Took a whiile but I got there!

planetguy

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I've been a fan of flatwounds on my Fender basses and archtop gtrs forever. But for some reason I'd been resistant to putting them on on my my '67 Starfire. I've had this bass about 10 yrs now, and finally decided to try a set of D'Addario XL 220 flats on it. Whoa baby....I feel like a doofus for waiting this long! Loved the bass before, but now....it's just amazing! Sarah, my duo partner in the video, plays bass on a few tunes and she's never really bonded w this bass when I bring it to our gigs, preffering instead to play one of my Fenders. It's now her favorite bass to play!

here's some video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=340375066594727
 

twocorgis

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Good stuff Mark! I've always used TI Flats on Greenie, as it seems to be the consensus amongst the other Starfire Bass players I know locally, and from this board. On the advice of Mellowgerman, I've just bought a set of La Bella 760FS flats, and am going to replace the OEM strings on the GST M85II, and I'll se how it goes. I've heard they suit Starfires well too.
 

planetguy

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Thanks! I've wanted to try a set of TI's but their price and unusual gauges have put me off. I do use TI flats on my '66 Starfire II gtr and they're wionderful. Let us know how you like those LaBellas. I've read they can be a little stiff.
 

twocorgis

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Thanks! I've wanted to try a set of TI's but their price and unusual gauges have put me off. I do use TI flats on my '66 Starfire II gtr and they're wionderful. Let us know how you like those LaBellas. I've read they can be a little stiff.

Interestingly enough, the main rub I hear against TI Flats is that they aren't stiff enough! I have a set of D'Addario Chrome flats on my fretless Pilot, and I think they sound great, at least with the EMGs on that bass I was tempted to try them on the M85II, but they don't come in short scale, at least that I can find.
 

Guildedagain

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Rotosound flats on my '71 P Bass, they sounded to bright at first, deadened nicely over time. '63 SG bass has the same flats that were on it when I got it, they were probably 20 years old then...

I've got flats on my Tele now, very different, harmonic overtones are almost nonexistent, you get used to it pretty quickly.
 

Minnesota Flats

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" I was tempted to try them on the M85II, but they don't come in short scale, at least that I can find."

If your M85 is equipped with a "harp" tailpiece, you'll want medium, not short-scale Chromes. That's what I have on my Starfire basses.
 

gilded

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Thomastiks are my fave bass string, ever.

What's the deal on the La Bellas? Are they supposed to be the 'James Jamerson sound' strings? I think he used La Bellas, but that was 40-50 years ago, too. Lots of string companies have 'reissue' strings, but they don't sound or feel the same as the old ones.
Like the diff' between modern-day Pyramid strings and the old ones.

Thoughts?
 

hieronymous

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I use medium scale LaBellas on my fretless M-85 (the Alem-85) - perfect fit! I love them. The "Jamerson" set (no longer called that, now they're called Original 1954) is super-high tension, but the regular flats are more reasonable, though higher tension than TIs for sure. I personally prefer higher tension, though I do have TIs on a long-scale fretless bass and they work for that.

38833535450_21dc8e2721_o.jpg
 

Happy Face

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The current generation Pyramid flats are in between. Though probably closer to the TIs. Probably because I never played those LaBellas. But the Pyramids felt like they had more tension than TIs.
 

twocorgis

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" I was tempted to try them on the M85II, but they don't come in short scale, at least that I can find."

If your M85 is equipped with a "harp" tailpiece, you'll want medium, not short-scale Chromes. That's what I have on my Starfire basses.

The La Bellas that I bought are the medium scale, and I measured carefully! Here's the package.

760FS-large.jpg


I'll have to look for some Chromes in medium scale, but I don't need them now. Looking froward to giving the La Bellas a try.
 

mellowgerman

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Yes, those LaBellas are great. TI's are not my cup of tea. I prefer higher tension strings and I also had string-to-string volume balance issues (at least to some extent) with each TI set I've tried. I think a lot of string preference comes down to the right hand picking/plucking/thumping style. I like to have the option of digging in a bit and I find that to work better with a little extra tension.
Recently I picked up a set of DR Legend short-scale flatwounds. I actually didn't know they made a short-scale set. I used to love them back in college on my G&L and modified Fender Jazz bass, so I was excited to try them on the Starfire. The feel was spot on, but at first this set's tone struck me as a little too mid-heavy. That was when they were brand new though. Now that they've started to break in a bit, they've mellowed out and I'm pretty keen on them. I would call the tension medium or medium/high maybe. I will mention, they were advertised as 32" winding from ball end to silk (which is perfect for a Guild Starfire/JS/M85) but the low E was a little shorter than that and I had to trim about a half inch of silk to get clearance on the nut. No worries there though, took about 5 mins with a razor blade.

gJbRmTL.jpg
 
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bassman10096

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The current generation Pyramid flats are in between. Though probably closer to the TIs. Probably because I never played those LaBellas. But the Pyramids felt like they had more tension than TIs.
I’ve been using Pyramids a lot on Guilds and Fender clones. They are a little tricky on as the short scale strings are too short for Starfire and JS configurations with their relatively long bridges. I’ve done better using the long scales on the SS Guilds. Sound wise they are similar to TIs but much better tension for a variety of right hand techniques.
 

lungimsam

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Yes, flats are much better than rounds, imho.
I use D'Addario Chromes Flats on all my basses.
They are the brightest sounding of all the flats I have tried. Almost as bright as rounds.
I used to use LaBella Deep Talkin.
Those are great, too, but not as bright, if you are into a warmer sounding string.
 

edwin

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The current generation Pyramid flats are in between. Though probably closer to the TIs. Probably because I never played those LaBellas. But the Pyramids felt like they had more tension than TIs.

Pyramids and Starfires just go together.
 

edwin

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I’ve been using Pyramids a lot on Guilds and Fender clones. They are a little tricky on as the short scale strings are too short for Starfire and JS configurations with their relatively long bridges. I’ve done better using the long scales on the SS Guilds. Sound wise they are similar to TIs but much better tension for a variety of right hand techniques.

Get in touch with Max from Pyramid. He'll sell you medium scale for Guild strings directly. They fit perfectly.
 
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