Changing my jazz bass from 45-100 rounds to 55-105 flats

[lidl e]

Will i see any issues do you think? Looking to get a bit beefier with less high end now that i put an active pre in the bass.

 

Any tension/truss rod issues? 

Edited January 31, 2023 by lidl e

[Reggaebass]

Are the nut slots big enough, I tried 55-105s once and found them a bit heavy, which flats are you going for 

[lidl e]

2 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Are the nut slots big enough, I tried 55-105s once and found them a bit heavy, which flats are you going for 

I went for the fender set. If the slots arent, i will put these on my bitsa P and find some that would fit i suppose. I dont want to be changing the nut on this bass.

 

Cheers.

 

 

[Paolo85]

I would imagine you'd have to adjust the truss rod. Although I remember after replacing some GHS flats 55-105 with D'Addario nickel I believe 45-105 I was surprised as I was expecting a bigger change in relief than what I actually got. Still, I think I did a setup but I always do

[lidl e]

42 minutes ago, Paolo85 said:

I would imagine you'd have to adjust the truss rod. Although I remember after replacing some GHS flats 55-105 with D'Addario nickel I believe 45-105 I was surprised as I was expecting a bigger change in relief than what I actually got. Still, I think I did a setup but I always do

Just done noodling around for about an hour. I did do a slight truss rod adjustment, but i inly had to intonate the G a little bit.

 

Everything else was fine.

 

I have to say, not only can you hear the difference, nut my fingers are aching after pulling on those cables.

[Reggaebass]

I had the labella jamerson flats which I think were 52-110, they are real steel cables, but they did sound good just way too high tension for me 

[Paolo85]

Not sure how the GHS compare to the Fender but in my case, after a while I gave up. Soundwise 55-105 was perfect, but with my background of tendinitis I thought it was not worth it. Now I have some Labella Tapes 60-115, very soft despite the gauge. And I am quite happy with how the G compares with the rest of the set. They do not really replace flats completely though. They are their own thing. I am still looking for the perfect flats.

 

[Reggaebass]

9 minutes ago, Paolo85 said:

I am still looking for the perfect flats

Have you tried the labella LTF’s , they are pretty much all I use now 

[Paolo85]

15 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Have you tried the labella LTF’s , they are pretty much all I use now 

I did try. It is incredible how thumpy they are despite the low gauge and I find roundcore strings very expressive. But the G was not really working for me. I have not written them off completely. It seems sometimes Labella roundcore have issues and you get a slight "sitar" effect. Maybe there was an element of that in my set. Maybe not. 

But before trying a new set of LTF, I have another plan.

I do not remember that well how TI flats sounded in my hands. I moved on to other strings as I did not find them thumpy enough (plus other stuff). I do not remember having issues with the G though.

After watching this video 

I concluded that old TIs can thump! I asked the guy and he had his strings on for at least 12 years😁

I have a Squier P with Tonerider and no strings on, waiting for a fret dressing and then I'll put some TIs on, hoping I like the G. Hopefully I won't have to wait 12 years for some thump! I read somewhere that a year could do

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Paolo85

[Reggaebass]

34 minutes ago, Paolo85 said:

I concluded that old TIs can thump!

I’d really like to try a worn in set of those, the new ones are way too bright for me 

I might put out a wanted ad for some 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Reggaebass

[lidl e]

1 hour ago, Paolo85 said:

Not sure how the GHS compare to the Fender but in my case, after a while I gave up. Soundwise 55-105 was perfect, but with my background of tendinitis I thought it was not worth it. Now I have some Labella Tapes 60-115, very soft despite the gauge. And I am quite happy with how the G compares with the rest of the set. They do not really replace flats completely though. They are their own thing. I am still looking for the perfect flats.

 

I have to say, my fingers are still aching today. Like fatigued.  

 

Sound great though!

[Greg Edwards69]

IIRC, flats are generally higher tension than equivalent gauge rounds, and it's usually common to go down a gauge when switching to flats. Although of course, it depends on the brand of string.

 

If you're going up a couple of gauges to flats, that would be similar to 60-110 rounds. So yes, I would expect a change to the relief!