TI Flats Silk & Ball Colour

[thegummy]

I just put a set of TI flats on a bass that I'd had in a tin since I last took them off.

I noticed that the G sounds totally different to the rest then when I paid attention to the end, it has a red ballend and black silk whereas the other three have bronze or golden coloured ballends and red silk.

The only other set of flatwounds I've ever had (and still have all 4 of) are Roto and they all have red silk and red, white or blue ballends.

The G with the TI set is definitely a flatwound.

I'm baffled as to how this could have happened. I bought the TI set from StringsDirect. Could somehow a different G string be included by mistake at the factory? Seems only likely if the same factory package other brands too.

Any ideas?

[Chiliwailer]

This guy at Barnes & Mullins (distributers) helped me a few years ago when a string broke right out of the pack [email protected]

Good luck 

[three]

I’ve only ever seen TI flats with red silks and bronze/gold ball ends. I use TI rounds and they too have bronze/gold ball ends but with green silks. As Chiliwailer suggests, Barnes and Mullins may be able to help. My efforts to contact TI directly have met with silence - not great for a (seriously) premium and expensive brand

Edited June 23, 2019 by three

[thegummy]

Thanks a lot, really appreciate the info. I've emailed him, fingers crossed he can enlighten me.

I think that regardless of how this happened, I'll have to buy a new set anyway since it was 2 years ago I bought them.

I can't imagine not noticing how different it sounded the first time I put them on which makes me think the mismatch happened later. But then I've only ever had 2 packs of flatwounds and still have 8 flatwound strings.

[fretmeister]

Ti flats are definitely just red silks. They only do one gauge anyway.

 

[Ade on Bass]

7 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Ti flats are definitely just red silks. They only do one gauge anyway.

 

Correct! 👍🏻 😊

[thegummy]

Just to update, I haven't received a reply from the above guy but I did get a reply from strings direct.

He wasn't aware of that happening before but made a couple of suggestions that did cross my mind already.

He suggested, and I reckon correctly, that maybe the string core broke the last time I took it off or put it on. That would explain why the sound difference is so big, it's hard to believe any brand could sound like that and I can't believe I wouldn't have immediately noticed it if it was like that before.

That doesn't explain the colours so I'm starting to think it's possible I've replaced that string at one point but not remembered. Would be surprising but I suppose it's possible.

Just while typing this I had a thought - I did have the bass in a workshop having luminlays installed; it's possible the technician either broke the string and replaced it or accidentally got it mixed up when restringing it.