What's To Know About Flatwound Strings For a 6 String Fretless Bass?

[BeowulfKingsley]

When I got my first Ibanez SRF706, it came with D'Addario Chromes, right from the factory. They sounded great, and felt pretty comfortable, too. Then, the preamp went fuutt! I returned it, and wound up buying a used one on Reverb, which came with DR Sunbeams. I like these even better...very articulate, lots of positive fretboard interaction, and very smooth feel for roundwounds. I'm keeping those on. And just for the record, my fretless Jazz bass has had roundwounds on it for about 30 years...there are some light lines from the strings, but really nothing that affects anything. I might get the neck planed...in another 30 years or so.

 

[Count Bassula]

Side question:

Some have said the flatwounds smooth out over time. Could I run some fine steel wool over the strings to accelerate the smoothing process?

 

[Standalone]

No, they don't as far as I know. Those were on my SR506 so I thought they might be on a SR706 as well. I doubt that any manufacturer ships any bass with flatwound strings on it, especially Ibanez.

Please see my post above. It ships with Chromes. Also, my post said SRF706.

 

[Standalone]

Side question:

Some have said the flatwounds smooth out over time. Could I run some fine steel wool over the strings to accelerate the smoothing process?

I wouldn't. The strings mellow with time but it's about playing and vibration. Not steel wool.

Besides. Steel wool will shed particles that will stick forever to your pickups

 

[Count Bassula]

I wouldn't. The strings mellow with time but it's about playing and vibration. Not steel wool.

Besides. Steel wool will shed particles that will stick forever to your pickups

I would pull them through before I install, but I won't now.
It seems to me letting my fingers and skin polish steel no so good. There must be a better way...

 

[el murdoque]

You never said you wanted gold strings. This changes everything.

I mentioned LaBella DTF gold strings in my earlier post, but they are only gold in color - but to my knowledge, these are the only flatwounds that have that hue. The alloy does tend to get a slight patina, though - and gold does not do that.
There are Optima 24k gold strings, but these are only available as roundwounds. I have a set, but never put them on.

 

[el murdoque]

Side question:

Some have said the flatwounds smooth out over time. Could I run some fine steel wool over the strings to accelerate the smoothing process?

No. You're more likely to make it worse by adding little steel wool flakes to the strings.
There is a way to get them sound dead quicker, by using a certain Eucerin hand cream (JimmyM posted a thread about this), but getting them less grippy is best achieved by playing them.

 

[Standalone]

I would pull them through before I install, but I won't now.
It seems to me letting my fingers and skin polish steel no so good. There must be a better way...

Trust the wisdom here more than unfounded personal conjecture.

They are designed for your fingers. Get D'Addario chromes. They start soft in my experience. They come in a five string set and you can ordrer a single 32 to match.

 

[Altitude]

If you bend roundwounds on a fretless fingerboard to modulate a note, the sideways movement windings will cause damage.

If you don't bend, the roundwounds won't cause any material damage.

I'll argue that bending doesn't make sense on a fretless because there's a better way to move notes. Nobody bends on upright bass either.

But people should play the strings they like.

 

[Prodigus Filius]

To OP, try this out. Find a store or online that sells D'addario Chrome Singles. I highly reccomend StringsByMail, but there are plenty of D'addario singles stockists Get the following gauges
CB132
CB100
CB075
CB055
CB040
CB032
You can mess around with BEADGC or C#F#BEAD
If you need to to tweak, you can swap in a different Chrome gauge ( excluding 132 and 032 of course, which are the limits of the Chrome gauge range) Chromes eventually settle in really nice. Takes awhile, but they do, partic the gauges in the 055 and smaller gauges, which eventually sound more at home with the other strings). Well worth the wait. Hard to beat Chromes for tuning experimentation and gauge matching

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Cheap Chromes. All gauges. Cost around $118 Canadian, postage inclusive for the gauges I mentioned Invalid Link Removed

 

[Count Bassula]

Update: Thanks to everyone for thew wealth of information and a crash course in bass strings.
Member "Just Wrong" had offered me a set of Magma strings he'd tried but took them off after 5 minutes. I took him up on this generous offer and have received them. Thank you Just Wrong! I have yet to install them yet. I will post what I think of the flats over wounds on my new bass.

Cheers!

 

[Prodigus Filius]

Update: Thanks to everyone for thew wealth of information and a crash course in bass strings.
Member "Just Wrong" had offered me a set of Magma strings he'd tried but took them off after 5 minutes. I took him up on this generous offer and have received them. Thank you Just Wrong! I have yet to install them yet. I will post what I think of the flats over wounds on my new bass.

Cheers!

He was looking to buy rounds but got flats by mistake. 4 sets of flats as a matter of fact.https://www.talkbass.com/threads/magma-strings.624649/page-2#post-27830415 I guess he is rounds guy, but gave the flats a go, but didn't like them much. Never heard of Magma strings. Be interesting to see some follow up on how you rate em.