Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted January 11, 2012 Posted January 11, 2012 I'm sure we all love a nice thread about flatwounds, so here's another one, but specifically short scale ones. I love my thomastik flatties on my precisions (TI JF344) & mustang (TI JF324), but the 32" 324 set is too long for my 30" scale musicmaster or similar basses. In the past I've had rotosound flats on it but they were rubbish - the individual strings didn't sound or feel like they were part of the same set, so I'm not interested in them. LaBella were better, but I think I had to use the G from a long scale set as the short scale one wasn't long enough - which was odd. a bit of a shame as the Danelectro-specific LaBellas I have on my longhorn are great. It looks like my main options (looking at Thomann) are Chromes or GHS - 3070 / 3020, so what are they like? Daddario ECB81S Chromes @ £23.90 045-065-080-100 GHS 3070 R Brite Flats @ £18.13 049-062-084-108 GHS 3020 @ £19.70 045-060-075-095 Any experiences of these or other flatwound strings suitable for a 30" scale Fender musicmaster bass? Quote
BassBod Posted January 11, 2012 Posted January 11, 2012 I've recently got some Picato's for my 30" Clifton. They are very nice indeed, although that set is custom made to fit the Clifton Cherry bass, with a bit of extra length for thru body stringing. Might be worth emailing Picato to see if they can supply something you'd like? Quote
brensabre79 Posted January 11, 2012 Posted January 11, 2012 Isn't a Mustang 30"? the same as the musicmaster? I love the Thomastik strings too but they are really hard to get hold of. I've got standard length flats on my Mustang and it works ok - thru-body strung though not sure if that affects anything... Quote
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted January 11, 2012 Author Posted January 11, 2012 The mustang is string-thru, the musicmaster isn't, so the mustang can use 32" strings but they'd be too long for the musicmaster and will break at the tuner. If I could use 32" strings I'd just bung on my spare set of TIs, but I need 30" ones. Quote
Happy Jack Posted January 11, 2012 Posted January 11, 2012 You should find that Hofner strings are pretty much ideal for the Musicmaster. All classic Hofner basses have a 30.5" scale length, and never have through-body stringing. And of course you'll sound exactly like Macca. On a good day. Quote
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted January 11, 2012 Author Posted January 11, 2012 Don't the hofners have a bit of a gap between the bridge & tailpiece - I always thought they would suit 32" strings like the mustang. Anyone know about Daddario chromes or GHS Flats or Brite Flats? Any good? Quote
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted January 12, 2012 Author Posted January 12, 2012 It looks like the chromes are for up to 32" scale length, so like the Thomastik TI JF 324 there *may* the risk that they'll be too long for a musicmaster - unless anyone knows better. The GHS brite flats are ground-down roundwounds (ugh!), so it looks like I'll have to see what the GHS 3020 L set are like. Quote
redstriper Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) GHS Precision flats are my favourite strings, though I haven't tried the short scale version. They are less bright than Chromes, very smooth with a deep, warm tone, not as rich or middy as TIs. I get mine from the states via ebay where they are much cheaper than in the UK. There is a mint '75 Musicmaster in my local shop with Rotosound tru bass nylon covered strings. It's priced at £700 including original case, I am quite tempted but think I might prefer a Mustang tone wise. Edited January 12, 2012 by redstriper Quote
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted January 12, 2012 Author Posted January 12, 2012 Cheers Redstriper. I ordered a set of the GHS flats from thomann earlier today. They have a minimum order value for free shipping, so to save the cost of that I added a bass to the order. My CIJ mustang is a lot more refined and better made than the old musicmaster. The original musicmasters used mustang guitar pickups, which are basically half-height strat pickups, complete with six pole pieces. I replaced the pickup in mine with a kent armstrong enclosed cool rails strat-sized humbucker which sounds much better than the weak original, but looks (& fits) just like the original Quote
redstriper Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 I hope you like the GHSs, here's a video demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE5R3rUoU58 Good idea to order the bass - you can send it back free if you don't like it (which one did you go for)? Quote
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted January 12, 2012 Author Posted January 12, 2012 [quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1326386865' post='1496574'] Good idea to order the bass - you can send it back free if you don't like it (which one did you go for)? [/quote] Cheers for posting the video - that's definitely in the ballpark of what I think a bass should sound like - I love thomastiks, but as I like how they improve with age (IMO), less bright is probably good. I don't think I'm likely to send the bass back unless there's something wrong with it - I won't spill the beans about which one it is yet, but I'll post a NBD thread once it has arrived. Of course the GHS set will now be going straight onto the new bass, so I'm back at square one with my old musicmaster. Quote
Michaelg Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 flatwounds are a korma nylon tapewounds are a phall Quote
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted January 12, 2012 Author Posted January 12, 2012 [quote name='Michaelg' timestamp='1326408055' post='1496985'] flatwounds are a korma nylon tapewounds are a phall [/quote] whatever ...There's always one Quote
redstriper Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 I also like TIs and have them on a fretless, they do get better with age - as do the GHSs. I'm intrigued about your new shortie bass and my wild guess is a Squier... Quote
velvetkevorkian Posted January 13, 2012 Posted January 13, 2012 Status do a short scale flats set, which they say should fit a 30" scale. Quote
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted January 13, 2012 Author Posted January 13, 2012 (edited) [quote name='velvetkevorkian' timestamp='1326418760' post='1497120'] Status do a short scale flats set, which they say should fit a 30" scale. [/quote] Cheers - I'm not usually keen on steel strings but they're only £14 They might be worth checking out but the website says these have a 'speaking length of 32 3/4" which would be fine on a string-thru such as a mustang. However I've just checked with a tape-measure and this, if accurate, could result on the wound part of the 'E' going almost a whole turn around the string-post of my musicmaster - which could be a problem with the very tight radius on the tuners. Edited January 13, 2012 by Jean-Luc Pickguard Quote
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