I bought my first good bass in 1970 which was a sunburst/tort Fender Precision with covers and mute. It came with flatwounds like just about everything did back then but does anyone here know the gauges and the brand? Would it have been a .100 E string like nowadays or would it have been a .105? It was not a huge string, that I do remember and I want to say that they had blue silk wraps like modern Fender strings but am not sure. This bass had beautiful low action when I first picked it up, in fact I had to raise it I was so accustomed to the cheap Japanese piece of doo doo I had had for a few years.
Fender flatwound. Most likely .45 - .105 Those are medium guage, so I'm pretty sure that'd be considered standard guage. Cause anything under that is considered light. Which, leads me to believe that standards would be the mediums.
OK thanks, I use La Bella DTF .045-.105 now and they feel a little heavier than the ones I remember but that was a long time ago. I've always like Fender flats too.
{} {} If memory serves, they would have been Fender brand strings; probably 45-100 from the factory; and they would have been made by the string company that Fender owned - Squier. Since 2010, Fender's strings have been made - to Fender's specification - by D'Addario. The new 9050 Fender flats do not sound like the old Fender flats. They are very nice flats (and a couple of my basses wear them), but they're in the "modern" sounding family of flats. Not as bright as some - like Chromes, for example - but much more middy sounding than thumpy. About the closest you can come to the originals are the flats that are made by 3 former Squier employees who left to start their own company - GHS Precision Flats. Which is what my '78 P-Bass and it's little brother (Warmoth Mini-P) wear. Just seems... right, somehow...
Thanks I may try them. I do like the Fender flats though, had them on a Ric 4003 at one time and they sounded great. I currently use La Bellas on the basses that have flats on them and like them.
Stock strings in 1970 were 850 flats, made by V. C. Squier, a company owned by Fender/CBS. I believe the 850s were discontinued when Schultz et. al. bought Fender from CBS in '85. Fender hasn't had anything really like them since. The GHS Precision Flats are very close, but use more symmetrical gauges like 45/65/85/105 while the 850s had different gauges (like a 108? E string).
In 1966 the No. 850 set would have had 55/71/90/105 (48/64/80/95 for the light-gauge No. 80 set), but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't stay that exact way for 19 years:
Nah, I never really paid much attention to the gauges 40+ years ago, just knew they weren't symmetrical like most sets these days.
These are their current strings which I am using right now, almost exactly the same. Note Gauge (in.) Tension (lbs.) Material G/1st .055 Stainless Steel Flatwound D/2nd .070 Stainless Steel Flatwound A/3rd .090 Stainless Steel Flatwound E/4th .105 Stainless Steel Flatwound
Here are some related products that TB members are talking about. Clicking on a product will take you to TB’s partner, Primary, where you can find links to TB discussions about these products. Browser not compatible
