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Flatwound sound without the feel


Rich
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I love the sound of flats on a P (who doesn't?**) and would like to get the same noise from my bitsa P -- the trouble is, I absolutely hate the [i]feel[/i] of flatwound strings. Detest and loathe it. Eucchh. They feel, I dunno, slimy or something, and just make me want to wash my hands. I'm not even mad keen on groundwounds/halfwands/pressurewounds -- I like to feel proper windings under my fingers.
So, what I'm getting at is this: other than sticking a set of rounds on and waiting for 20 years, is there any way of getting the strings to [i]sound like[/i] flats without actually [i]being[/i] flats?

** [size=2]intended to be purely rhetorical, I am fully aware that many people don't :D[/size]

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Have you tried tape-wounds?

Unfortunately round-wounds never sound like flats no matter how long you leave them on the bass. And if it's a fretted bass all that happens is that you eventually wear away the windings where they come in contact with the frets and end up with strings that won't play in tune anymore.

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[quote][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Yes, old, very well played in, and heavy gauge rounds get very close to flats. In fact it's my preferred string option on P-Bass also. [/font][/color][/quote]

same here - in fact I've just taken my La Bella flats off and put on a set of RS66s that I bought in 2008 and played to death. They sound brilliant almost the same as flats but with a gnat's willy more bite.

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Rotosound steel or nickel rounds is your answer. I`m pretty much the same usually, where I just leave them on til they have just a nice warm rounded thud. Different in my current band, I need roundwound twang but far prefer that warm Precision flat sound. Ok it`s not exactly there, but it gets darn close.

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I have a 32" scale 80s Squier Precision, which I absolutely love. With flats it is remarkable but, as a few others have said, I need a little more to it. Less clank, more bite. A few months after I bought it I noticed some med. scale strings for sale on here - Dr Low Beams, used, cut for a 4 in line headstock. Got chatting to the seller (Hi Ted... :) ) and mentioned they were going on a med. scale Precision. It transpired that my bass used to be his a few owners back (he still regrets selling it) and that was the bass the strings had been fitted too. Bass and strings are now re-united and present me with a rich, thuddy-with-a-hint-of-bite creamy goodness sound. Doncha love a happy ending. :)

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Rotosound flats are quite textured feeling for flatwounds, maybe not quite in round territory but I'd say they don't really have that polished, slippery feel that most flats do. I found this picture on a czech bass forum which illustrates this quite well:

Edited by Beer of the Bass
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[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1440087629' post='2848210']
Rotosound flats are quite textured feeling for flatwounds, maybe not quite in round territory but I'd say they don't really have that polished, slippery feel that most flats do. I found this picture on a czech bass forum which illustrates this quite well:

[/quote]

Oh my, look at those DRs :gas:

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Back on topic. Try using some foam damping at the bridge. I picked up a roll of extra thick self-adhesive weatherstrip from Home Hardware for about £3; stick some on the underside of the bridge ashtray and away you go!

If you don't have the ashtray on your bass then you could stick some onto the bass itself underneath the strings, as tight as you can to the bridge saddles, or take the Carol Kaye approach:

Edited by D.I. Joe
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[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1440414569' post='2850390']
I'm sure a judicious application of peanut butter could get you where to need to be.

Would that count as relic'ing strings?! :wacko:
[/quote]

I assume that smooth would be preferred? And is crunchy best for Metal?

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