Exact same thing for me. I have TI Flats on mine and it sounds glorious.
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Strings for a short scale Gretsch
- Thread starter n00bass
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Ha, okie dokie, it's night time here so I have to use flash, I have a Hercules stand on the way will take some better shots later, I'm pretty excited about the purchase but it's not modded in any way.
View attachment 3780544 Nice fitting strings on a Gretsch short scale hollow body? My '94 Broadkaster can't really wear anything but Long Scale strings. It can - just barely - wear TI short scales; if I want to live with 1 1/2 winds around the A and D tuner post. Which I don't... No medium scale strings are any better; most are worse. It's currently wearing a set of Fender 9050L flatwounds. They fit perfectly, and sound great...
I wonder what the big secret is about the winding length specs, no one wants to hand them out. The Thomastik site specs include every detail you'd ever want to know except the specs, the Fender site also has specs likewise does not have the winding length. It's utter madness, I mean Christ in a chicken basket, what is up with this.
And the LaBella 760 gold flats that I bought for my Cort, which as I said I've seen listed at 36 1/2" and 37", are in fact 36 3/4" but only on the E, the rest are 38", so they won't even fit the cort. I mean one asks the seller for the size and they don't bother to tell you that there's a 1 1/2 difference in the same set. Maybe all this is part of the secret initiation, you know to keep the riff raff away.
@Deleted member 271037, I've discovered from a seller on eBay that the Longs are in fact 35 1/2" he measured them for me. And I see they only go to 100 instead of 106 so I might have to give these a go in the future. But back to whinging about missing specs, how's this for absolute nuttiness, I went back to the Thomastik website to check the poundage, and lo and behold, the 344's are the only set of strings listed on their site where they have simply forgotten to put the string weight for the G. I know it's 43, but what are the odds!
D
BeautifuI'm not the biggest fan of Gretsch basses after all the problems I've had with mine but they sure are some of the most beautiful looking basses out there!
Thomastik strings are weird (but sound amazing!). Their short scales are long and their long scales are short. The Superalloy long scale set can't be strung through body on a Fender because the G-string isn't long enough. And the gauges... They don't really give us much choice do they? It's usually a selection of ONE gauge "take it or leave it". The positive is that the gauges seem to have been carefully selected for perfect intonation on bridges with limited adjustment, like Höfners. I've never had intonation issues with Thomastik strings, even on the quirkiest vintage short scale basses.
The long scale Jazz Flats will probably have a VERY floppy E-string on a short scale. I'm not sure I would want to try that. The E+A would be VERY low tension compared to the D+G. If you're prepared for THAT low tension you might actually consider the TI Jazz Roundwounds instead. They are extremely low tension but very nicely balanced across the strings. I know you want flats on this bass but just in case it doesn't work out (it didn't on my Broadkaster...) you might want to give the TI Jazz Rounds a chance. They don't sound like any other strings out there so don't let the fact that they are roundwounds put you off. They are truly unique. I've seen them described as having an "orchestral vibe" and I think that sums it up nicely. Very "woody" and extremely smooth mids/highs for a roundwound. But EXTREMELY low tension so be prepared to adjust your playing technique.
@Deleted member 271037
I really do not like round wounds remember I'm just learning, so playability it more important for me, I have tried half rounds once and preferred that but I am set on flats for the time being if anything I'd try nylon wrapped, but I'm just not a round wound type of guy. You've scared me a bit with the floppy E warning on the Thomastiks.
I really do not like round wounds remember I'm just learning, so playability it more important for me, I have tried half rounds once and preferred that but I am set on flats for the time being if anything I'd try nylon wrapped, but I'm just not a round wound type of guy. You've scared me a bit with the floppy E warning on the Thomastiks.
FFS get this, I write to a seller about the Thomastiks before buying and I get this back...
I have checked with a tape measure and the LONG scale are 35.5" from ball end to silk wrap. The short scale you are looking at are 31.5"
Then I ask them to check all the strings and I get this message...
g string (thinest) 95.5cm
d string 95.5cm
a string 95cm
e string 93.5cm
This time I have measured from the ball to the silk wrap at the other end. I had someone else measure previously, and I think they measured from the end of the wrap at the ball end (hence they measured a couple of cm shorter). I apologise about any confusion earlier, hopefully this helps.
It is just me or is the world gorn mad. Do I laugh or do I cry. Maybe I should just let what ever comes come and don't bother if it wraps around the pegs, life is too short to worry about getting the right note or correct intonation, better off using the time to practice eh?
I have checked with a tape measure and the LONG scale are 35.5" from ball end to silk wrap. The short scale you are looking at are 31.5"
Then I ask them to check all the strings and I get this message...
g string (thinest) 95.5cm
d string 95.5cm
a string 95cm
e string 93.5cm
This time I have measured from the ball to the silk wrap at the other end. I had someone else measure previously, and I think they measured from the end of the wrap at the ball end (hence they measured a couple of cm shorter). I apologise about any confusion earlier, hopefully this helps.
It is just me or is the world gorn mad. Do I laugh or do I cry. Maybe I should just let what ever comes come and don't bother if it wraps around the pegs, life is too short to worry about getting the right note or correct intonation, better off using the time to practice eh?
D
With roundwounds I wouldn't worry about it but some flatwound can defintitely unravel and break if you wrap the windings around the tuning peg. I know from experience that LaBella flats can't handle it. Not sure about the GHS Flats but being old school flats I suspect it might not be a good idea.
The Thomastik Jazz Flats seems to be an exception. They're a lot more flexible than typical old school flats and they seem to handle it just fine. At least I've never had any problems and I've used them a LOT on basses where they weren't exactly a perfect fit. They also worked fine with through body stringing on a Mustang but I ended up replacing them in the end because I couldn't handle the floppy A in the short scale set.
However, I've had surprisingly many cases of string breakage with Thomastik strings when loosening the tension for adjustments (like intonation) and then bringing them back up to normal tension. And it's not just with the thin gauge Jazz Flats/Rounds. I've had the same problem with the Superalloys. I never experience this problem with other strings. Thomastik is still my favourite string manufacturer BY FAR but their electric bass strings seem to have a weakness when loosened and re-tightened. As long as they're kept in tune at normal tension they are fine and last forever but they're definitely not the best strings for a lot of experimenting, like moving them from one bass to another.
It's a bit weird because their double bass strings seem to handle any abuse I can throw at them and STILL last forever.
@Deleted member 271037 I think I'll pull the trigger, on the Thoms, it's going to take a few weeks with Easter and Covid-19 for the GHS's to arrive, and I'm only going to get a maybe half a turn of wrap on the E, the G will be all wrapped on the peg, but I guess it's not so big a deal on the G, the other two are all good. I think it will be fine.
