Nonono… that’s far too sensible… lets stay with basing it on the vocal minority
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playing guitar for five minutes will change everyone’s opinion about bass finger pain
TMOT
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Not looking so good for flats so far 
Flats currently at 30%. Of course only 10 votes so far, so too soon to conclude anything.
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Yes, and we wouldn’t want to bias the voting in any way - that wouldn’t be good scientific practice 
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That is WAY true, but more so for the fretting hand than plucking hand. Those tiny strings really dig in though! I play both (but guitar barely passable in simple things).
There is preference, but there is also application. Playing modern metal, Prog, or slap bass just lends itself more to rounds, while Motown, RnB, Soul, Gospel, maybe some variations of Reggae will be better on flats. Not to say no cross over is possible…it’s just when you get into tone hunting the smallest most subtle differences start mattering.
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Root sound made the first rounds.
Reading the history of bass in “The Bass Book” now.
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I think a lot of beginners might like them here for 2 reasons, or one of the two…
- Less feet noise so you think you are a better bassist.
- A lot of us are 40-60s and have enough ties to older music where they were used more.
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It’s turning out to be ~30-40% with flats, which is actually higher than I expected. And I think higher than the world in general.
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Now that’s funny!
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John Entwistle was the catalyst for rounds. He actually went to Rotosound and had them engineer the first rounds. Prior to that the world was flat, now it’s round. But there are still those of us who live in the flat world. We are the resistance fighters. We shall conquer the oppression of the imperial round empire.
May the flats be with you
John Entwistle & James How of Rotosound
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Hold on. Surely “Undecided” and “Other” goes to flats right? That makes it about 50/50.
Time for a recount!
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I made the Darth Vadar one 
(I just added the caption)
The Entwistle one I found.
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)Yeah, I realized that after I posted.
(Note to self: no posting before the second cuppa coffee)
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then why are their heads round?
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Man I missed a lot of “fun” on this thread but am chiming in now for posterity’s sake…
I am liking the flats ever since I out them in my basses. Perhaps because my preferred genres are blues, jazz, funk, old school country and classic rock - which all have been played on round wounds. Also, I guess there’s the facts that: 1. I haven’t become proficient enough as a Bassist to minimize the string noise I experience whilst moving up and down the feet board. & 2. That I’m a wimp (there, I said it) and don’t like the feel of round wounds as much.
On the tension front, while I don’t know the specifics, the tension on the La Bella’s I am using definitely feel tighter.
Hope my take helps the earth stay on its axis a little longer, or is a bright spot in the “force.”
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