dmc79

Got to say I’m hugely impressed with Heistercamp. The quality of their goods and customer service is second to none. After losing well over 2 stone recently, and having no holes left on my tatty belt, it was a no brainer to get a handmade Heistercamp one. This is their ‘Classic Leather Belt’ with antique silver buckle. Black with red stitching to match the strap. Seems really top quality. The sizing guide on their site is spot on, and they come with 7 holes, more than on some belts. As with the strap, it came wrapped in tissue paper with a nice handwritten note, in a quality box. Here it is alongside the strap. Reasonably priced at £40.50 including next day postage (which cost them around £6-£7 to send). This includes an extra £1.50 to go from the standard 1” thickness to 1.25”, and an extra £1 for stitching. I think this is very fair considering the last 2 Hugo Boss leather belts I bought were £45 each, both wore out all round rather quickly, looking especially tatty around the holes, and peeling apart due to the lack of stitching. Another nice touch is the logo stamp on the underside of the buckle. Also the buckle is a good size with smooth round edges, my pet hate with belts is a big chunky buckle that digs into my stomach and feels sharp on the edges & corners. I’ve had Boss ones where the buckle felt fine at the time, then became painfully sharp as the coating wore away. I have no affiliation with Heistercamp but can’t recommend them highly enough for straps and belts. Also I’m loving the strap - the extra width & padding (combined with the weight loss) has resulted in significantly less neck / shoulder / back pain compared to a few months ago. The smooth leather backing is really nice too. This was a bit of a gamble as I’m used to suede backing, but the leather is so good. It’s not slippy, the bass stays in place, but if I need to move it a little, it moves easily without grabbing on my T-shirt like suede did. Great stuff!

Still a bit on fence with flats after a couple of months. I’m aware that you’re supposed to give them time, but does the sticky / grabby feeling ever go away? I’ve used Fast Fret a couple of times, it doesn’t seem to make that much difference. Perhaps Fender 9050L flats aren’t as glassy smooth to the touch as others. They feel ok when moving about quicker, but if I hold & sustain a note for a few seconds, the finger really gets stuck on the string. Is this just something you have to put up with when playing flats, or is it more that others are just smoother so it’s not an issue? I believe Chromes have a similar slightly grabby feel, but I pretty much ruled them out earlier anyway. Wondering about trying Ernie Ball stainless steel Group or TI Jazz. Are these smoother & less grabby? I’m sure La Bellas are nice and smooth but also ruled out as not the tone I’m after. Thanks

These are now taken

I recently got some Fender 9050L stainless steel flats, but got a dodgy ‘D’ string. I was sent a full replacement set even though I only needed one string (as all 4 come in the same packet). Instead of just replacing the faulty one, I decided to replace the entire set, even though the rest were nearly new, as I’d cut the originals slightly shorter than intended due to misreading my own notes! So I have 3 spares from the original set, which are only very lightly used, with the ‘D’ string missing. If the rest are of any use I’ll happily send them for free to a UK address: E .100 A .80 G .45 They are long scale, cut for 4 inline Precision bass tuners, and like I said cut slightly shorter than planned, but still a good one & a half wraps round tuning posts.

Belated thanks for the replies. After restringing an acoustic the other day in my lap, it moving about all over the place, and not having enough hands to keep it still whilst holding strings down & winding pegs, I decided that even though doing a bass is nowhere near as fiddly, I never want to restring like this again. I’ve just received the Hercules HA206 folding cradle. The quality of their stands made me want to try this. Whilst I’m sure the solid block ones are good, I like the fact that this folds down flat for storage. I was hoping it wouldn’t feel too flimsy, and I’m pleased to see there’s enough weight for it to seem pretty sturdy. It has little rubber non slip ‘feet’, is height adjustable and has the nice black & yellow colour scheme of their stands. Wish I’d done this years ago! Also ordered a smaller winder for acoustic / electric tuning pegs, I have the wider combined winder / string cutter for bass pegs, which is very cumbersome to use on smaller tuning pegs.

Just tried the Clayton Acetal standard .80 pick. I should’ve known with it being a harder material, but it plays thicker than its gauge due to how stiff it is. I’ve got so used to that bit of flex from medium nylon picks, and these don’t have much give at all, it felt like I was fighting with it the whole time. Feels like a .88 green Tortex to me, or a 1mm nylon. It’s clicky like a Tortex too. It has a decent grip (always found Tortex either too powdery or too smooth in this regard), but for a .80 pick, this is far too stiff for my liking. I suspect I wouldn’t even like their .63 for the same reason. May have to give these away as I have 6 of them and probably won’t use them again.

How did it go Trevor?

Still getting used to the flats vibe, but I must say I really love the smooth feel and lack of finger screech. Still feels a little hard to judge, with how rough the D is. I don’t recall ever getting a duff string before, but this one feels like someone in the factory was having a bad day, and put a Seafoam Green wrap on a stainless steel round for fun, and packaged it in with 3 flats. It sticks out like a sore thumb from the other strings, and may give me sore fingers to play it. Kind of feels too late to contact the seller (a music shop’s eBay store) especially as I left feedback when they arrived. I suppose I could mention it to them, but I doubt they’d split a pack up to send a single string replacement to me. I’ve had a look and it seems you can’t buy these strings individually, which is a shame. I’d happily send someone a few quid for a single Fender 9050L ‘D’ flatwound string (0.60). . .

Fender 9050L flats are on. I guess this is why it’s worth wiping new flats with alcohol. Only had a little play acoustically and haven’t checked the intonation yet, but these strings feel so nice and smooth. Except the D, which is strangely rough and grabby and almost feels like they put a round in by mistake.

Thanks. No nitro finish here anyway. I found some 91% alcohol IPA. I guess I can find a cotton cloth / old t-shirt. You wouldn't use a soft paper hand towel even on flats?

Thanks for your kind offer. I've got the Fender 9050L flats ready to go on, so I'll pass, but thanks anyway. I'll see how the flats go, if I like them I guess I'll keep the Fenders on for a while, then maybe try the Ernie Ball stainless steel Groups.