Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm thinking of trying a coated set of flatwounds on my LK and am looking for the brightest set I can find. I prefer the sound of rounds but would like to preserve the frets as much as possible since I play it constantly so I'm looking for a compromise......but I'd still like to get the Lemmy "bite" in my tone when necessary. Since the coated sets are a tad expensive I figured I'd look for opinions before aiming blindly. Maybe flats users will say I can't get near that tone and that is fine.....that's why I'm asking.

No need for "thud-thud" comments.....just looking for some opinions for an experiment.

I didn't know there were coated flats, only rounds. Try D'Addario Halfrounds, they may be the best compromise.

I had the Elixir Nanowebs for awhile. They are not flats but rounds. They seemed to have a nice bright sound for awhile - until the coating starts wearing away

I could be wrong about the coating being available on flats.....I played a used Warwick at GC a few months ago and it had coated stings on it that appeared to be flats. Not the 1st time I've been wrong though. Thanks!

They are expensive ($68/set), but I have heard good things about Thomastik Infeld (TI) Jazz Flats. Haven't used them myself, but several players over in the Dudepit (www.vintagebass.co/thedudepit) swear by them. Also see this link from right here on Rickresource ../5/59423.html"#FFEECC">

Street price for the TIs is less than $45 shipped from the Dude.

I use the TIs on my P-Bass. They are pretty bright for flats and they last forever.

Price I gave was for a 5 string set, extra long. Sorry.

No problem.....thanks all for the tips !

I used to use LaBella Deep Talking Bass stainless steel flats. They sound almost as bright as round wounds, but without the piano type ringing, and they lasted on my bass about 2 years... until I broke one! They never got dead sounding at all.

You can actually slap on these... really great strings.

I always slap my strings on! Oh, you mean planken spanken!

Ha!

Brian, are you talking about nylon tapewounds? They aren't coated flats, they are a core wire wrapped with flat nylon ribbon. The ones I know of are made by LaBella, Rotosound, GHS and Status.

I've used LaBellas and Rotos, the LaBellas are much livelier sounding. Neither really sound like flats, they have their own thing going. The gauges are thick but the core wires are relatively small so both are low tension on the neck.

Fender also makes a tapewound only theirs is wrapped over a full roundwound string. IMO they're just awful. The flat tape is so thin it doesn't really lay flat and the winding is lumpy and inconsistent so they don't intonate well.

I've seen TI 344 JF's at various places a little less than Steve Barr, $36 or so. I'm not sure if Dude's price includes shipping-if it does he's probably the best source. Been thinking about maybe trying them, on what bass who knows?

A couple of weeks ago Andy Winter and I got together, and he has chromes on his basses, the first time I had played those strings. They seemed fairly bright to me...but then again I like *thud*. The Fender 9050 ML's I've been using go on fairly bright, but settle in to have a pretty low spectrum in a week or two. From what I understand, a lot of flats do that, including TI's.

Dave....I wasn't thinking of tapewounds. I've played them before and can't imagine them ever sounding close to "bright". The LaBella's have gotten a few mentions here so maybe I'll check those out since you think they sound bright as well.

Ed.....I'm leaning towards possibly giving the TI's a try too. I had a set on the 4003SPC Tuxedo that I had for a brief time and liked them but didn't have the bass long enough to see how they held up over time. I tend to go through strings pretty quick (usually change before every gig for a bright tone)so at close to $40 a pop I'd like them to last a little while.

I may just wait until the Rickfest in November since I'm sure there will be plenty of options there to check out.....plus my band is out of gig-mode for the time being while we work on some new stuff so I have some time to waste .

I usually get my strings from "Just Strings" and never even thought of getting them from the "the Dude". If he is only a few $$$$ more I'd rather support him since he has treated me well in the past.....thanks for the tip.

Brian, FWIW, the final take of "My Generation" was recorded on a Jazz Bass strung with LaBella Tapewounds.

Still, they're not bright like rounds. The whole idea of the tape is to mute some of the overtones. But they are brighter and livelier sounding to me than most flats. Certainly brighter than TIs.