About 2 years ago I bought my first bass, I've been playing guitar for twentysomething years but never owned my own bass. Knowing very little about bass I wanted for something versatile and not too expensive so I decided on the Squier VM Jaguar with P & J pickup configuration. (One of these:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_squier_vintmodjaguar_bass_sp_3.htm )
Anyway the bass arrived and was visually quite stunning and the fit and finish was very good indeed. So I started training my weedy guitar fingers to hold down these big strings. I managed to work out some of my favorite bass lines and started using it on my home recordings but I just never felt comfortable with it. There was lots string rattling going on while I was playing (although not coming through on the amp) and I just found it distracting and difficult to get any flow into my playing.
So last week I decided to try a set of flatwound strings to see if they might help. Well the difference is astounding!! It's like a brand new bass, no more rattles & I've actually managed to lower the action a touch more. It's much more comfortable to play and the icing on the cake is that it sounds fantastic. There's much more consistency to the notes as I move between strings whereas with the steel strings I'd get slight volume changes as I moved between strings (probably down to my bad right hand technique).
I know all of the bass playing community on here probably know all about flatwound strings but I thought I'd post this in case there are any other bass playing novices out there that are struggling to get the sound they want from their bass. I would imagine steel strings do have their place but for the music I play (blues/country/pop) flats simply rock.
Comments
https://soundcertified.com/speaker-ohms-calculator/
String depends on the genre I'd say. Roundwounds are more versatile but for that deep, round warm thuddy tone flatwounds all the way. Motown and Reggae being prime examples.
When it comes to slap, rock or metal I'd say round wounds have the sonic advantage to cut through a mix but there really are no rules.
It also helps that flatwounds play like butter.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
https://soundcertified.com/speaker-ohms-calculator/
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself