dmc79

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.

Thanks. I’m unfamiliar with cleaning new strings, come to think of it I never clean my strings at all, though I do always wash my hands before playing. Can I pretty much use any isopropyl alcohol (IPA) for this? I may have some in the shed, will check when home. I guess you just apply with a soft paper towel or similar? Also I suppose there are packs of IPA wipes out there too. I see there are actual guitar string wipes such as Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes. Are these worth getting? Thanks

Thanks. Whilst I don’t feel the need to bend strings much, I guess what you are meaning is this kind of thing. . . ‘My Echo’ by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Cool slice of summer jangle with a fun video. A fair bit of bending going on here, see 2:00 - 2:20. During the solo bass bit, I really like that tone that is slightly gritty yet still smooth, as opposed to abrasive with a ton of finger screech. I’m guessing he’s using flats there, likely the lower tension ones like TI or La Bella. What do you think? My Fender 9050L strings have arrived & will be going on soon. I keep feeling how smooth they are through the packet!

Here’s my new custom order Heistercamp strap. I haven’t used it yet other than trying it on at home and matching the length to my old strap, but it looks & feels great. Top service from the staff, they contacted me when it was posted with tracking details (sent next day guaranteed by 1pm, though I was out so got it a day later). It came well wrapped with tissue paper, in a lovely box, with a cuddly keyring (which is now on my gear rucksack), strap blocks, picks, business card & handwritten note. In case anyone is curious (most of their straps I’ve seen on here are unpadded), the padding is about 21” long, 2.5” wide, and makes the strap about 8mm thick for the part it covers. The padding is as wide as it can be to allow for the stitching on the 3” strap. The front is most definitely black, it just looks a bit grey as I took the pics outside in the sun. The leather is super soft and the quality is amazing. The option to customize colour & have a differently coloured backing is really cool. This will go well with my Candy Apple Red Precision. I’m impressed.

Thanks, this is the Fender guide I refer to. I guess I was just curious about them recommending a 3” cut on the E, and 3.5 on the A, D & G. It seems that people generally just go 2 tuners (around 3.5”) up regardless of the string. Cheers all.

The black silks (top pic) are top loaded, and from memory as I didn’t keep the bass long, the red silks (bottom pic) were thru body strung Maybe GHS Pressurewounds just have a particularly short silk on the E, just done a bit of searching and other photos of them are very similar to mine. Which means I’m most likely overthinking it anyway!

Interesting stuff. Here’s mine right now, following Fender’s advice of 3” for E, and 3.5” for all others. GHS Pressurewounds. This is what I mean when I say it somehow doesn’t seem quite right not having any ‘spare’ silk on the E once tuned up. Here’s a P bass I received with La Bellas on. Nicely lined up and plenty of silk on the E: I wonder when I restring soon (with Fender 9050 flats), whether to just cut an inch longer on them all (that would be 3.5” for E, and 4” for others). I’d love to get it looking like the La Bella pic, but is it just the case that they have longer silks to begin with, so it’d make little difference?

Thanks for replies so far. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not obsessed over the silks lining up perfectly, I’d just like them to be close, and for there to be a bit more silk showing on the E once tuned.

Just wondering what people’s rule of thumb is for where to cut each new string for 4 inline tuners, well specifically for a P bass. For this kind of thing, I use a combination of following a printout of Fenders own setup guide, notes I’ve made over the years & advice from YouTube videos. Fenders setup guide (4 string) says to cut the E string 3 inches past the tuning post, then the A, D & G strings 3 & a half inches past. I’m guessing they say to cut the E shorter simply so because it’s the thickest one and there’s no need to go crazy with too many wraps around the post. But doing this I often end up with barely any silk showing once tuned up, sometimes none at all, which just seems wrong. The A, D & G silks line up reasonably well, but the E just seems a bit off, following Fenders guide. I’ve seen a few videos, some just go 2 tuning pegs up (which is about 3 & a half inches) then cut. Others go around 1 & a half tuning pegs up then cut. Then some leave considerably more string before the cut. Have you found a method of P bass new string cutting that works well and lines up all 4 silks fairly well?

I’ve always done restringing on a sofa and balanced the neck over the end armrest, but every time I see someone doing a ‘proper’ restringing / setup on YouTube the bass is properly stabilised on a table with the neck on some sort of cradle, so I’m thinking of getting one. Just wondering what type people use, I haven’t looked into this in much depth, but so far I can see the solid block type, a folding Hercules one, and the Fender ‘Arch’ one, which handily comes with its own case and tray for putting bits on whilst working. Can anyone recommend any of these or anything else that’s out there? Thanks