Flat wound vs round wound strings

Ive bought more new basses (and guitars) than i have new sets of strings; i thought that’s how it worked? :smiley:

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OK, I’ll throw in a little nugget here (mostly for those who know me and know that I have never played anything but rounds): I have started to use flats!!

Yep, wanted to at least give them a go, and thought they might do well on my fretless, and so I splurged for the Rolls Royce of flats, a set of Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats (5-string set, no less). Half a month’s salary and two week’s worth of postal FU’s later, I put them on… and, wow, they are sounding phenomenal! I think they’ll stay on that bass for a good long time… I have read of people who played them for 10 years (I mean, the same set)!

The feel is something I need to get used to… sticky af, but luckily I am wearing a glove on my fretting hand.

I have their roundwounds too and also love them, but for the roundwounds the gauges are a bit “wimpy”… I’d like to think of them as elegant, but… they are a bit wimpy :grin:

So, if you want to invest in some strings that last you a long time, you can’t go wrong with T-Is - amazing strings indeed!

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They are amazing indeed!
I just did not like how thin they are compared, and they caused issues with my nut being too wide for a string or two, so for now have moved on.

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That’s because they take a year to stretch in.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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So I dont have to read close to 400 posts perhaps someone should create a poll flats vs rounds and I am pretty sure it would be deivided just about in half LOL Play what feels right play what you like, practice and enjoy! PS I play rounds on a JBass :slight_smile:

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@MonsieurFahrenheit

Go back up 11 days to see @Mike_NL’s post about this poll :arrow_up:

@joergkutter already created it.

Cheers
Joe

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My d’addario chrome flats were so slick i had to be extra careful with my plucking or my fingers would just slip over them :laughing:

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I’m the happy recipient of the Thomastics via Gear It Forward. They’re going on my project bass. Thank you @John_E .

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It is funny… they can be slick for the plucking fingers and still sticky for the fretting fingers :crazy_face:

Nerd alert
I think it has do with the fact that the contact area between finger and string is actually larger for a flat wound and less for a round wound because of their different topographies.

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I’ve got flats on a pj, rounds on a jazz, rounds on my 5 str sire M7 and ground wounds on my 5st fretless GWB35 :slight_smile:

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Maybe you need some Fast Fret or just eat some cheese before playing :joy: compared to the flats, the fender round wounds on my jazz feel like a cheese grater and they’re stupidly noisy too! The d’addario rounds on my 5st have been played less and dont feel nearly as coarse. Most of the time i dont notice too much what i’m playing on but i hadn’t played the jazz for a while and it was really noticeable :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Yes, some types of rounds are a bit “rough”… steels, cobalts, …
Nickel rounds tend to be much smoother. Curt Mangan rounds are really nice, and T-I rounds, of course.

Good to have choices and to know what you like :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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When I’m done, i can just throw them in my survival kit in case i need to saw down a tree :laughing:

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Why no love for half rounds?
I have never bothered with them, anyone else?

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‘D’addario half round sounded like a dream to me so I bought a set it’s kinda sticky. The wrap may be overlap or groves whatever the reason I didn’t like it. Tone wise it sounds good. Sounds like a proper rounds and on the right hand feels like flats.

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Flats have always felt sticky to me too. Half of why I don’t really like them.

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Your not wrong @John_E ! I have a set on my Ibanez and to begin with I was forever tuning her. Took a good few weeks of playing 2-3 hours a day for them to settle.
All good now though.

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I have never noticed any of the flats I have installed on my basses being “sticky” I’m not even sure what you mean by that. My experiences is, they are slick as glass right from the start.
Maybe you need to clean them?

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I tried them for a short bit, but took them off. They live on a shelf in my closet along with several other sets of strings.
There was nothing about them that Iiked , not the tone, nor the feel.

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So true :rofl:

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