What's your take on flats?

[MtManiac]

I use flats, but used rounds for about 30 years or so. I love the way flats sound in the mix, you hear harmonica coming through that you don’t hear with rounds and a much stronger fundamental. Rounds typically have more higher pitch harmonics, which is their zing. I’m pretty sure this is why compressors don’t do much for me, I don’t have those highs to compress.

I like rounds too, I’m not bigoted. I recently had a great experience playing a MIM P bass with rounds through a Bassman 100.

 

[40Hz]

I play flats and rounds. I don’t think either one is universally “better” than the other. Each excels in its own way depending on the instrument, the player, and the song or musical genre.

Why limit yourself to just one string type when you don’t have to? I use various types of rounds and flats, as well as pressure wounds, phosphor-bronze, and tapewounds.

“Variety is the spice of life” as the saying goes.

 

[DavC]

NO .... nothing superior about personal preference , or whatever is needed for a particular sound/ situation ...


that said , i'm Not a fan of flats ... i do like the sound , but my plucking fingers really don't like the feel ...! regardless of tension ... from Chromes to Ti's ... i prefer GHS Pressurewounds

 

[Ric5]

What's your take on flats?


I pick up a bass with flats


They sound really cool


The strings are really smooth


after 5 minutes I get bored and I want to play a bass with rounds

 

[G On Bass]

One of my basses always has flats, one always has stainless. Horses for courses. Personally, I wildly prefer flats I just love how they sit in a mix and how great they sound.

 

[HarveyRobertson]

A brotha once tole me

“Once you go flat, you never go back”

 

[Luciferiad]

both have their applications, but I really like the play feel of flats. And at this point they're really an integral part of my sound, which is now the result of a fairly unusual formula, I would say. Although this is TB, where I have learned I'm not nearly as clever as I think.

 

[Ross W. Lovell]

It seems to me that a great majority of TB'ers love flatwound strings. In the basses forum, a lot of folks seem to comment how much better a bass would be if it were strung with flats. Yet, it seems like just about every bass found in the wild has roundwounds on it.
I'm not biased in any direction. I think either type has their merit, but I'm curious if you feel flats or roundwound strings are superior to another and why.

I have tried several versions of flats, on both my fretted and fretless instruments.

They are not for me.

Nothing inherently bad with them or inherently good.

Just not for me.

 

[socialleper]

TB is sort of an odd echo chamber, which is common on the internet. The demographic of TB isn't an accurate criss section of musicians, so bear that in mind.
I have tried a handful of flats and half flats and have generally come to the same conclusion: they aren't for me. They feel ok, but I can't get a tone I like out of them, and the subdued highs only seem to work in very specific circumstances. I don't think they are for the average player, which is born out by flats being very hard to find in stores.

 

[turbo2256b]

gave up on rounds in the early 70s partly do to my auto mechanic finger tips making the rounds sound like a zipper at times.

 

[micgtr71]

I love labella flexible flats on my fretless fender j. Currently my p has rounds tuned BEAD. Regular p bass tuning I prefer flats for sound and feel. I don’t care for low b flatwound.

 

[TheLowDown33]

Bruno Mars’ bassist my target tone, such warm tone and I really love it. You mentioned he plays flats, I used to wonder if it’s hard to play fast and do funky stuff with flats, guess not.

I almost find it easier to play fast since there is less friction when moving your fingers over the strings. A "brighter" flat on a J bass is such a great sound. Roll back the tone a hair and you're golden. Also Jamareo Artis is a beast and his tone is crazy good.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

It seems to me that a great majority of TB'ers love flatwound strings. In the basses forum, a lot of folks seem to comment how much better a bass would be if it were strung with flats. Yet, it seems like just about every bass found in the wild has roundwounds on it.
I'm not biased in any direction. I think either type has their merit, but I'm curious if you feel flats or roundwound strings are superior to another and why.

I dont care for flats. I just think they sound like old strings. But, they don't have that high click, or finger noise, they're smooth as all hell, and you only have to buy them once. I mean literally once. As they get aged, they sound more and more like a stand up. They also sit great in alot of styles, but I prefer compression wounds, or half flats if I'm trying to smooth out the sound. Those types still have the life of the sound that's running in my head, but still take care of a lot of the "zing"

 

[craig0316]

I'm a stainless steel roundwound guy for about 99% of the basses I have, but still having such a love for RW strings I still have three basses strung with flats

Wow (lol) you have a LOT of basses (300)

 

[two fingers]

This conversation has remained incredibly civil. It scares me a little.

So, @Gremson , whataya think so far? You have kicked off an interesting and civil conversation based on a usually divisive subject.

 

[Acoop]

I've pretty well converted over to flats on all my basses and it seems weird to me when I pickup a bass in a store and it has roundwounds on them. ... Go figure. ... The flatwounds they make today are a lot better than the older ones but, after saying that, I have a 74 J-bass with original flats that sound amazing. ...

 

[Happy Jack]

Rounds are less expensive which is why current basses come with them stock and some never depart from them.

Well ... up to a point. It costs more to buy your first set of flats, that's true, but then you'll still be playing the same set of flats 30 years later while your evil twin will be on his 43rd set of rounds.

It always pays to buy quality.

I'm also surprised that no one has mentioned how flats can "bring some basses alive". It's not an across-the-board thing of course, but some basses just sound WAY better with flats on.

A friend of mine in London originally turned me on to Mike Lull basses. I adored his P5 so much that I went and bought one. He came around to A/B it and was simply blown away at how much better mine sounded than his did.

He spent weeks trying to work it out, and got involved with an email correspondence with Mike in his efforts to work out what was different between the two basses.

Eventually he tried stringing his bass with flats. Job done.

 

[turbo2256b]

off the subject a bit. put flats and aftermarket pickups on my sons fender jaguar deluxe guitar. everyone went crazy over the sound of the flats

 

[elkkid2]

I've mostly used rounds in my life, but I always have a bass with flats...that used to be for recording. I love the bass I have that has the flats on it too. --I've been using it a lot more lately. Just different tools to get the job done.

 

[Gremson]

This conversation has remained incredibly civil. It scares me a little.

So, @Gremson , whataya think so far? You have kicked off an interesting and civil conversation based on a usually divisive subject.

This is the future we deserve.

 

[craig0316]

I've, in the last year, put Black Beauties on my Jazz, they're almost the best of both worlds (to my ears) they tend to cut some of the harsh high harmonics that regular round wounds and also cut down on the finger noise you get with typical round wound strings all without getting that "thuddy" sound you can sometimes get with flats (though I think that might have to do with the pups)