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Flats!


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Guest Bald Eagle

I 've had a twilight zone moment, I just ordered a set yesterday - I have a feeling flats will be this years black of the bass tone fashion :)

BTW. Does anyones action or intonation suffer when changing from rounds to flats, is truss rod adjustment required say from light gauge rounds to medium flats 50-100?

Edited by Bald Eagle
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Guest Bald Eagle

[quote name='The Burpster' post='75442' date='Oct 17 2007, 08:41 AM']Flats have to have slightly more tension to get the correct pitch so there will be a slight t-rod sdjustment going from rounds to flats, and guages work roughly the same as a guage change in roundies!
:huh:[/quote]

Thank you, I thought something would need a tweek - can't wait to get them on but not arrived yet :)

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Must admit I had always wanted to try flats, so a little while ago I decided to string one of my Rays with EB flats and was instantly impressed. I was actually a little surprised that they didn't sound THAT different from their roundwound nickel Slinkys (still quite bright, which wasn't what I was lead to believe flats would sound like). At the same time the "out of the packet" tone of these strings seems to be lasting much longer than I've noticed the roundwound slinkys last (before going "dead"). I've even tried playing this bass with a pick, and it doesn't sound that different from my other Ray strung with nickel rounds.

Another added bonus is the fact I can down-tune this bass without needing to adjust the trussrod, and because of the high tension of these strings compared to roundwounds they don’t feel anywhere near as floppy as the roundwounds I’ve had on my down-tuned basses in the past.

With respect to friction burn on flats (as someone else mentioned earlier) I too had a problem with this, but after someone suggested I use my string cleaning wipes on them, I tried this and it has worked wonders. Not sure what the wipes have actually accomplished, but my flats are now much slicker and I have no problems sliding around the fretboard anymore.

So the long life issue is definitely worth the offset in price. I'd like to try some other brands of flats, but don't anticipate needing to replace these for quite a while.

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Guest Bald Eagle

Flats turned out to be a bit of an anti climax for me, just tried a set of Fender 40-100 S/S (probably not the best set to try admittedly) on a MIA Jazz and I hated them. The action and intonation went to pot and I found the difference in tension and 'stickiness' just too much to live with, to the point even fretting a note after a few minutes was starting to be painful. I've just put some old stainless rounds back on frigged about with the intonation [i]again[/i] and killing the treble give's me more or less what I [i]think[/i] I want tone wise, longer term I will revert back to medium nickels and experiment more with the amp settings.

Hey ho nothing ventured etc.. so a nearly brand new set of flats been on 3 days and played for about 4-5 hours going very cheap if anyone wants them :)

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[quote name='Bald Eagle' post='78549' date='Oct 23 2007, 10:10 PM']Hey ho nothing ventured etc.. so a nearly brand new set of flats been on 3 days and played for about 4-5 hours going very cheap if anyone wants them :)[/quote]

How cheap?
I'd like to give them a try...

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Guest Bald Eagle

[quote name='Matty' post='78573' date='Oct 23 2007, 11:15 PM']How cheap?
I'd like to give them a try...[/quote]

They cost me £16 inc P&P so make me an offer!
Nothing sensible will be refused got the cover and envelopes just not the cellophane wrapper.


BTW was this thread moved? Cause it took me bloomin ages to find it again could of swore it was in general discussion before?? :)

Edited by Bald Eagle
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[quote name='Telebass' date='Oct 3 2007, 11:53 AM' post='69001']
For the first time since, oooh, 1975, I've strung up my standard P-bass with a set of flats.
Wow! I'd forgotten how nice this could be!
They are a NOS set of Picatos, so probably not representative of today's flats, but they'll be staying on!

MB1. :)

"Youd change your mind if you lived in a block of them!".
Sorry.......should have gone to Specsavers!

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[quote name='Bald Eagle' post='78549' date='Oct 23 2007, 10:10 PM']Flats turned out to be a bit of an anti climax for me, just tried a set of Fender 40-100 S/S (probably not the best set to try admittedly) on a MIA Jazz and I hated them. The action and intonation went to pot and I found the difference in tension and 'stickiness' just too much to live with, to the point even fretting a note after a few minutes was starting to be painful. I've just put some old stainless rounds back on frigged about with the intonation [i]again[/i] and killing the treble give's me more or less what I [i]think[/i] I want tone wise, longer term I will revert back to medium nickels and experiment more with the amp settings.

Hey ho nothing ventured etc.. so a nearly brand new set of flats been on 3 days and played for about 4-5 hours going very cheap if anyone wants them :)[/quote]
Not an unusual flats experience - thats why TI Jazz Flats are so popular.
I would not have tried with Fender strings because I have always found them to be sh*t - not that I have tried them for about 20 years. They used to ship their basses with rounds and a flat E string that I always thought was totally weird.
You could always try halfs. They have more of a round feel in terms of tension etc but smooth, some are nearly as bright as rounds and some are nearly as dull as flats.

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[quote name='bass_ferret' post='78776' date='Oct 24 2007, 12:34 PM']Not an unusual flats experience - thats why TI Jazz Flats are so popular.
I would not have tried with Fender strings because I have always found them to be sh*t - not that I have tried them for about 20 years. They used to ship their basses with rounds and a flat E string that I always thought was totally weird.
You could always try halfs. They have more of a round feel in terms of tension etc but smooth, some are nearly as bright as rounds and some are nearly as dull as flats.[/quote]


I'm currently A/Bing TI Jazz, D'Addarios, LaBella DTs and a set of rather mysterious and enigmatic flats that, somewhat oddly, arrived on my Modulus Flea. I'm trying them on rosewood and maple necks on two Precisions, and I have to say, the set that's winning is the set that I can't identify (I'm going to measure the gauges later and see if they match up with any commercially available sets)! I like the TI's a lot for their flex, so I think they're going to go on my Fretless P/J. LaBellas I've yet to try but am keenly awaiting the outcome. I will say that what I've found with flats compared to rounds is that the difference between rounds played at low volume and high volume is often not huge. However, the difference between flats in the same conditions can be substantial - a set that sounds dead on a bass played unplugged or through a 30W amp can create a sonic wave sufficient to humble the most Marshall-laden axe merchant played through a decent rig. I doubt I'll ever revert to rounds on my Precisions, and I have to say, the beautifully mellow tone I get out of the Flea with flats is also starting to win me over. The only bass now I feel requires rounds is my active fretless which needs those harmonics to really sing.
Chris
PS Bald Eagle, I'll have those Fender flats off you for a fair price if only to add more data to my flat testing?

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One set that's recently caught my attention is Ernie ball flats, usually i hate with a passion anything with the lable 'slinky' but i needed a set of flats quick so thought why not.
Recently i have been using chromes, as much as i love the TI flats sometimes when playing faster stuff the extra tension of chromes helps, the ernie ball flats are now my current top of the list favourites, they have a really sweet top end and could almost be described as bright but can do the 'thump' thing. The tension in .100 gauge is just right, not like playing a set of steel rods like la'bellas or a little too soft like TI's can be. Another thing i like about them is they are realy slick, it takes a while for TI's to loose that sticky feeling but the EB flats are spot on out of the packet. Highly recomended...

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i put a set of thomastik flats on my bravewood jazz last night!!!!

the feel of these strings is awesome but the sound???

the E and the G sounded just as i expected but the A and the D sounded totally dead!!! not good!! :)

with the postal stike id waited over 2 weeks for these only to be dissapointed!!

i hope i was just unlucky! theyre not cheap so i dont think i'll be tryin them again!!

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When i got my first Jazz in 2005 i tried a set of TI's and loved them. They felt so soft and easy to play. I did miss the sparkle though that i love from Nicks.
I used them on qutie a few gigs but i also had comments about sounding "dead" and "getting lost in the mix". I ended up taking them off and trying other types like halfwounds but never really saw the point of those so went back to nicks.
Now i had a 50's P coming ive been looking everywhere for my old set of TI's. I know i didnt throw them but for the life of me i cant find them.
Guess ill have to get another set. I used Thomann's last time, anyone know a cheaper place?

Chris, do you want to sell yours?

Edited by dave_bass5
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I've been experimenting this last week with some flats.....there's not much of a selection for a 6 string bass.

TI flats, I wasn't overly impressed, and they were the most expensive.
The main thing with them was the odd guages, a 136 B and then 100, 70, 56, 43, 33. They felt OK, perhaps a little too loose, and the sound wasn't really to my liking.

Rotosound RS77s - way too much tension, for me anyway. Quite a nice bright sound, I could get a reay nice Stanley Clarke sound out of them, they were just way too tight though.

Status hotwires......my favourites and they were actually the cheapest as well.
Just the right amount of tension for fast fingerstyle funk or jazz, and a very balanced sound, not too much of anything, enabling you to EQ in the sound you need....highly recommended.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is a clip with my [url="http://www.noiz.gr/modules/My_Uploads/user_folders/fleamail/flatmust3.mp3"]Mustang With Flats[/url] Recorded direct to soundcard.

They are webstrings flats and I haven't changed them for almost 2 years now! They still sound great and I play this bass almost everyday!

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[quote name='mdc' post='92459' date='Nov 21 2007, 11:36 PM']I swapped out all my flats and halfs for DR Sunbeams and I'm happy... accordingly these are surplus - about a year old but unopened - anyone want to give them a try?



Mike[/quote]

How much are you after for them?

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