Flat wounds

[Clive Hugh]

I was talking to a guy behind the counter in a guitar shop about bass strings and said that I was thinking of giving flat wounds a go and his response was they go dead fairly quickly compared with round wounds. I wasn't aware of this, is he right or telling porkies?
Clive

[Tim Armstrong]

In my experience, they last LONGER. Of course, they're slightly deader to start, but they're really easy to clean, they don't accumulate gunk in between the windings like roundwounds can.

Cheers, Tim

[aunchaki]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

In my experience, they last LONGER.

+1 I think they last longer. If you take care of them (wipe them down after playing), I think they could last just about forever! I'm not a big change-strings-after-every-set guy. I do change guitar strings periodically, but I pretty much leave my bass strings on until I feel like a change.

Of course, Your Mileage May Vary.

[4mal]

There are tons of generic, cheap rounds out there. The market for flats being somewhat more limited - not so much. So far all the flat's I've seen have been at least middle of the road quality (GHS Brite's, D'Addario Chomes) and up (Thomastic Jazz Flats). They all last longer than than you ex pect them too...

In rounds, Thomastic SUper Alloy's last a very long time as well.

Me thinks that the basic quality of the string has lot's to do with the life of the string as well...

The coated string Elixir has a majorly long life span. Problem with them for me is that I hate the way they sound on my basses.

[Clive Hugh]

Thanks, I will get some flats, I want a bass to thump me in the knees not twang. If I want twang I've got a tele.
Clive

[FrankB]

Hey Clive,
I have a Fender Precision Bass also and, all it ever sees is Flatwounds.
A P-Bass with Flatwounds is one of the best sounding electric instruments ever in my opinion.
The only thing you may have to adjust to is the feel of them, which is more of a smooth velvety texture or buttery so to speak. You may want to set up the bass differently also being the tension is different with Flatwounds, I use the D'adario brand chromes I think. They sound superb and feel wonderful. They have a different kind of growl versus roundwounds which have more of a bzzz sound. there is a few clips of people on you tube playing a p-bass with flatwounds and guess what? They all sound grear and similarly unique.. if that made any sense.
You want thump? This is the way to get it and despite what other posters here have said in other threads, they are not lifeless or too dead, no way, not true. If you play with a band you'll love the ability to eq the bass to sit better in the mix and how it feels in the mix with the flatwounds....

[Tim Armstrong]

What Frank said!

One thing to keep in mind is that you'll probably have to adjust your setup a little, depending on string tension. I had to raise my action a little bit to eliminate fret rattle. No negative effect on playabilty, glad to report!

Cheers, Tim

[Andy R]

My experience with flats, which I use on several electric guitars as well as my '69 Tele bass- is that they last forever. It can take up to a year for them to break in properly, and really start sounding thumpy- and then it's groove time! I have a set on an old jazz guitar that are 9 years old now and just sound better and better. That guitar probably gets 15 hours and up a week play time.I do a lot of recording work with it, so trust me- if intonation was an issue, they would not be on there. The brand I use are La Bellas ( fair warning- I am an endorser of theirs) which are a true flat or ribbon wound. I believe that the D'A's are a ground wound, and I don't believe you wcould expect the same result with those.

[Mike Bruce]

I have stuck with flatwounds for over thirty years. Originally it was all about recreating something close to an upright bass tone, and I quickly learned to prefer fretless for the same reason, but it became as much about feel, string to string tonal consistency, and longevity.

D'Addario Chromes work well for me on both fretted and fretless five string basses. I have tried nylon (over steel) tape wounds but find they have less signal on my usual passive basses.

Unless you absolutely insist on a very bright tone, you may be happy with flatwounds. I suppose if you had several basses you could keep one strung for any purpose...not to feed your gear acquisition syndrome or anything.

Mike Bruce

[Tim Armstrong]

I've generally thought of flatwounds as "forever" strings (as in they pretty much last forever), but in recent years, as I've begun to really gig a lot, I've learned that I was wrong.

For example, I had a set of LaBella Hofner Beatle Bass strings on my Rogue copy that were great for about two years of gigging, and then just plain died. They started sounding like ALL thud, no sustain in the slightest.

A set of TI Jazz Flats that were on my P-Bass when I bought it became quite problematic, intonationwise (no idea how old they were, but they didn't last "forever"!).

I use (and love) the GHS Precision Flatwounds on my current basses, and I change them once a year whether they need it or not.

Cheers, Tim

[Clive Hugh]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

I've generally thought of flatwounds as "forever" strings (as in they pretty much last forever), but in recent years, as I've begun to really gig a lot, I've learned that I was wrong.

For example, I had a set of LaBella Hofner Beatle Bass strings on my Rogue copy that were great for about two years of gigging, and then just plain died. They started sounding like ALL thud, no sustain in the slightest.

A set of TI Jazz Flats that were on my P-Bass when I bought it became quite problematic, intonationwise (no idea how old they were, but they didn't last "forever"!).

I use (and love) the GHS Precision Flatwounds on my current basses, and I change them once a year whether they need it or not.

Cheers, Tim

Thanks Tim,
I'll get on to Stewmac tonight.
Clive

[Tim Armstrong]

Originally Posted by Clive Hugh

Thanks Tim,
I'll get on to Stewmac tonight.
Clive

I just checked Stewmac, and they only list roundwounds.

Juststrings.com ships internationally, but charge $40 to do so, for any size order, so if you go that way, you might want to order a lot of guitar strings, too!

Cheers, Tim

[4mal]

You can also check with Tom Appel at www.bassguitarstrings.us - he provides a prettty nice discount if you are an active member at babp (badassbassplayers.com) he also gives great service.

[Clive Hugh]

Tim, 4mal,
I ended up going with stringsandbeyond.com, they only charged $14.95 post for up to 10 items, all up $39.95, this is wayyyyy cheaper than the approx$85.00 plus post I'd pay here.
a couple of friends and I are going to place an order for 10 sets mixed guitar and bass and split the cost between us. Guitar strings are about $18 a packet here so we will save.
Clive

[Tim Armstrong]

Sounds like a good deal to me!

Cheers, Tim

[casterway]

The guitar player in my band, has a Jazz bass with 2.5 year old flatwounds on it, and it sounds just fine.

[EddieN]

Originally Posted by Andy R

I believe that the D'A's are a ground wound, and I don't believe you wcould expect the same result with those.

Naw, Chromes are ribbon too. I've peeled off a bit of the winding to make sure after hearing this a time or two.