Silvia Bluejay

I've been a member for one month today, and very happy I am that I joined. Threads that are both interesting and fun, friendly discussions, a wealth of info to be found both in past threads and in expert members' very helpful replies to my recent questions, and the knowledge that there will always be someone who shares your experiences. Thank you all for making me feel at home here. Keep up the good work.

Absolutely. But to go back on topic, left-handed people are a minority: if not even they are united in creating demand for left-handed objects - because a percentage of them, happily or otherwise, manage to learn to use the right-handed version - then manufacturers won't bother catering for us properly. (The exceptions in our field being the German guitar makers I mentioned above.)

Some info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-handedness With apologies for going off topic! Will stop immediately.

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1322748503' post='1455310'] Don't get me started! The entire language is thick with it. *pause for deep, calming breath* [/quote] I'm not a Romance Philology expert (although I studied Latin and ancient Greek, as well as Germanic Philology), but I seem to remember learning somewhere that many of the unfavourable connotations to anything "left" originate from the use the Church made of the concept in the Middle Ages, possibly also on the basis of previous superstitions. Can't remember the exact reason though. Enough material for another dissertation!

Yeah, and what about the meaning and connotations of the word "dextrous" vs "sinister"? Sigh.

I had guessed that correctly then, after checking the strings online. Thanks for clarifying.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1322672969' post='1454307'] TI Jazz Flats are low tension nickel flats and have a brighter more middy sound than is common with many flats. They are sensitive to the way they are played and can produce a range of sounds. [/quote] Thanks for that Dave - sounds good, and I'll keep it in mind.

Excellent, thank you Geoff.

PS I think I need to add that I did change the strings following the proper procedure, and the unwinding/exposing the core/dismantling and general fiddling around was simply out of curiosity! Also, it wasn't the first time I did it, but the previous times I had replaced like with like, and noticed no particular difference in stiffness or difficulty to cut or wind around the pegs. Very possibly, all the sets I replaced were pretty sh*te, considering that they came from the factory with each of the basses.

Thanks again for the abundance of highly intriguing facts, Noel. I'm going to re-read your post several times and learn it all! Sorry if I seemed to misunderstand the fact that the core is always steel - I thought otherwise because of my experience of removing the old strings, which felt easier to cut and/or unwind from the tuning pegs even after I had stripped the external (round) windings and exposed the core. The flatwounds (both the complete strings and just the cores) were harder both to wind around the tuning pegs and to cut to length. The gauges were the same - maybe the strings I removed were simply absolute crap...

Thanks Noel! I knew the facts you mention in your explanation, but in a less detailed way, so it's good of you to go through them for me. One of the reasons why I prefer flats is that I have to shift my fretting hand a lot when playing, unlike those who have larger hands, and so I sometimes make more 'noise' than I would like to. I don't mind the 'deadness' at all - it's the looow end we're dealing with, after all My - admittedly limited - experience with strings is that, as you say, flats tend to be made at least partly of steel; those I have on my Corvette are entirely made of steel, hence their stiffness. As I said, I'm not particularly looking for nickel, so I probably better concentrate on what the core is made of, and what shape it is, in the sets I may buy. I know about half-wound strings but I've found it very hard to ever come across a set, online, in shops or at music fairs - can't think it would be any easier to find a set for a 5-stringer. I think I'll get one of the flat sets helpfully mentioned in the replies above, but not immediately, and in the meantime I'll keep my eyes open for all the options you guys mention. Thanks a million, everybody!

Excellent, Coilte (and Machines), will check them out. Thank you so very much. I'm not necessarily after cheap, for the reasons you mention.

Thank you Burg. I should probably have said 'non-steel' rather than nickel flatwounds - I'm simply looking for something less stiff. Will do a search for the names mentioned above asap.

Wow, three replies within less than an hour! I'm infinitely grateful! Could you guys possibly tell me the product code/ID for the sets of strings you mention? I only seem to find sets of 4 whenever I search for flatwounds of any type. Thank you! Love this forum

Last year I bought a set of steel flatwound strings, as an experiment, to replace the normal nickel roundwounds on my 4-string Rockbass Corvette. I have decided that I really like the less noisy flatwounds, and would like to put a set on my 5-string Fortress as well. I hope you guys' collective wisdom will help me see if that's a. possible and b. advisable. In a nutshell: 1. Does anyone know if nickel flatwounds exist, especially in sets of 5? Steel strings are fine on the 4, but I don't fancy tackling a bloody great B string made of steel, as it'd probably be too stiff for my tiny little fingers to press properly... 2. In case the answer to the above is yes, do you guys think it would make sense to try them? Or will a flatwound 5-stringer be barely audible, or sound awful, at lower frequencies - what with both flatwounds and 5-string basses being less bright in sound? Thank you in advance for any advice. PS I blame my taking up the double bass for learning to love the feel of flatwound strings

Heh...

I agree, Ped. And there are threads like this in every single forum I've ever been on. Tthe forum I've been on longest, for 11 years, has had scores of threads similar to this one throughout the years, but is still there, and thriving, and using the same ancient software which everyone hates because it's old-fashioned - but clearly not crap enough to stop them all posting and debating like mad. (That last observation is aimed to those of us here who hate this new interface and sometimes feel they'll have to stop posting because of it.)

I'm a newbie here but a veteran on other forums (for instance, I've been a member of one of them for 11 years now), and I can assure you that the vocal majority on any site does tend to change as time goes by. It's not always a case of evolution, sometimes (often?) it's actually involution, for instance if many of the good old posters are driven away by new, aggressive posters who, however, aren't aggressive enough for the mods to justify kicking them out altogether. Other times it's life that gets in the way, for instance in those cases where many of the regulars are more or less the same age and leave school/find a new job/get married/have kids or whatever. Doesn't apply here, though. Any forum needs to hit the right balance between technical/specialised topics and general interest threads in order to retain a wide audience. Controversy usually puts bums on seats, so to speak, so in general (but not necessarily here) some troublemakers are tolerated unless they seriously cross the line. I voted against the reputation system here, but my impression is that it's been up for too little time to have a big influence on the atmosphere on the forum - happy to stand corrected if I'm talking rubbish... I have no solution to suggest, but I would like to say that, judging from what I've seen in my first few weeks as a member, I like this community, and yes, it definitely [b]is[/b] a community. As such, I'm sure it will assimilate the new arrivals and move on with no lasting damage.

LOL

Heh. I use my left hand for the knife and my right one for the fork, and put the fork in my left hand when I put down the knife. I use my left hand for the mouse. Incidentally, regarding the dearth of lefty models we mentioned earlier, why is it that German manufacturers seem to have no problem offering more choice than their US and UK counterparts? Think of Paul McCartney's Hohner, even back then in the 60s, and Warwick basses, most of which come in both versions and at exactly the same price. Edit - I'm a thoroughly lousy typist and I can't even blame my left-handedness for that!

Exactly - if both teacher and student play right-handed (or left-handed), it's less easy to look at each other's fretboard because they don't face each other.

Blimey, my brain hurts just thinking about that... I found it hard enough to learn a mirror image of chords and scales from right-handed illustrations in books, and apply them to a normal lefty bass! (That's where having a righty bass teacher helps - much easier to sit facing him and look at his fingers while he's playing!)

Nah, I've had the sexist police after me before (not on this forum), and not liked it, and I'm a woman...

Don't worry Dave, I did add a smiley, as mine was a tongue-in-cheek remark too. There are fashion victims and vain individuals in both genders! And I know that what you guys were saying was in good humour.

Or your ostrich-skin gig bag, maybe!