hooky_lowdown

Thanks. I've read things from others who have tried half rounds, but gave little detail about the things or reasons to buy them, like smoothness, finger noise. Glad I saved you a few quid. 😀

Been curious about half rounds for a while, so got some as I like the feel of flats and the brighter and articulate sound you get from rounds, and put them on my p bass. What a disappointment! For the price (£36) these strings are a huge let down, way overpriced for what they are. They have some very thin plastic coating on them, which is fine, but they don't look or feel anywhere as smooth to the touch as flatwounds, as a result there's still a fair amount of finger noise, I would say half rounds give a minimal reduction (around 10%) less audible finger noise than standard rounds, they sound just like nickel rounds. As I had a new set of Fender nickel rounds laying around I thought I would wrap some fine sandpaper around them and rub them down, removing any debris with some alcohol wipes. Put them on the same p bass last night and they sound and feel exactly the same (only less sticky) as the half rounds, costing £20 less than the Daddario's. I don't know if the Daddario's will last longer than the rubbed down Fender nickel rounds, time will tell, even if they don't I will do the classic - soak them in alcohol. But for what the half rounds cost I feel they definitely not worth the money.

Waiting now for prices of Hondo's to rocket on fleabay!

I'm with you mate. I've had issues with eBay feedback. I too complained to eBay with no help from them.

Kay did make high quality upright basses and were a highly regarded brand name, much like old Epiphone, but having sold the name, they started making cheap copies through the 60s to 80s and sold in catalogues. However, any Kay bass before the company name was sold is a quality instrument and probably worth a wedge due to their rarity.

I am a flats guy. I love Chrome's, and I also like fender flats, I always use 45-100, however having used several sets of both on p basses, I've always found the tension for both to be similar, feel similar with Chrome's being slightly smoother. Chrome's sound brighter and warmer when both are new. All strings will dull in time, so not sure judging both at different stages of use is very scientific?

Hook famously said his Ric copy was the worst bass he ever played.

If you want a muddy sound, just roll off the tone on whatever bass you use. You'll thank me later!

Logo on headstock is totally wrong, the logo is 70s style and the font for the words Telecaster Bass is wrong also, it's called Sans Serif and would never have been used in 50s or 60s.

This is true. I used to work in advertising and marketing, and we make things up (called being creative) to entice people to desire something or value it higher than its true worth.

Interesting, the p being heavier than the j. Both are cool basses.

Out of curiosity, what are the weights of the basses?

Great score. Both are very good basses for very reasonable money.

Wow, this guy is very good.

RW and maple difference is a known fact, however the video I saw where two RW necks, one fender and one squire. Very different sound/quality.

So I am a p bass guy. I love both single coil and split pups. I have a split p bass, but am thinking of putting a single coil in it to replace or swop between the two, it has solderless electrics, so changing pup is easy. I don't want to buy a p bass with a SC pup, and have two basses. Obviously the pickguard for the split pup won't fit a SC pup, so need a new pickguard to fit a standard p bass which has a cut out for a SC pup. Does anyone know if there's anywhere I can buy one?

Flats with a dull sound, plus mudbucker will be a lot of low end. Steel rounds being brighter will give more definition to your sound, and nickel rounds sit near the middle, brighter than flats, but my choice would be half rounds or pressure rounds.

If you think it looks great, and it's a keeper, go for it.