Why do so many players love flats?

[dave hope]

It’s not an either or with flats and rounds. That is unless you have restricted yourself into being a one trick pony. I used rounds during all of my recording career. But, as you get older and start covering a larger variety of music. You realize how much more meatier sounding the flats are, especially in the higher register.
TIs flats give a lot of options (price sucks) whereas LaBellas are a basic Thump. Both have their place.
But you are going to end up showing yourself the fool, if you think you will only be using one certain type of string the rest of you career.
No growth would be sad thing

 

[JRA]

it’s me, your friend. I think you should try a short scale set. If you still don’t like em i guess you can send them my way again.

will do!

 

[wintremute]

 

[Father Gino]

This rambling thread had one redeeming quality. It lead me to this Wikipedia entry on “inharmonicity”. Pretty interesting stuff. Stuff like the difference between plucked and bowed strings and how a piano is tuned imperfectly on purpose. I remember watching the piano tuner tuning up my brother’s piano when I was a kid. He’d tune it up with pitch forks, play these wild boogies and then alter the tuning of (mostly) the higher and lower strings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anharmonicity
Anharmonicity - Wikipedia

 

[superheavyfunk]

I prefer the feel of flats, except when I have to play a gig outdoors in humid or chilly weather (like tonight). In both of those cases, I find that flats feel incredibly sticky and slow, and even though the tone is still great, the playability is not and it’s frustrating.

 

[Yrag]

I always used rounds! I was tempted on a few occasions to get flats but never did. I tried a Hofner violin bass at a local guitar store “for a laugh”. I always disregarded the violin bass as a punk kid thinking it was just for the Beatles (I mean I’m sure a lot of people who play one love the Beatles)
This one in the shop had rounds, and I loved it! Couldn’t stop thinking about it. Bought one a few weeks later on eBay and it has flats on it. I’m trying to get on with them. But they just seem dead to me. They feel great! But just lack that sound I like. Rounds for me. But I can see why people do choose them.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

I have basses with both. But I chose "flats" in the poll because I haven't played anything but a fretless with flats for the last 4 years.

Why flats? My ear wanted it. Same answer as "Why fretless?"

In short, my fretless with flats is a bare wood board, passive, with a P-style pickup in the sweet spot. With that bass, the tone is literally in my hands. Listen to any song on the first Bad Company record. Then listen to stuff by Tony Franklin, like the song "radioactive" by The Firm. Then listen to anything Carol Kaye recorded with the Wrecking Crew. My point is that I can get tons of stuff out of this set up.

Upside of flats includes: a focused fundamental, no over-tones, wider range of type of initial attack. Of course, if you're playing "Heart of the Sunrise" in a YES cover band those are down-sides.

YMMV. Best bass for metal. Tort pickguard. And carrots.

Carry on TB!

peace

I agree. However, I’d like to point out that Tony Franklin always used roundworms (aka roundwounds). DR HiBeams to be exact.

 

[Bassiclees]

Rounds are the strings that basses I keep wear as holders until I put TI flats on.

 

[Durham52]

The fact that companies that make strings, offer far more options when it comes to rounds suggests that they sell more rounds than flats. (Some string companies don't even offer flats at all.)

Like many commenting here, I play both flats and rounds, string choices are just another choice, like scale length, neck width, pickup type, etc. All tools to help achieve the sound we are looking for, or help our playing. I have a bass with a set of Bartolini jazz pickups and LaBella flats that gives I sound palette I love for some things, another bass (fretless) with alnico MM pickups and chrome flats for different sounds and another fretless with PJ pickups and round wound D'Addario nickels. All sets are lights. They are my choices, others may vary and that's the beauty of it.

 

[smperry]

I like both. Perhaps this is an oversimplification, but I'll say it anyway: flats lean more towards a double bass, while rounds lean more towards guitar.

 

[Ricky Rioli]

Recently, I bought a bass. It was not at all happy with the rounds I tried first.

I fitted a set of 760FM. It sounded and felt fantastic. I thought, this is great, I'm all set.

But when I started to play the stuff I bought the bass to play, it was no good, within a week I had gone back to rounds, needing a more immediate attack and less variation in tone from string to string.

I really loved the La Bellas, and will return to them, on another bass, but when I do, it will be with an awareness that I'll need to find another style of playing, different shapes to my lines, different expectations of how the start of each note develops. Which will be good, it'll expand my playing

 

[drumvsbass]

If my experience with flats was only Chromes, I'd hate flats too. It's not that they're awful, but they are easily the worst flat of the popular brands. At least go up to Roto's or if you're fancy, La Bella's. One doesn't need to go full Thomastik ($$$), but once you do go TI...
For playing in a band, flats all the way. They get rid of tones that wouldn't cut the mix anyways. The feel of them still throws me a bit on the plucking hand expecting more grip than there is, it's subtle but I'm working on it.
The TI's feel like silk under the fingers, and on fretless divine...

 

[Mili]

I voted Flats because in my opinion it sounds more like a Bass. also it has some advanteges : 1- no more dead strings problem (actually it gets better when you play it more) 2- Almost no fret wears 3- being easy on finger tips.

 

[Chickenwheels]

I’ve always liked flats or tapes on Precision basses. I dig that old school soul tone for the right situations.
Everything else gets rounds.

 

[gumbynotpokey]

I agree. However, I’d like to point out that Tony Franklin always used roundworms (aka roundwounds). DR HiBeams to be exact.

My enthusiast got the best of me!

 

[swink]

There are indeed folks that love flats. They absolutely do exist, but....if you ask string makers (who know how many (or rather few)) sets of flats get sold, they are a smaller bunch than you'd think from what you read on here.

They're a minority, but a vocal one. There are a lot more of us that have tried flats, and....just not our thing. There was one song I did a couple years ago, where I thought to myself "flats would be nice here" - one song for one gig, out of about 1000 gigs.

I don't want to challenge your rightness, but have you considered, that "flats" are only replaced towards the stage of decomposition and "rounds" are replaced by some when the "zing" is suspected to be out.

To answer the OP:
For me, it's like wheels: I like them round, but sometimes I run flats.

 

[lunarpollen]

Because they are super comfortable and sound best for most of the styles of music I like to play.

 

[tvbop]

Cause they retain the fundamental. Ive bought basses with rounds on and the instrument literally didnt make any sound....strings just flapped in the breeze, all low end and nout else. Once you learn to play flats the mid range becomes full and punchy.

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

I’m interested in why so many bassists love using flats as a posed to rounds.

For me personally, I have never really enjoyed using flats on any of basses. I could never get used to the feel or find a decent tone with them.

So, do you use flats, rounds, both, something else?

I’m mostly playing either DR Fat Beams, Hi/Sunbeams or Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats
If you haven’t tried them, I highly recommend the Cobalt Flats, they really changed my mind about flatwounds, they have a lively and articulate sound and feel much nicer on my fingers than say a set of Chromes. The only pair of Flats where I didn’t feel like I was limited with what I could play. They have all the brightness along with resonance a set of rounds has with a nice quick and solid feel!

 

[DrBnz]

The first attraction is eliminating the finger squeak.... then comes the smooth mellow tone. But ..... to me... flats don't go with everything. i.e. I prefer ROUND for Stingrays and J-Bass. Most others get flats.... Especially nice on P-bass, L-1000, Mustangs. And even then..... I can go either way on a P-Bass or Ric. They both sound good. So its not always a FLAT.