with and settled into a nice thumpy bliss only after a month or so - unlike GHS Precision Flats and TI Flats, both of which have a reputation for being uneven when new and taking the longest for all four strings to balance out.

 

[Volunteerk9]

Dunlop Super Brights is my goto string. Ive tried flats, half rounds, and rounds. Havent tried tapes so I cant speak of them. Plenty of lows - very midrangey which I love, and finger squeak is manageable.

 

[_godspeed_]

Sir, you're looking for Thomastiks

 

[JustForSport]

Why would the EB cobalt flats be

Notice the difference between a 'sticky' glossy neck and a satin finish neck?
Notice how if your fingers are cool and dry, they slide easily on a glass pane, whereas if they are damp, they can be 'sticky' or jerky?
Same idea- the EB Cobalt Flats and TI Jazz Flats have narrow gaps between the wraps, where the LaBellas and to some extent, Chromes are smooth like glass.
The glassy ones are more prone to being sticky when the humidity is high, or the the action is fast and sweaty.

 

[Flatwoundround]

Notice the difference between a 'sticky' glossy neck and a satin finish neck?
Notice how if your fingers are cool and dry, they slide easily on a glass pane, whereas if they are damp, they can be 'sticky' or jerky?
Same idea- the EB Cobalt Flats and TI Jazz Flats have narrow gaps between the wraps, where the LaBellas and to some extent, Chromes are smooth like glass.
The glassy ones are more prone to being sticky when the humidity is high, or the the action is fast and sweaty.

Thanks for this tip. I am going to research that aspect. I ordered a pair of d'addario black tapes tonight and we will see how those go. Tonight I practiced on my bass with the Chromes and the sound was so much better than the Pressurewounds simply because there is no finger noise. Sounds so much cleaner I think i will always be a flat wound or tape wound player now.

 

[fantasticplanet]

i think the brightness that causes string noise is the same brightness that gives you a modern sound with slap potential, so it would be really difficult to find strings that meet specs 1 and 3.

but i think groundwounds (roundwounds ground on the surface to make them smooth) and pressurewounds (roundwounds compressed to make them smooth) are supposed to sound like rounds but feel like flats. that should give you more brightness for slapping with less string noise, and you could give them a mellow sound with eq and your tone knob and playing around the butt of the neck or palm muting. i haven't tried them myself, but maybe you could look into those.

 

[47VevetS]

Try any of the coated DRs, or mabye the Pure Blues.

 

[Yaralag]

Here is my criteria for the perfect string, which as yet I have not found:

1. No String Squeek Finger Noise (this suggests flats or tapes)

2. Good low end and punchiness (still suggests flats)

3. A more versatile sound that can sound a little more modern and even some slap potential and more old school via tone knob and palm muting (do I hear Chromes anyone? GHS pressurewounds?)

4. That do not feel too grippy under the slightest bit of heat and or humidity (Good Bye Flats)

Chromes

So I love Chromes. They fit the first 3 criteria above but not the 4th. My fingers will feel like they stick to the strings when it gets a little humid or too hot. That is a nightmare experience when you feel like you are fighting with your instrument and at a gig this sucks. Tried to spray finger ease but only helps a little. The problem is that flats are well flat, so the surface area of your skin makes the greatest contact with the flat surface. Thus the grippy or sticky feeling when there is heat or humidity.

GHS Pressurewound Strings.

These are awesome strings and satisfy all above except number 1. True they do not have as much string noise as your usual rounds but compared to flats there is a lot of it. Playing with the band of course the string noise is not an issue but when I play alone and record myself that noise I don't care for (my bandmates say they actually like it but I simply do not). I know some folks will say technique will cut this out alot but sorry, I have enough to work on already with my muting technique and slap, and many other things and still have to learn music too. I think tone wise these sound even better than the Chromes except these have the finger noise and Chromes do not.

Tapewounds

I tried the Labella gold tapes and they were great for all the criteria above except number 2. These strings felt so amazing but the tone was not nearly as good as the other two strings mentioned. They were not as deep and not as punchy as the other two strings even though they felt the best for sure. Yes they were also a little bit too loose feeling but I just gave the neck some more curve and that seemed to balance it out more.


Anybody got ideas? I wonder if fast fret would help the chromes on the grippy issue? Again I tried finger ease but to no avail. Is there such a thing as tapewound that could get a tone that is comparable to the Chromes or the GHS pressurewounds? Seems to me that would be the ultimate string.


Thanks.

Whenever I get that annoying grippy feeling on flats I have a little jar of Vaseline that I dip my finger tips in. The tiniest amount worked into the finger tips eliminates the problem for me. When I am without the Vaseline then the nose grease method works. As far as a do-everything string goes, the flats generally don't get it done so I feel you must have a bass with a set of snappy sounding rounds on it as well. If having two basses doesn't work for you then a set of dead nickel rounds played with the tone knob turned all the way down and a foam mute might be the way to go. I believe you can make rounds sound a little like flats but you obviously can't make flats ever sound like rounds. Just keep experimenting. I have a drawer full of strings from all my experimentation.

 

[Tanner5382]

I had a set of SIT strings that I feel fit your description. I don't remember if they were the Power Flats or the Silencers, though.

 

[Joshua Pickenpaugh]

Cobalt flats. Boom. Done. You're welcome.

 

[Flatwoundround]

Cobalt flats. Boom. Done. You're welcome.

Many folks here have said that too but I don't understand why. I thought I heard they were pretty grippy sticky feeling based on some reviews on amazon. I also would think they would not have the low end and thump of chromes as I heard the cobalt flats are pretty bright. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

 

[Flatwoundround]

Whenever I get that annoying grippy feeling on flats I have a little jar of Vaseline that I dip my finger tips in. The tiniest amount worked into the finger tips eliminates the problem for me. When I am without the Vaseline then the nose grease method works. As far as a do-everything string goes, the flats generally don't get it done so I feel you must have a bass with a set of snappy sounding rounds on it as well. If having two basses doesn't work for you then a set of dead nickel rounds played with the tone knob turned all the way down and a foam mute might be the way to go. I believe you can make rounds sound a little like flats but you obviously can't make flats ever sound like rounds. Just keep experimenting. I have a drawer full of strings from all my experimentation.

Thanks for the tip. I might go with the vaseline trick too. i hear almond oil on the strings but it would probably be much easier to dip the fingertips in just a little bit of the vaseline.

 

[Bigbri]

Here is my criteria for the perfect string, which as yet I have not found:

1. No String Squeek Finger Noise (this suggests flats or tapes)

2. Good low end and punchiness (still suggests flats)

3. A more versatile sound that can sound a little more modern and even some slap potential and more old school via tone knob and palm muting (do I hear Chromes anyone? GHS pressurewounds?)

4. That do not feel too grippy under the slightest bit of heat and or humidity (Good Bye Flats)

Chromes

So I love Chromes. They fit the first 3 criteria above but not the 4th. My fingers will feel like they stick to the strings when it gets a little humid or too hot. That is a nightmare experience when you feel like you are fighting with your instrument and at a gig this sucks. Tried to spray finger ease but only helps a little. The problem is that flats are well flat, so the surface area of your skin makes the greatest contact with the flat surface. Thus the grippy or sticky feeling when there is heat or humidity.

GHS Pressurewound Strings.

These are awesome strings and satisfy all above except number 1. True they do not have as much string noise as your usual rounds but compared to flats there is a lot of it. Playing with the band of course the string noise is not an issue but when I play alone and record myself that noise I don't care for (my bandmates say they actually like it but I simply do not). I know some folks will say technique will cut this out alot but sorry, I have enough to work on already with my muting technique and slap, and many other things and still have to learn music too. I think tone wise these sound even better than the Chromes except these have the finger noise and Chromes do not.

Tapewounds

I tried the Labella gold tapes and they were great for all the criteria above except number 2. These strings felt so amazing but the tone was not nearly as good as the other two strings mentioned. They were not as deep and not as punchy as the other two strings even though they felt the best for sure. Yes they were also a little bit too loose feeling but I just gave the neck some more curve and that seemed to balance it out more.


Anybody got ideas? I wonder if fast fret would help the chromes on the grippy issue? Again I tried finger ease but to no avail. Is there such a thing as tapewound that could get a tone that is comparable to the Chromes or the GHS pressurewounds? Seems to me that would be the ultimate string.


Thanks.

I'm always rotosounds. But lately I have been playing the fretless with Thomastiks. Hard to describe but they feel kind of spongy and have "a very flexable core.". Sound amazing on the ebony fretboard. The gauge is absolutly perfect. They've been on for about 15 yrs so the package is long gone. They sit somewhere btwn a standard 45-105 gauge and the twangy funkmasters. For me, I don't really like standard roto's 45 g string, it's too tight and big for slapping. They are roundwounds but not quite as bright and very easy on the fingers.

 

[Bigbri]

Many folks here have said that too but I don't understand why. I thought I heard they were pretty grippy sticky feeling based on some reviews on amazon. I also would think they would not have the low end and thump of chromes as I heard the cobalt flats are pretty bright. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

I seem to remember Steve Harris uses flats on that blue p-bass and gets a very round tone.

 

[Gizmot]

Gimme the TI Jazz Flats. They do it all and do it well. The price is high, but they last for years with little degradation in sound