Flatwound String Question

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 2:10 pm

I played a Ric 4003 today that had the best sounding flats on it I have heard to date.
I thought they where Chromes, but they are not. These strings have roughly the same colored blue silk at the end, but unlike Chromes where the ball ends are differant colors, these where gold, or brass.
Anyone know what these are?

dave4004 · Post by **dave4004** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:33 pm

LaBella 760FM stainless flats (049-109) have royal blue silks. Mr. Montezuma is currently wearing them and they look as good as they sound.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:06 pm

put the flatwounds down and step away from them ... put the round wounds on your bass ... ahhh that's better ...

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:46 pm

I'm not sure they are LaBella's Dave. Is there that much of a differance between the LaBella's? I have used 760FL (049-104) that have red silks, and those strings really feel smooth. The strings that I am talking about also appeared to be a smaller gauge.
I got find out what these where, I love them.

dave4004 · Post by **dave4004** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 7:55 pm

Bob, they must not be LaBellas then. The 760FM feel just like the 760FL, just larger and with different color silks.

I did have a set of Ernie Ball Group III flatwounds (045-100) on a bass I sold 4 years ago. They had blue silks but I recall them being lighter blue than the LaBellas.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:32 pm

Actually I have a set of flats and I also thought they were chromes, they have blue wrap at both ends with brass colored ends. They are also light gauge and very bright still and they are at least a year or two old. Do they sound like they are Ernie Balls also?

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 5:04 am

Dave, and Bob,
I would call these strings royal blue, maybe slightly lighter than the silk on Chromes.
The strings have a slight courseness to them similar to chromes, probably a little more.
The silk is blue at both ends.
Do you think these are Ernie Balls?
I never tried Ernie Balls before, but if these are indeed Ernie Balls, I'm switching.

dave4004 · Post by **dave4004** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 5:46 am

Bob and Bob, I can't remember the exact color or if there was also silk at the ball end, only that the EBs did have blue silks, at least the Group III set did. And they definitely weren't as slick-feeling as LaBellas. But I can't compare them to Chromes because I've never had Chromes on any bass of mine, just played them on basses in stores a couple of times. Maybe the EB customer service people can help. They aren't expensive for flats, I remember paying $20-21 for them and MF has them for $19.99.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:26 am

Whatever they are I'm not madly in love with them, I'm just wondering as I always thought they were chromes. I amk surprised at how long they have kept their brightness though which is not always necessarily a good thing to me. I bought a set of medium Chromes once and left them on a bass I sold (I think), I don't remember much about them though, but I do remember the different colored ends. These are kind of course feeling too.

gbenner · Post by **gbenner** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 11:16 am

I just bought a Gretsch Broadkaster bass. The guy I bought it from said he just put on a set of new Chromes, they have the blue silk, and they also have the brass ball ends, they might have changed to the solid brass.

George

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 11:18 am

George, The Chromes should have different colors on each of the string ends.

gbenner · Post by **gbenner** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 11:21 am

If they are not Chromes, I'd love to know what they are also. I want a set on one of my Rick's, they sound great.

George

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 11:29 am

I use Chromes myself George and like them a lot, but the strings we are talking about might just be the EB's, and they sounded fantastic IMO.
I understand they are only $20 for a set.
Check your strings again and see if they have a different color ball end on each string. If so you have Chromes. Let me know.

gbenner · Post by **gbenner** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 11:38 am

Your probably right Bob. I have a set of Chromes on a G&L bass, great strings, and they have different color ball ends. Its strange, the silk looks the same color to me. I use Pyramids on my Rick's and I was thinking about putting a set of Chromes on one of them. But if we can figure out what these are, I'd really like to try them. They sound great.

George

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:04 pm

I sent an email to Ernie Ball. If I get a response, and they confirm it, I will let you know.