The Inevitable String Thread

[danomar]

Bear with me on this one:

I went through four sets of strings trying to find the right set for my new old fretless MusicMan Stingray. I ended up reverting to the D'Addario flat wounds that came with it but discovered tapewounds before that. Roto-Sound tapewounds are nice but impossibly thick gauge-wise. I found Fender 7120s strings in the process of searching for an alternative. The strings are "nylon filament roundwound", but more interesting, string gauges are .070, .080, .090, and .100. The nut on my 4005 has been widened out by others over the years, so I thought why not try the Fenders on the 4005.

It is an interesting situation. The Fender strings are VERY slinky despite being large. The casing resembles a round-wound but is slightly flat and is plastic. The sound is somewhere between a flatwound and a round-wound, closer to the round-wound in sound. They have a bright round-wound pop but the overall tone is a bit muted, probably because of the nylon wrap. I like having the gauges closely grouped: The feel between the four strings is similar and the tone is rather consistent. I even think I like having the thicker G string. I can do nearly everything I did before with light gauge strings.

That said, my favorite strings are still Dean Markley Ground Wounds. They don't make them any more, so I foresee a set of TI Flats in the future. Still, these Fender strings are kinda interesting. Puts a different twist to my groove.
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[jwr2]

for me the best sounding flats are Dean Markley flats ...

[rickfan60]

Do you have those on your 4 string basses Jeff?

[VRICKY63]

Jeff ...i did'nt know Dean Markley made flats . More info on those ?

[antipodean]

GHS brite flats (groundwounds) or D'addario groundwounds will probably be the closest you will get to the Dean Markley grounds you've been using.

[jwr2]

Do you have those on your 4 string basses Jeff?

are you asking me if I have have flatwound strings on one of my basses ... surely you jest

I am a round wound string guy ... and I have no 4 string basses ...

But I have set up flats on a few basses for others ...

http://www.deanmarkley.com/Strings/Bass ... ndBa.shtml

[rickfan60]

Do you have those on your 4 string basses Jeff?

are you asking me if I have have flatwound strings on one of my basses ... surely you jest

I am a round wound string guy ... and I have no 4 string basses ...

But I have set up flats on a few basses for others ...

http://www.deanmarkley.com/Strings/Bass ... ndBa.shtml

Of course I jest! Jeff Rath with flats? Much less on a 4 string?

[atomic_punk]

Flats on a 4-string? No...and no...

[jwr2]

I set up an acoustic 4 string short scale bass for a forum member a few years ago and the Dean Markley flats sounded good on that bass.

[badeggs]

Ernie Ball Super Slinkies.

Or Rotosound Swing Bass .40-.60-.80-.100s (which no one seems to stock).

[gareth]

I can't play with flatwounds. They just drive me insane. I'm a fast player and flatwounds make me slide around like I'm trying to run on polished linoleum in my socks. They don't "kick" back at me when I hit them like roundwounds do either. They just lie there mute and unresponsive, a bit like my first wife.

(Note how I blame the strings for this).

I've been having great luck with Rickenbacker strings. I used to use Rotosounds but the Rick strings just have a nicer tone to them without the harser overtones of the Rotosounds. I've had good luck with Pyramids too, but at twice the price of the RIC strings, they don't sound twice as good and seem to wear unevenly.

Worst strings ever - Daddario Chrome XLs - dead as a doornail right out of the box. Tried them on the Lemmy. I actually went back to the wastebin to make sure I hadn't put the old set back on by mistake.

[teeder]

They just lie there mute and unresponsive, a bit like my first wife.

I can relate!

[4stringnosing]

I (after literally years of experimenting) use Dean Markley flats on my Yamaha and Dean Markley Fretmasters on my 4003. I can confirm that the flats are fantastically powerful and extremely smooth. I'm always surprised to find people who don't like the feel of flats (I only use the Fretmaster hybrids on my Ric for the tone), but I guess "vive la difference" as they say in Chicoutimi.

Am I paid by Dean Markley to push their brands? No, but I do accept cheques if anyone from that magnificent, wonderful and exotically-good looking company is reading this!

[rickfan63]

Jeff Rath playing a 4 string with flats! When we see that happen we will know the world is going to end!

[rickfan60]

Yes, It is one of the signs of the apocalypse.