Question regarding flat wound strings

The original shortscale guitars; Mustangs, Duo-Sonics, Musicmasters, Jaguars, Broncos, Jag-stang, Jagmaster, Super-Sonic, Cyclone, and Toronados.

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Hurb
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Post by Hurb »

dezb1 wrote:
Hurb wrote: they cost 70 fucking quid!.

Whit? Fuck that!
yeah I wouldn't couldn't even try to begin to justify it to anyone. however the way I justify it myself is due them being stainless steel flatwounds they should last a long time maybe forever so its more of an upgrade than a string change. But there basically is no other option if you want flat wounds on a bass vi. There are however much cheaper options if you go for round wound, but still not many. I Think they are about 40 50 bucks in the states.

They certainly didn't blow me away straight away...like something costing that much should. but the more I play them the more I like them.
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Post by Hurb »

Doog wrote:Just curious to know what all the fuss is about really; listening to comparisons, I can still can only hear it as that:

[youtube][/youtube]
1:57 onwards here

I totally get that it's a haptic/feel thing too, though; I'm not poo-pooing the experience.
I am not normally someone who can pick apart nuance in sound comparisons but I could hear it on that. Altjough I don't think using nickle rounds vs steel flats is the best comparison.
The use of flats for me was simply an experiment to find out what the jag was about using strings that Leo designed to be on it. I happen to enjoy the feel and tuning stability as well as hopefully the longevity of them. I admit that any sound difference could easily be dialed in out with the amp though. This is thomastik-infeld I am talking about. No experience with the chromes
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Post by kingkiller »

Doog wrote:Apart from the feel, do they really sound any different to just backing your tone pot down a bit?
From what I hear, no, they don’t quite sound like that to my ears. Then again, the cheap pots in my mustang probably don’t lend themselves to subtle control adjustments. The flatwound sound is much more subtle than a tone control imo, they do just kind of sound a bit bassier.
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Post by kingkiller »

Hurb wrote:After putting the La Bella flatwounds on my bass vi I know what you mean about the rubbing that kinda slows your slides on the strings. The thomastik-infeld don't do that they feel much nicer. I think it must be the nickle vs stainless steel if the la bellas.
I love the thomastik-infeld and am not sold on the la bellas which is a shame as they cost 70 fucking quid! They do sound good their tension is crazy though.
I guess I’m gonna have to suck it up and find some thomastik-infelds somewhere to try out too
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Hurb
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kingkiller wrote:
Hurb wrote:After putting the La Bella flatwounds on my bass vi I know what you mean about the rubbing that kinda slows your slides on the strings. The thomastik-infeld don't do that they feel much nicer. I think it must be the nickle vs stainless steel if the la bellas.
I love the thomastik-infeld and am not sold on the la bellas which is a shame as they cost 70 fucking quid! They do sound good their tension is crazy though.
I guess I’m gonna have to suck it up and find some thomastik-infelds somewhere to try out too
This is total speculation. But I am finding with my La Bellas that they are becoming more slippy as I play them more. I could just be getting used to them, or they are soaking up all my finger grease haha!

Perhaps thst will happen with your Chromes?
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Post by BearBoy »

I've never found Chromes to be "sticky". The Half Rounds I've got on my bass definitely are more grippy though.
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Post by Doog »

Hurb wrote:
Doog wrote:Just curious to know what all the fuss is about really; listening to comparisons, I can still can only hear it as that:

[youtube][/youtube]
1:57 onwards here

I totally get that it's a haptic/feel thing too, though; I'm not poo-pooing the experience.
I am not normally someone who can pick apart nuance in sound comparisons but I could hear it on that.
Yeah man, I'm saying the difference I could hear there feels like it could equally be done with the right tone pot/cap. My CV Jag tone seems to effect a way different range to compared to my Mustang, probably down to cap values as much as the pickups and pots themselves.

Anyways, nae for me, but glad you guys are having fun x
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Hurb
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Post by Hurb »

The mustang will be 250k vs 1meg in the Jag right?
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Post by kingkiller »

Hurb wrote:The mustang will be 250k vs 1meg in the Jag right?
Either 250k or 500k I would imagine, but most likely the former. I’ve never actually checked, as I don’t usually turn my controls down :lol:
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Post by NickD »

Doog wrote:Just curious to know what all the fuss is about really; listening to comparisons, I can still can only hear it as that:

[youtube][/youtube]
1:57 onwards here

I totally get that it's a haptic/feel thing too, though; I'm not poo-pooing the experience.
It’s entirely feel for me, they change the sound a little but that’s not the reason I like them. It encourages me to play differently as well.
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Post by Nick »

This thread (as well as playing an old Framus hollowbody at Parkway, and loving the rotosound flats I put on my Hi Flier bass) convinced me that I need flatwounds on at least one of my guitars.

I bought some Thomastik Infeld 11's and decided to put them on my Kay Speed Demon. I'm enjoying them so far - I play this guitar unplugged most of the time and the feel and sound/volume is much more balanced than with roundwounds. Great for finger style, my right hand likes the feel better than the rounds. I also discovered that the Kay has a Gibson style truss rod nut and I don't have anything to tighten it with at the moment so I tuned it down to Eb and didn't put the wound 3rd on yet. It had 11's on it before so it should be fine until I can get to a shop or buy a tool to adjust the nut.