Flatwound strings, great article.

[Guildedagain]

Going through some bass madness here, 3 on hand, working on a 4th, close to heaven the way I see it.

I just installed the Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats on my '73 true relic PBass, they sound incredible, not that loose, just fantastic, a light set with .43, .56, .070, .0100. Coming off were the Rotosound 77's - legendary - that I've had on for over ten years, high tension, zingy, overtones to the moon and back, so I was hesitant to take them off, I've had the TI's sitting there for over 6 months now, dithering on this and I finally just took the plunge, also because I can use the Rotosounds on the son in law's P Bass project I'm working on, a rescue mission 90's Korea Ovation Applause, nice neck, CL pickup, needed tremendous TLC.

On my Crucianelli Hollow Body thumper, I have LaBella's Beatle Bass set, perfect fit and amazing bass tone, but a bit high tension.

On my '73 JS2 bass, D'addario Chromes, medium high tension, snappy.

Here's an article that covers the bass flatwound strings nicely, and has a few details here and there previously unknown maybe.

Best flatwound bass strings: how to choose the right flatwounds for you

Get one of the most iconic bass tones ever with our pick of flatwound bass guitar strings

www.guitarworld.com

Happy Thumping ;]

 

[Minnesota Flats]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

 

[mellowgerman]

Cool, looking forward to checking this out! Just skimming through it though, I must point out one glaring misconception, that Pyramids were Jack Casady's string of choice. He himself stated that Framus flats were his string of choice back in the day and that he had a large stash that has yet to be depleted. I think they came into discussion once his original Starfire was recovered a few years back and it was promptly set up with a set of the Framus strings. As far as I've been able to tell, those Framus strings were made by Maxima. I recently was lucky enough to secure a sizeable stash of those short scale Maximas and can confirm they 100% have the Casady tone when paired with Bisonics and filter electronics in a Starfire. They also have the long silks at the ball end that seem to match photos of Jack's basses.
Anyway, now I need to read the article! Hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning!

 

[DougH]

Back in the 70's Pyramid Gold had the "sound" on the "Rick" I was playing at the time. Didn't know they are still around. Thomastik on my upright these days. Reading this article makes me want to dig out my Jazz bass. It's been quite awhile. Thanks for posting the article.

 

[hieronymous]

I use LaBella medium scale flats on my M-85 - I find that the E on LaBellas lacks a lot of higher frequencies, much different than the other strings - that may be related to the breaking-in period mentioned in the article. since my M-85 is fretless it's much less of an issue, but I have stopped using LaBellas on my Precision Bass because of that. The G string sounds good and fat though.

 

[RVBASS]

I have tried a few on the list in the article, but always go back to Pyramids, I love their thump.

 

[JohnW63]

My wife has a couple of basses. I have no idea what's on them, but her Rogue, low end copy of a McCartney bass, are flatwounds. Her Fender "Squire" J Bass has round wounds.

 

[mellowgerman]

Finally got to read the article! Aside from the Casady misconception I mentioned above, this was a fun and informative read. You really get the sense that he speaks honestly from personal experience. There are some points where my experience was different, but that's the name of the game when it comes to strings. Some vary more than others from set to set. I've also found that I may love one set on a certain bass and hate it on another bass. So in the end it's always best to try as many as you can if you're not already totally in love with what you've got! This article would be a good starting point though for somebody trying to decide.

 

[fronobulax]

Cool, looking forward to checking this out! Just skimming through it though, I must point out one glaring misconception, that Pyramids were Jack Casady's string of choice. He himself stated that Framus flats were his string of choice back in the day and that he had a large stash that has yet to be depleted. I think they came into discussion once his original Starfire was recovered a few years back and it was promptly set up with a set of the Framus strings. As far as I've been able to tell, those Framus strings were made by Maxima. I recently was lucky enough to secure a sizeable stash of those short scale Maximas and can confirm they 100% have the Casady tone when paired with Bisonics and filter electronics in a Starfire. They also have the long silks at the ball end that seem to match photos of Jack's basses.
Anyway, now I need to read the article! Hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning!

I'll add that "sources say" that the Pyramids Casady did use in Ye Olden Days do not really compare well the the Pyramids available new in 2021. Can't recall what the consensus opinion was about the modern equivalent.

See https://letstalkguild.com/ltg/index.php?threads/starfire-tinkering-continued.203908/

 

[RVBASS]

I'll add that "sources say" that the Pyramids Casady did use in Ye Olden Days do not really compare well the the Pyramids available new in 2021. Can't recall what the consensus opinion was about the modern equivalent.

I have a feeling pickups, electronics, and wood combinations differed slightly back in the day, contributing to differences in the sound of Pyramid strings today. I have a 74 Alembic and newer ones as well, and the 74 has a distinctly different sound, yet I use current day Pyramid flats on all of them.

 

[Happy Face]

I have a feeling pickups, electronics, and wood combinations differed slightly back in the day, contributing to differences in the sound of Pyramid strings today. I have a 74 Alembic and newer ones as well, and the 74 has a distinctly different sound, yet I use current day Pyramid flats on all of them.

Frono is repeating what I also heard = TI Jazz flats are closer in sound to the "original" Pyramids than the current Pyramids.

Is this true? We'd need to unearth some NOS Pyramids to make a definite comparison.

In any case, I like and use both.

 

[mgod]

I've got a long-scale set on a '60 P.

 

[Guildedagain]

This is how I log string changes now, digitally.

 

[JohnW63]

Man, your previous strings worn the finish off the back of your bass!

 

[Mungi]

Cool, looking forward to checking this out! Just skimming through it though, I must point out one glaring misconception, that Pyramids were Jack Casady's string of choice. He himself stated that Framus flats were his string of choice back in the day and that he had a large stash that has yet to be depleted. I think they came into discussion once his original Starfire was recovered a few years back and it was promptly set up with a set of the Framus strings. As far as I've been able to tell, those Framus strings were made by Maxima. I recently was lucky enough to secure a sizeable stash of those short scale Maximas and can confirm they 100% have the Casady tone when paired with Bisonics and filter electronics in a Starfire. They also have the long silks at the ball end that seem to match photos of Jack's basses.
Anyway, now I need to read the article! Hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning!

Interesting! I found those NOS Maximas on the bay and ordered a pack. I have always loved the sound of TI flats but oddly I never liked them on my SF. On my SF I have DR Legend, TI flats on my Gibson Les Paul Signature and my Hagström Coronado (with bisonics), Chromes on my Gibson Triumph and Sadowsky Black Lable flats on my Maruszczyk Jake (p-bass clone) with Bill Lawrence P-46 pups.

 

[mellowgerman]

Interesting! I found those NOS Maximas on the bay and ordered a pack. I have always loved the sound of TI flats but oddly I never liked them on my SF. On my SF I have DR Legend, TI flats on my Gibson Les Paul Signature and my Hagström Coronado (with bisonics), Chromes on my Gibson Triumph and Sadowsky Black Lable flats on my Maruszczyk Jake (p-bass clone) with Bill Lawrence P-46 pups.

I never got along very well with TI bass flats. Interestingly enough, TI flats are my absolute favorite guitar strings and I keep them on both my Gretsch 6191 and my Telecaster. Everything feels substandard since I tried them.

The Maximas are a totally unique flatwound and I hope you're just as happy with them as I am. I love how they punch and how warm they are, while still delivering the perfect dose of mids. Fingers crossed that my sizeable stash never runs dry!!

DR Legends were probably my favorite bass strings until I tried the Maximas. In comparison the DR Legends might have a touch more low end, but the mid profile of the Maximas sits better in the mix and they seem to have longer sustain. The DR strings have just a bit more tension and are smoother feeling. The outer windings of the Maximas have a very soft bumpy texture to them -- the best way I can describe it is to say it's almost similar to an orange peel when you run your finger along them.

 

[twocorgis]

Love your old P-Bass Gary, it looks just like the '72 I've owned since I was 14, with a bit more mojo!

 

[lungimsam]

Over the years I have liked Fender flats, The LaBella Deep Talkin', and Chromes.
I settled on Chromes since they are so bright.

Nothing more to add but did anyone notice that the ads in this article were so intrusive (no fault of Guildedagain, of course).
For me, it is getting hard to read online articles these days as I feel I must visually sift thru adds and search for the link up to the next paragraph. In fact, in this article, one of the adds was inline and in the same font as the article.
Advertising is getting rediculous.

 

[fronobulax]

Over the years I have liked Fender flats, The LaBella Deep Talkin', and Chromes.
I settled on Chromes since they are so bright.

Nothing more to add but did anyone notice that the ads in this article were so intrusive (no fault of Guildedagain, of course).
For me, it is getting hard to read online articles these days as I feel I must visually sift thru adds and search for the link up to the next paragraph. In fact, in this article, one of the adds was inline and in the same font as the article.
Advertising is getting rediculous.

What ads? I also found the editorial material in this article appropriately labelled. At best it was product placement.

I use Brave as my browser which definitely handles ads differently. Have used plugins for Firefox that did the same thing.

You are entitled to complain but putting up with them is your choice

 

[lungimsam]

@frono:
Ads too many to count. Scattered all thru the page and inline with text. I was using Chrome at my workplace. I don't know what their pop up settings are there. Here is a sample from Safari browser: