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String choices across different basses. HELP

Flats

  • Total voters
    71
Indiana Mike

Indiana Mike

Nov 18, 2005
3,049
3,883
#1
I have 5 bases.
I buy instruments, I keep them.
Hate losing money , and often it may sit ,but will eventually get used again for something or even for some while.

I want to set one up with flats , one with tapes, one or more with standard nickle rounds. Don’t care for stainless. Or at least I have not tried them in a long while.

*EBMM 5 , going to leave it stock, it is about 6 months old.

*G&L L2000 USA. HOT HOT HOT , it took me a long time to get this thing dialed in and pickups lowered enough. Still HOT. Just about gave up lol

*Fender Vintage II 1960 P.

Squier special run J not sure what it is , satin seafoam green , going to drop a j retro or similar in , leave pickups as is.

* Rickenbacker 4003 2017 model.
 
#3
Indiana Mike said:
*G&L L2000 USA. HOT HOT HOT , it took me a long time to get this thing dialed in and pickups lowered enough. Still HOT. Just about gave up lol
Click to expand...
La Bella Gold Flats
La Bella Gold White Nylon
La Bella Copper White Nylon
Warwick Tapewound Bronze.

All these have reduced output, due to their outermost metal wrap not being magnetically active. Try them. You could even try an acoustic bass-guitar bronze set, see how it fares.
 
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#4
I think flats sound marvelous on a Rickenbacker, but if I had only one Rickenbacker (which I do) I would prefer roundwounds on it (which I have).

I've used both flats and roundwounds (and tapewounds) on both Precision and Jazz. Really can't go wrong. But with roundwounds ostensibly on the Rickenbacker, I might be inclined to put flatwounds on the Jazz and roundwounds on the Precision.

Bottom line is you need 2+ of each, but until then, muddle on through. :-)
 
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#5
Definitely tapewounds for that "hot" G&L.

Depending on how "dark" you want to go, my recommendations would be Pyramid (very dark) > D' Addario (medium) > La Bella White Nylons (very bright).

Rounds for Rickenbacker.

I'm not a flats player so I'll stay away from recommending choices regarding them.

My $0.02 only...

Have fun.
 
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#6
I'm the wrong person to ask. Of my 27 basses, 24 wear flats - all kinds and gauges; 2 wear tape wounds; and one - a '93 Gretsch Broadkaster - wears rounds; TIJR324 Jazz Rounds. But, if it didn't sound like dog :poop: with every one of the many other strings - of all kinds - I tried on it? It would wear flats, too...
So, I'd say - put flats on them all.
- EBMM5. I don't own a 5-er, and probably never will. So, tapewounds or rounds for that one... I've used the heavy strings from both La Bella and D'Addario 5-string sets of tapes, for BEAD basses. Sounded good, too...
- G&L L2000. My Tom Hamilton Sig. ASAT Bass wears Fender 9050Ls. Very nice "Journeyman Bass" tone... My Kiloton lined fretless wears La Bella LTF4 Low Tension Flats. Sounds like a fretless bass should... Personally? I'd go with the La Bella 760FS DTF's on that bass. My aluminum necked '78 Kramer 450B has pickups that are also really hot - to the point of pure distortion. The 760FS's tame them quite nicely...
- Fender Vintage II 1960 P-Bass. My '78 P-Bass is set up like it would have come from the factory. But, instead of the light gauge Squier Flats that it did come with? I have their near-clones under the foam mute in the bridge cover; GHS #3025 Precision Flats. They sound equally good without the mute...
- Squier Jazz Bass. Fender 9050L flats are very popular with JB owners. But, until 1978? Jazz Basses shipped with the light gauge Squier Flats, too. So... the GHS #3025 P-Flats, maybe?
- Rick 4003. Mine wears Optima 4440 RB ("Rickenbacker Bass") Flats. I'm not sure when Rick switched to factory rounds from the German Maxima 4440 Flats that my '73 4001 wore when new; my '01 4003 had the factory rounds... After Optima bought the Maxima company, they decided to duplicate the old factory Maxima flats. The 4440 RB's are the result. And, if my 4001 didn't have to wear super low tension strings (Dogal JC 106A "Jaco" CarbonSteel Flats)? It would wear the Optimas, too...
My 2 basses that wear tape wounds, wear Roto TruBass88 tape wounds. The MIK Rogue VB-100 Violin Bass, because that's the way a violin bass is supposed to sound. The Canadian '93 Fury Anthem fretless bass, because the pickups are wound to sound like total crap with anything but tape wounds. I like the Roto 88's, and I just happened to have a spare set handy when I set it up... :whistle:
 
Last edited:
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#7
Indiana Mike said:
I have 5 bases.
I buy instruments, I keep them.
Hate losing money , and often it may sit ,but will eventually get used again for something or even for some while.

I want to set one up with flats , one with tapes, one or more with standard nickle rounds. Don’t care for stainless. Or at least I have not tried them in a long while.

*EBMM 5 , going to leave it stock, it is about 6 months old.

*G&L L2000 USA. HOT HOT HOT , it took me a long time to get this thing dialed in and pickups lowered enough. Still HOT. Just about gave up lol

*Fender Vintage II 1960 P.

Squier special run J not sure what it is , satin seafoam green , going to drop a j retro or similar in , leave pickups as is.

* Rickenbacker 4003 2017 model.
Click to expand...
If you really hate losing money, put flats on all your basses. That way, you won't have to keep buying new strings every so often. I have Chromes on one of my Ric 4003s and I love them! They tame its hot pickups very nicely.

Also, nobody has mentioned that different flats are going to sound different. Flats are on a spectrum from roundwound-like to old-school darkness.

www.guitarworld.com

Best flatwound bass strings: how to choose the right flatwounds for you

Get one of the most iconic bass tones ever with our pick of flatwound bass guitar strings
www.guitarworld.com www.guitarworld.com
 
#10
Flats on a Precision is as classic a combo as it gets, but I also enjoy the sound of flats on both J’s and Stingrays.

I think there’s a misconception among non flat users that all flats sound the same, which is not true. It’s more a matter of pairing the right strings with the bass.
 
#12
Indiana Mike said:
*G&L L2000 USA. HOT HOT HOT , it took me a long time to get this thing dialed in and pickups lowered enough. Still HOT. Just about gave up lol
Click to expand...

HaphAsSard said:
La Bella Gold Flats
La Bella Gold White Nylon
La Bella Copper White Nylon
Warwick Tapewound Bronze.

All these have reduced output, due to their outermost metal wrap not being magnetically active. Try them. You could even try an acoustic bass-guitar bronze set, see how it fares.
Click to expand...
^^^^
I was going to suggest the La Bella tapes for the G&L too. I have La Bella Copper White Nylons on my bass with active EMG PJs and it sounds FANTASTIC. That bass, an inexpensive 1994 Ibanez SR400, gets so many comments from people astounded by how good it sounds. I get a lot of people dumbfounded when i tell them it has EMGs in it. Die-hard EMG haters are left a bit stupefied because it sounds so rich and organic; beefy and clear. And you can get quite a range of tone out of the tapes as well just with technique changes. Anywhere from thumpy flat sounding to gritty biting roundwound sound.

I have the La Bella White Gold on a fretless with Delano Xtenders. I usually keep them flipped to series mode which is quite hot and it sounds fantastic.

So tally my vote for the G&L L2000 to get tapes.

For reference, the La Bella Tapewound range of strings goes from darkest to brightest:
Black Nylon; Copper White Nylon; Gold White Nylon; White Nylon.

Indiana Mike said:
I have 5 bases.
I buy instruments, I keep them.
Hate losing money , and often it may sit ,but will eventually get used again for something or even for some while.

I want to set one up with flats , one with tapes, one or more with standard nickle rounds. Don’t care for stainless. Or at least I have not tried them in a long while.

*EBMM 5 , going to leave it stock, it is about 6 months old.
*G&L L2000 USA. HOT HOT HOT , it took me a long time to get this thing dialed in and pickups lowered enough. Still HOT. Just about gave up lol
*Fender Vintage II 1960 P.

Squier special run J not sure what it is , satin seafoam green , going to drop a j retro or similar in , leave pickups as is.

* Rickenbacker 4003 2017 model.
Click to expand...
For the rest of the basses:

- i'd stick the flats on either the P or the Rick, or both.
- EBMM & Jazz Bass Nickel Rounds, and the Rick too if you put the flats on the P.

Jazz basses do sound great with flats too, but if you only want one or two basses to have flats, i thing playing the EBMM and Jazz with rounds lend themselves more to styles you wouldn't be playing with a P anyway. (I mean, you can play anything on any bass if you wanted to. But you know what i'm saying.)
 
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#17
Indiana Mike said:
I have 5 bases.
I buy instruments, I keep them.
Hate losing money , and often it may sit ,but will eventually get used again for something or even for some while.

I want to set one up with flats , one with tapes, one or more with standard nickle rounds. Don’t care for stainless. Or at least I have not tried them in a long while.

*EBMM 5 , going to leave it stock, it is about 6 months old.

*G&L L2000 USA. HOT HOT HOT , it took me a long time to get this thing dialed in and pickups lowered enough. Still HOT. Just about gave up lol

*Fender Vintage II 1960 P.

Squier special run J not sure what it is , satin seafoam green , going to drop a j retro or similar in , leave pickups as is.

* Rickenbacker 4003 2017 model.
Click to expand...
You have poll as a list, but I don't understand what the question is.
 
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#19
Indiana Mike said:
I have 5 bases.
I buy instruments, I keep them.
Hate losing money , and often it may sit ,but will eventually get used again for something or even for some while.

I want to set one up with flats , one with tapes, one or more with standard nickle rounds. Don’t care for stainless. Or at least I have not tried them in a long while.

*EBMM 5 , going to leave it stock, it is about 6 months old.

*G&L L2000 USA. HOT HOT HOT , it took me a long time to get this thing dialed in and pickups lowered enough. Still HOT. Just about gave up lol

*Fender Vintage II 1960 P.

Squier special run J not sure what it is , satin seafoam green , going to drop a j retro or similar in , leave pickups as is.

* Rickenbacker 4003 2017 model.
Click to expand...
My L2000 came with flats, but I threw on roundwounds with a quickness and they sound great. I have 2 precisions; one with flats and one with rounds. Can't go wrong with a precision with flats. However, my choice is the EBMM because I had a Stingray for a bit and I could only get it to sound decent with flats. YMMV.
 
#20
superheavyfunk said:
Statistically-speaking, Precisions are generally the preferred bass for flats users.

Put another way, most exclusively P bass players seem to be predisposed to using flats - especially here on TB
Click to expand...
See this is funny to me. When I was playing in the 80s p bass with rotosounds was the thing, sometimes with an EMG

Anyways now that I'm old my preferred strings are the ones that are in the bass when I got it

Love the one you're with baby
 

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