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The 'brightest' Flatwounds?


Corvine
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Hello.
I was wondering, in people's experience, what are the brightest sounding flatwounds?

I prefer the zing of roundwound strings, but I also like to slide about a lot, and love the feel of playing on flats. I have tried groundwound/halfwounds as a compromise, but still much prefer the smoothness of sliding about on flats.

Can anyone recomend a flatwound that has a nice bright sound, preferably one that keeps it sound for the longest time? (new set of strings aint cheap!)

Also someone suggested string cleaner to maintain the new-string sound. I have been using fast-fret. Anyone have an experience/advice with this or other products?

(Need the strings in a long scale length set of 5 btw)

Cheers

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A fresh set of Chromes would do the job. I've heard that Rotosounds also fill the "bright flatwound" niche, but haven't tried them. Nylon tapewounds might also be worth a look, as my D'Addario tapes may even be a little brighter than Chromes once both are played in (although as a caveat, I didn't like the B string on the tapes, though others have had different results).

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GHS Brite Flats are ground wound, but are very smooth - as are the Status half-rounds I have on my fretless (which are even smoother). I don't know which half-rounds you tried before, but these two are much flatter and smoother than the D'Addario ones for example.

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Cool, thanks.
Anyone got an idea which chromes keep their sound longest?

And where's a good place to buy online? I've been looking on strings direct, but they don't seem to have all the types of strings that I hear people mention. I need 5string long scale length which makes it a little more difficult.

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[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1371724430' post='2117326']
From personal use, Chromes, but having watched a few flats-comparisons on youtube, agree with the Fender recommendations. In fact I thought they sounded twangier than the Chromes.
[/quote]

Can't seem to find the Fenders in a 5 string set.

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[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1371675208' post='2116937']
A fresh set of Chromes would do the job. I've heard that Rotosounds also fill the "bright flatwound" niche, but haven't tried them. Nylon tapewounds might also be worth a look, as my D'Addario tapes may even be a little brighter than Chromes once both are played in (although as a caveat, I didn't like the B string on the tapes, though others have had different results).
[/quote]

Can you remind me which tapewounds you use? I'm wondering about replacing the 4-year-old DRs on that ash jazz, and remember yours sounded rather good.

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[quote name='LawrenceH' timestamp='1371728539' post='2117398']
Can you remind me which tapewounds you use? I'm wondering about replacing the 4-year-old DRs on that ash jazz, and remember yours sounded rather good.
[/quote]
Mine are the D'Addario ETB92-5 set. They're .050 to .105 gauge (ignoring the B string). I put them on in September and the sound hasn't really changed much in 9 months. This is unusual for me as a set of Chromes has usually lost its brightness after 6 weeks when I've used them (they must not agree with my sweat!).

Edited by Beer of the Bass
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[quote name='iiipopes' timestamp='1371736752' post='2117539']
Yes, Chromes start bright, in a "ping" sort of way. But then they quickly thud out. For longetivity, and some good growl, Fender 9050CL 45-60-80-105 have been the flats that changed me from a rounds player.
[/quote]

Any idea if anywhere sells these as a 5 string set (in uk)?

Edited by Corvine
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[quote name='simon1964' timestamp='1371677753' post='2116978']
I love Chromes. Bright for flats, but still with a bit more warmth and depth than rounds. They do have a bit more tension than a lot of stings (noticeably more than the Ernie Ball Slinkys I use for rounds). But they're excellent strings IMO.
[/quote]

+1.

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  • 3 months later...

[quote name='Immo' timestamp='1381678290' post='2242168']
Hi, I dare to bump the topic. ;)
What would you say about GHS Pressure Wounds? I need flatwound strings with a quite bright sound but with a little less tension than Chromes. A long lifespan would be nice either.
[/quote]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GcQJyHGbeY

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