Ernie Ball Pino Palladino flatwounds - £90 a set

[kevin_lindsay]

I've bought a set - better be decent at this price 

 

The most expensive strings I had bought previously were a set of LaBella "Jamerson" 1954 flats at around £50 (which seemed ludicrously expensive)

 

Anyone else ordered a set yet?

Or, any thoughts?

Edited Wednesday at 11:48 by kevin_lindsay

[fretmeister]

Quite a bargain compared to those Dogal Flatwounds!

 

Even if I won the lottery I'm not sure I could get my head round paying that much for strings.

[Linus27]

I guess the good thing is it will be a one time payment as they'll never need replacing. Still, I doubt they are any different to regular Ernie Ball Flats so you are paying for the name. 

[Burns-bass]

Pino must be demanding a decent amount of cash for his name…

[steantval]

I would pay £90 for them if they made me play like him.

[Lozz196]

6 minutes ago, steantval said:

I would pay £90 for them if they made me play like him.

Cheap at half the price - I accurately doubt I’d manage that if I paid 50 times more for them.

[TheRev]

£90? If they last 30 years like a good set of flats should then they're a bargain.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Snake Oil.

[Bigwan]

Paying quite a premium over the "normal" cobalt flats from Ernie Ball... Be interested to hear what the difference is beyond custom gauges...

[Beedster]

Whole set still cheaper than a single decent DB string 

 

But, yeh, they seem really expensive by the standards of electric bass strings, at least with DB strings there really - or usually is - is a noticeable difference in quality and tone as you go up through the price bands, I wonder if the same's true here? 

[wateroftyne]

How much better can they be than the tried & tested likes of La Bella etc? Are the silks made from unicorn manes?

[Beedster]

5 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

How much better can they be than the tried & tested likes of La Bella etc? Are the silks made from unicorn manes?

Well they are precision polished, which perhaps suggests that the standard strings aren't precision polished, merely polished imprecisely  

 

 

[Dan Dare]

I avoid anything - instruments, strings, etc - with an artist's name on it. You're bound to be charged a premium. Same applies to virtually anything, really - clothing, fridge-freezers, cuddly toys. If it bears an endorsee's name, you're going to pay more.

[Dad3353]

4 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

... If it bears an endorsee's name, you're going to pay more.

 

Sue Ryder..? 

Edited yesterday at 15:06 by Dad3353

[Bagman]

6 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

How much better can they be than the tried & tested likes of La Bella etc? Are the silks made from unicorn manes?

I have instruments with Chromes, GHS, Labella and Sadowsky flats 

The Sadowsky are significantly more expensive than the GHS and Chromes 

 

I don't know what is "better" just that I think the Labella's are "better" on the Jazz and the Chromes are "better" on the Precision etc .. 

[Reggaebass]

It’s a bit pricey for a set of flats imo, but if it turns out that they feel and sound exceptionally great for you then it’s worth it , you don’t know until you try, 

I held back buying the Olinto signature flats because I thought they were too expensive ,but gave in and bought them eventually and I’m really glad I did as I’m liking the change from my normal strings 

[JoeEvans]

Strings can potentially make more of a difference to the sound of a bass than any amp or pedal, so if paying £50 over the odds makes your instrument sound amazing, it might seem cheap at the price compared to a £400 preamp or £2k amp...

[Misdee]

If these strings are a serious proposition by Ernie Ball and Pino then it begs the question, what problem are they solving? What advantage do they offer?

 

What was wrong or lacking in some way with the La Bella and Thomastik strings PIno was using previously and how do these new strings remedy that? 

 

I've watched the YT video of PIno demoing them and talking about flats in general, but it's all very vague and non-specific about what exactly is special about these strings. To my ears  even with PIno playing them they sound like  just another new set of flat wounds, with the caveat that new flats don't sound very good to me. 

 

Ernie Ball don't make inferior products, I'm sure these are very good strings. However, in marketing terms I suspect what makes them extraordinary is that they cost more.

Edited 12 hours ago by Misdee

[spongebob]

5 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Sue Ryder..? 

Some of us who’ve been on here long enough get that! 😁

[Bagman]

I just bought a set of new EB Cobalt Flats 105 for £26.60 

 

($60 NZ$)

 

not tried them before 

 

 

[HeadlessBassist]

I thought Pino always used Thomastik Jazz Flats? (which are expensive enough as it is!)

[Mrbigstuff]

31 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

I thought Pino always used Thomastik Jazz Flats? (which are expensive enough as it is!)

I imagine the majority of his basses still have these on. From what I’ve heard he doesn’t tend to change them.

[theplumber]

18 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

I avoid anything - instruments, strings, etc - with an artist's name on it. You're bound to be charged a premium. Same applies to virtually anything, really - clothing, fridge-freezers, cuddly toys. If it bears an endorsee's name, you're going to pay more.

I like to go for anything that say's ''Pro'' on it. Like tools ,etc. It make's you better! right?

[Dad3353]

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

These are ultra light gauge: 38 - 54 - 68 - 98

 

They are a little lighter than the set I use on my thunderbirds and ric — the lightest (2815/blue) set in the standard cobalt flats range: 40 - 60 - 70 - 95

 

If the Pino set were half the price I'd try a set, but at £90 I doubt they'd be enough of an upgrade from my usual set.