thebrig Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Does anyone know of any flats that don't have silk wrapping? I'm sure I will be told that the tone is more important than cosmetics, butĀ I hate brightly coloured wrapping on strings with a passion!Ā š§ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 (edited) Hi brig, Ā I think they might beĀ Ā here somewhere , Iām sure someone found a set somewhere Ā š Ā Edited August 18, 2020 by Reggaebass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 In a word... no. I've been looking for flats with no silks for years, no joy. š„ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted August 18, 2020 Author Share Posted August 18, 2020 1 hour ago, Reggaebass said: Hi brig, Ā I think they might beĀ Ā here somewhere , Iām sure someone found a set somewhere Ā š Ā Thanks, I must have missed that thread, I've just read it with interest and it seems I'm not alone in my dislike for silk wrapping. I remember trying some black nylon strings once, I paid quite a bit for them but they had bright gold wrapping which looked hideous over black, they lasted about two days before I removed them.Ā š« I think I could live with grey or even black wraps, but not the bright colours unfortunately. Don't the manufacturers realise that the brightly coloured wraps stop a lot of us buying their strings?Ā š¤ 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushbo Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 (edited) I may be doing something potentially life threatening but... I swapped some flats out from one bass to another, which generated the inevitable "tatty silk at the tuning peg end" effect. I got my handy craft knife and rubbed gently along the frayed silk and it came off easily and cleanly, which eased my mild case of OCD immediately. I've never removed any silk from the bridge end, but if there's no significant reason why strings must have silks at the peg end (and a quick Google search seems to corroborate that) then as long as you have a cheapo craft knife and 10 minutes of spare time, you too can eradicate the horror of a frayed silk. Caveat: The silk bits turn to dust and fly everywhere, so have a dustpan and brush to hand, or do it outside. Edited August 18, 2020 by rushbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted August 18, 2020 Author Share Posted August 18, 2020 52 minutes ago, rushbo said: Caveat: The silk bits turn to dust and fly everywhere, so have a dustpan and brush to hand, or do it outside. Not only is it colour of the wraps I dislike, but even without taking a craft knife to them, dust seems to fly off them anyway, especially at the bridge end when you are threading them throughĀ š§ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AinsleyWalker Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 2 hours ago, thebrig said: Thanks, I must have missed that thread, I've just read it with interest and it seems I'm not alone in my dislike for silk wrapping. I remember trying some black nylon strings once, I paid quite a bit for them but they had bright gold wrapping which looked hideous over black, they lasted about two days before I removed them.Ā š« I think I could live with grey or even black wraps, but not the bright colours unfortunately. Don't the manufacturers realise that the brightly coloured wraps stop a lot of us buying their strings?Ā š¤ Haha that thread... I ended up ignoring replies after a while, seem to remember getting some stick from people for 'caring too much' or whatever. Can't help liking things a certain way!Ā š¤·āāļø I don't mind the sight of silks, I just hate when they're badly misaligned, can deal with a few mm or whatever but sometimes you get one, (Often the E string) that doesn't line up and it bugs me haha. Last time I got my bass setup they put some flats on and they were all aligned perfectly, but people on here seem to think it's impossible to do every time... Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AinsleyWalker Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 But if you're just looking for black/plain coloured flats, I'm fairly sure La Bella Deep Talking Flats have black silk wrapping on them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonse Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Dunlop flats have black silks so they're not too imposing. They're waxed / lacquered so you don't get bits of silk / dust flying all over the place either and they're super smooth.Ā Well worth checking out.Ā 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 I could be wrong but I donāt think labella gold flats have any silk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted August 18, 2020 Author Share Posted August 18, 2020 4 hours ago, rushbo said: I may be doing something potentially life threatening but... I swapped some flats out from one bass to another, which generated the inevitable "tatty silk at the tuning peg end" effect. I got my handy craft knife and rubbed gently along the frayed silk and it came off easily and cleanly, which eased my mild case of OCD immediately. I've never removed any silk from the bridge end, but if there's no significant reason why strings must have silks at the peg end (and a quick Google search seems to corroborate that) then as long as you have a cheapo craft knife and 10 minutes of spare time, you too can eradicate the horror of a frayed silk. I've literally just had a go at removing the wrapping off some old flats that I'm replacingĀ with a craft knife, and it worked a treat. Thanks for the tip rushboĀ š 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushbo Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 42 minutes ago, thebrig said: I've literally just had a go at removing the wrapping off some old flats that I'm replacingĀ with a craft knife, and it worked a treat. Thanks for the tip rushboĀ š My pleasure....just donāt blame me if the universe implodes, due to your silk removal! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 14 hours ago, rushbo said: My pleasure....just donāt blame me if the universe implodes, due to your silk removal! Lol, all this fuss over some ghastly coloured silk wrapping?Ā š Ā 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoham Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 I see Picato are mentioned on that linked thread above. I bought a set of Picato flats from Strings Direct in May. They were described as having blue silk at both ends - however the strings I received had no silk at all. I've actually taken off the bass now and replaced with rounds, given I now unexpectedly have two very similar jazz basses, after the return of one stolen months ago! George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 7 minutes ago, geoham said: I see Picato are mentioned on that linked thread above. I bought a set of Picato flats from Strings Direct in May. They were described as having blue silk at both ends - however the strings I received had no silk at all. I've actually taken off the bass now and replaced with rounds, given I now unexpectedly have two very similar jazz basses, after the return of one stolen months ago! George If you want to sell the flats with no silks, PM me. š Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted December 6, 2020 Share Posted December 6, 2020 (edited) On 18/08/2020 at 14:26, AinsleyWalker said: But if you're just looking for black/plain coloured flats, I'm fairly sure La Bella Deep Talking Flats have black silk wrapping on them In my experience La Bella 760FS is the set with black silk. Although the Strings Direct website says they are blue. Edited December 6, 2020 by EssentialTension Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted December 6, 2020 Share Posted December 6, 2020 The LaBella flats I put on my Hofner Club (they're actually listed for the violin bass but the same thing) had black silks. One of them snapped whilst first tuning and LaBella sent me a replacement but it had a grey silk. I don't know if they're moving from black to grey, I hope not as I like the black silks.Ā A black Sharpie sorted the mismatch out.Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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