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Buying my first set of flats


Jono Bolton
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I fancy buying a set of flatwound strings but I've only every bought roundwounds before. Can anyone give me some pointers? What makes should I look out for? I've heard they give you a dull, vintage sort of sound, is that right? I also read somewhere (from a professional bassist/producer, can't think who) that he's had the same set of flats on his P for 10 years and it still sounds the same as the day he put them on. Any examples of good flatwound tone? And would they sound better on my Precision or Jazz?

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Have a look in the strings forum at TalkBass.

I have had a set of TI's twice and while being very nice strings ive never really got on with the tone.
They do give a vintage tone but i felt they lacked music.
TI's are a bit harder to find in the shops but i felt these were the best of the bunch when i was trying out flats a couple of years ago for the first time.

I also read that you can keep a set on for years but i doubt very much they would sound the same as new. I think once they have been broken in they would settle down and not get worse like rounds do but then again i think most flats player want that old dead sound.
All strings would change tone, even slightly once broken in IMO.

Edited by dave_bass5
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I've got a year old set of D'Addario Chromes on my Jazz, they suit it wonderfully and have that lovely thump without being totally devoid of higher frequencies.

I tried some Thomastiks on tonyf's fretless Stingray and they were lovely - very flexible and reasonably low tension in comparison to the Chromes.

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