Flatwound Strings

[jay bass]

Anyone looking for a reasonable priced set of flats try these they are less than  half the price of the usual brands i use

i have tried just about every brand of Flats over the years and decided to try these Olympia Flats

i made a offer On ebay they cost me £13, il give a review when i have fitted them and tried them out

heres a link

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332486029353?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

regards

Jay

Edited March 6, 2022 by jay bass
spelling

[Boodang]

Every now and then Olympia comes up as a brand to try... never tried them myself but please do a review. To be honest the cheapness is off putting, so would be interested to know how good they are. The flats I currently use are the Galli Synthesis which are considerably more.

[musicbassman]

Yes, I've used these quite recently - they're perfectly fine - you'll play your bass and notes will come out.

 

Where they fall a bit short is, like many brands of flat, they don't respond tonally to differences in playing techniques - I use Ernie Ball Cobalt flats and when you use these and dig in on a P they have a lovely crunch to them. Conversely, if you play with the side of your thumb and palm mute they produce a great DB -ish tone.

 

Other strongly held opinions on various brands of flats are available...................!!!

[jay bass]

Yea i have tried and used most brands of flats over the years , la Bella Thomastik , Ernie ball Rotosound , D addario , Fender etc

i recently tried Maruszczyk Flats which are good value at £26 from Bass direct . just thought id try these , and see if they match up to any of the strings ive used previously. il let you know my findings when ive tried them

regards

Jay

Edited March 7, 2022 by jay bass
spelling

[Rayman]

The good thing about flats for me is that they're a long term investment... ie: I almost never change them. SO I'm happy to spend £50 on my favourite TI flats....  or D'Addario Tapes, which I don't plan to change, ever. The Sunn has tapes on it in particular, and until they deteriorate beyond being useable, they'll be on it for the duration. 

 

It would still be interesting to know what y'all think of the alternatives.

[uk_lefty]

10 hours ago, jay bass said:

recently tried Maruszczyk Flats which are good value at £26 from Bass direct . just thought id try these , and see if they match up to any of the strings ive used previously. il let you know my findings when ive tried them

I've got these on my Jack Casady. Gigged it last Friday, but unfortunately the sound was poor when the singer was playing guitar so I couldn't hear it. Sounded good when he wasn't playing guitar and I could hear it. I like them so far, nothing amazing or unique about them but they feel good to me and work perfectly for that bass. I do like EB Cobalt flats but think they suit P basses superbly and basses where you still want a lot of character in the sound on top of the flatwound "hollow" tone, whereas on my Jack Casady I just want a plain flatwound and let the bass do the rest.

[jay bass]

Yea Flats are an investment i rarely change them , they seem to imrove and mellow out over time and use.

the only time i usualy put a new set on is when i buy a instrument and change the strings before doing a set up

this is the case with the olympias, i have just bought a Vintera Jazz   strung with roundwounds and want to try it  with flats

i have 3 fender p basses 2 strung with Thomastiks a 51 jap re issue and 62 mex re issue and the other a 57 classic ressiue with a set of Maruszcyk flats

they all sound good to me and are comfortable playing wise , The Thomastiks are lower tension , the Marusczyks are slightly tighter but not as high tension as the La Bellas.will be intersting to see where the olympias sit in comparison.

 

[Bassfinger]

I can't stand Olympia. They're either dull or boomyl sounding, and feel stiff and heavy.

 

For the same money Adagio nickel flats are miles ahead, would be worth 40 quid in a differently branded packet.

Edited March 7, 2022 by Bassfinger
Found 20p glue to the floor

[police squad]

I have a set of these on a P bass but since I moved house I don't have any bass amps with me (still in storage) so I dont know how they sound. They feel ok, maybe a bit stiff but I only really play my JMJ mustang these days.

I'l bring my BLX-80 home soon and try it out

[ead]

On 07/03/2022 at 16:38, Rayman said:

The good thing about flats for me is that they're a long term investment... ie: I almost never change them. SO I'm happy to spend £50 on my favourite TI flats....  or D'Addario Tapes, which I don't plan to change, ever. The Sunn has tapes on it in particular, and until they deteriorate beyond being useable, they'll be on it for the duration. 

 

It would still be interesting to know what y'all think of the alternatives.

 

Also a TI fan.  I did change a set on one of my fretless basses, once.

[jay bass]

Update on my olympia flats

i depped with a 60's Band on friday night and used my 70's Vintera Jazz Bass strung with the olympia Flats

absoloutly no problem they sounded great for this Genre of music and felt comfortable to play all night

far less tension than the La Bellas ive used in the past.

so for me a bargain . il leave them on and monitor there performance.