School me on bass guitar strings

Dave_Vader

ICBM, Fretmeister and Bridgehous all arguin over flats v rounds and picks v fingers.

I have accidentally clicked on Basschat again...

Bridgehouse

Dave_Vader said:

ICBM, Fretmeister and Bridgehous all arguin over flats v rounds and picks v fingers.

I have accidentally clicked on Basschat again...

Nah. Can’t be Basschat. Nobody has had a hissy fit and accused anyone of killing rock and roll yet...

fretmeister

Ha! 

guitarfishbay

With flats should you use the same gauges you'd pick with rounds or would you typically go lighter/heavier?  Also does a low B sound good or is it quite wooly?  Interested to try a set out just to give the flats on a P bass thing a proper go myself.

Bridgehouse

guitarfishbay said:

With flats should you use the same gauges you'd pick with rounds or would you typically go lighter/heavier?  Also does a low B sound good or is it quite wooly?  Interested to try a set out just to give the flats on a P bass thing a proper go myself.

I’ve got a set of chrome flats on my 5 string and the low B sounds epic - not woolly at all.

The standard 45-105 gauge for flats will be fine for general playing

fretmeister

For Chromes and Rotos I go down a gauge.

For TI flats there is only 1 set available anyway.

jpfamps

Winny_Pooh said:

Also re frequently recorded. Gauranteed that Lee Sklar, Tony Levin, Nathan East and other session genuises have played on way more albums than the motown P bass guys. As soon as they could many players ditched flats for rounds on a jazz bass and funked the crap out of the 70's. 
Even P players in the 80's Like Adam Clayton & Phil Lynott certainly used rounds.

Lynott used flats.

fretmeister

guitarfishbay said:

With flats should you use the same gauges you'd pick with rounds or would you typically go lighter/heavier?  Also does a low B sound good or is it quite wooly?  Interested to try a set out just to give the flats on a P bass thing a proper go myself.

Low B on a flatwound is a funny thing.

I have experimented massively and at stupid expense for this.

I've tried Ernies - cobalt and regular, TI, Chromes, Roto 77, La Bella Deep Talkin' and their Low Tension Flats, Dunlops, and Elites.
I've also tried La Bella and D'addario Nylon tapes.

The main problem is that a low B often sounds unbalanced compared to the other strings, depending on your bass construction.
At the time I had a Marleaux Consat Custom and a Stingray 5.

The Marleaux has the best low B I've ever heard at any scale length. Most of the flats still sounded dull on that low B. Too flubby where a roundwound was clear and balanced. Most of the sets were great EADG, but the B let them down badly.

The Ernie Cobalt was pretty good but far brighter than regular flats. Would need to get very old to sound like old flats.

The La Bella White Nylon was excellent - but again it's bright -  it's really a round wrapped in flat nylon tape to reduce finger noise. A great string, but not a flat sounding one. The Black Nylons are more old fashioned but I didn't like their feel.

The best one that sounded like a traditional flat and still had enough note definition was the Thomastik TI. I's a very supple string and many don't like the lower tension. It does need a bit of plucking technique adjustment but it does sound very good.

I've got TI on my PJ-Ray 5 and it's good. Not as good as the Marleaux was, but still better than all the others.


When I've got some more money I'm going to try mixing - maybe use a Half-wound / Groundwound / Pressurewound B to go with the other true flats.

String mixing is very common on double bass so it might be a great idea.

Winny_Pooh

jpfamps said:

Winny_Pooh said:

Also re frequently recorded. Gauranteed that Lee Sklar, Tony Levin, Nathan East and other session genuises have played on way more albums than the motown P bass guys. As soon as they could many players ditched flats for rounds on a jazz bass and funked the crap out of the 70's. 
Even P players in the 80's Like Adam Clayton & Phil Lynott certainly used rounds.

Lynott used flats.

Rotosound indeed made flats, duly corrected. 

fretmeister

Rotosound still make Flats.

Steve Harris is probably their current most famous user. That P bass and flats sound he’s got is massive.

Although he changes them every single show! 

Rocker

fretmeister said:

Rotosound still make Flats.

Steve Harris is probably their current most famous user. That P bass and flats sound he’s got is massive.

Although he changes them every single show! 

What does he do with the discarded strings?  I would like to try flats on my Precision (played with fingers), his 'old' ones would do nicely.

fretmeister

No idea!

There once was a used string charity sending old strings to poorly funded schools across the world but I think it closed.

Be aware - Rotosound flats are very stiff. The regular 45-105 set is mental enough. Harris uses 50-110. I have no idea how he manages to fret a note with those at all.

They are very bright out of the packet and then settle down.

If you want to try old school flats then the traditional choice is La Bella Deep Talkin' Flats. As used by Jamerson, Dunn, Kaye etc.

They are reasonably heavy too - go for the 40 set if you don't like heavy strings.

TI's are my favourite by far but they can be expensive. Have to search for best prices. But you will get 10 years out of them.
They are low tension. Some don't like that!

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Finally had a chance to fit the D'Addario Chromes I ordered. First impressions - so far so good. Definitely have a brighter tone than the TIs, though how much of that is down to general 'new string zing' that may wear off, will have to see.

They still feel nice and comfy to touch on my wimpy fingertips, no major difference from the Tis. Biggest difference I've noticed so far is the increased tension. The gauges are almost identical but feel noticeably stiffer - will hopefully help me develop some stronger fingers as a result I guess!

Do Chrome flats normally last for as many years as normal flats do?

Dave_Vader

Rocker said:

fretmeister said:

Rotosound still make Flats.

Steve Harris is probably their current most famous user. That P bass and flats sound he’s got is massive.

Although he changes them every single show! 

What does he do with the discarded strings?  I would like to try flats on my Precision (played with fingers), his 'old' ones would do nicely.

I met a bloke in Cornwall with a massive box of his old strings - he roadied for a Maiden tour.

I didn't like them as much as I thought I would (and I like Flats in general) and gave back the set I got off him.

John_A

Just read through this.  Played bass in a band for years and always thought flatwounds were just ‘what they used in the oldendays’. Think I’ll give some a go 

Freebird

My Precision turned up with a set of TI flats, and is sounds just like I imagined a decent rock bass would sound. The secret is to use a green Tortex pick á la Kim Deal 

https://themusicoutlet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/TortexStandard-5.5.png

4string

Freebird said:

...The secret is to use a green Tortex pick á la Kim Deal 

Accept no substitute (I have tried).

EricTheWeary

D’addario EXL 220 (40-95) on my son’s bass. To the best of my memory as recommended by @fretmeister . They seem to be good all round strings, been on three years I think. 

John_A

Just restrung my Stingray with flats, first set of flats I've ever tried, it's a revelation!  Gave up playing bass in bands 10 years ago in favour of 6-string, and I'm so excited I'm seriously considering finding a band again.

fretmeister

Which ones did you get?

They are all very different.