flat-wound bass strings... - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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Topic: flat-wound bass strings...
Posted: September 14 2006 at 21:35

... any of you bass players have these type of strings ?
of so, do you like 'em ?

.

micky

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Posted: September 14 2006 at 21:42

utah_man wrote:

... any of you bass players have these type of strings ?
of so, do you like 'em ?

.

I used to have them on a P-Bass years ago

great for R&B or blues

however if you're playing prog or rock and want to be distinctly heard... go with Roundwounds... Rotosound of course LOL

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Jay440

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Posted: September 14 2006 at 22:38

My first Bass came with flatwounds, which were old and dull sounding. Then I bought some Ken Smith roundwounds for it and the sound came to life!

Years later, on that same bass, I tried these black Fender Tapewound strings, which were OK.

I once tried some Fender flatwounds on my Rickenbacker. They sounded pretty good, but it sure wasn't the tone that one usually wants to get from a Rick.

Flatwounds should be easier on the fingers, but the trade-off is a higher tension...at least they always seemed to feel tighter than roundwounds.

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Posted: September 14 2006 at 23:15

flat wounds are better for a fretless p bass (think juan of mars volta) and give you a very veryveryvery! similar standup sound. fretless j bass doesnt work for me.

stick with steel roundwounds. nice trebbely and sharp. theyre the sh*t

chopper

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Posted: September 15 2006 at 07:30

Flatwounds are quite good for getting that plinky sound that McCartney used to have with The Beatles. If I was in a Beatles tribute band I'd use them.

For anything else I'd use roundwouinds.

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Posted: September 18 2006 at 00:06

...ok i just went out and bought a set of rotosound flatwounds.
wow... made a big difference with this bass

i love 'em.

maybe i'll quit playing the guitar and start being a bass player LOL

DirkNJ

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Posted: September 18 2006 at 13:11

I have tried flat wound strings on numerous occasions but they just don't feel right, play right or have any snappyness to them. They seem to lose their sound much quicker than roundwounds so I have to say I do not like them. Thats not to say they are terrible, depends on the music you play, they sound your looking for and such. Me, I like a very snappy sound so I use Rotosound RS66's standard gague. Instruments are 3 Fender Jazz, a Ric 4003 and a Ric 4080

Zoso

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Posted: September 19 2006 at 22:44

I don't use them, except for on my fretless. They're best used to get that duller tone.

DirkNJ

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Posted: September 21 2006 at 09:17

Zoso wrote:

I don't use them, except for on my fretless. They're best used to get that duller tone.

I have an Ampeg "Baby Bass" which is an electric standup Bass and of course there are flats on there. If I get a chance I will get it out of storage and put a few pictures up here.

Also I agree that flats do have there place in certain styles of music that need a duller sounding Bass.

For me though I have been playing rounds for over 25 years and there's no going back now. If I put flats on now I would think that I was pushing down on a piece of electrical wire.

Edited by DirkNJ - September 21 2006 at 09:20

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Posted: September 25 2006 at 17:58

I have LaBella Deep Talkin' Bass flatwounds on my fretless Fender Jazz, and I really like the growly tone I get from them. SInce the finger board is not ebony, I can't really risk using halfs or roundwounds.

I use half-rounds on my Warwick fretless, and it's a totally different animal. Hopefully I won't need a new fingerboard too soon, but as it's ebony, I'm hoping for the best.