Never even heard of half rounds
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They are a hybrid of flats and rounds. I guess for people who canāt make up their mind. I personally didnāt care for them. Iām a flat wound girl forever!
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@PamPurrs so far Iāve only tried rounds I am sure one day Iāll experiment. Thanks Iām learning so much on this forum itās awesome !
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@MonsieurFahrenheit youāre rather new here so you probably havenāt heard about my aversion to corduroy, correct?
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They are rounds which are ground down āflatā.
Some of the feel of flats, with some of the tone of rounds - is the supposed target.
The rest of the āsomeā of each one that is ground off is all the good things of each I think.
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Just ordered a set of flats for my Jag, so will offer an opinion after I try them. I know the Fender strings that came with it are tearing my fingers up. As always.
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Hi Pam, when I purchased my Yamaha TRBX 304 I was excited. Had a few health issues plus building a house. When I get home build a camp fire finding my mandolin is so convenient and fun. I am considering in buying flat bass strings, I love the deep sound. Glad your kicking ass. Go girl.
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Flats are very satisfying as they are a lot more forgiving when it comes to fret buzz etc, at least i find.
I have been picking up basses of mine with rounds lately on purpose to work on my muting and fretting moreā¦much louder quicker feedback when I get lazy
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That is 1/3 of the reasons I really canāt stand playing Flat wound strings.
This is the 2nd third of the reasons I donāt like them. they are too slippery, I donāt find the sticky at all, but I prefer a little stick to my strings. Not too much, but enough bite that when I am playing and doing string bends, that the strings stay under my fingers and donāt slip out.
I find them HORRIBLY clacky. Much more then any set of rounds I have ever played on, from old AF to Brand spanking new. That is the 3rd third of reasons why I donāt like them.
tone wise, I have EB Slinky Flats, which are supposed to sound like Rounds. I find them to be a little duller, but not terribly. I donāt much dislike the sound, aside from the clackety clack, but I hate the feel of them all together.
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@PamPurrs yes I have l! and youāre date with a corduroy shirt which ruined the night of dancing LOL
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Yes, and thatās precisely why I like them on my P-clone. Iāve been dabbling with Fear of the Dark and Wrathchild, and it really helps the sound.
That said, I have to be very careful not to clack on lesson material where it doesnāt fit.
M.
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I have no real preference but I like the distinctive sounds I can get (without touching the amp settings). I made three electric bases: P-bass with roundwounds, EB3-ish with tapewounds and EB2-ish with flatwounds. All Picato strings. Flatwounds make you want to play anything with lots of sliding. Tapewound on the neck pickup sounds like a double bass. The next build will probably have copper wound strings because they sound strange, maybe acoustic ?
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Funny, I donāt like sliding on Flats, just doesnāt feel right, I much prefer sliding on Rounds, but thats just me.
I have yet to try tapewounds. Are they anything like coated strings, like the DRās?
This bass below, has Gold Strings on it. How are those Al @Al1885 ?
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This is round wound. They sound very bright and crystal clear. Great for tapping and slapping. Not really for Motown style for sure. Even with the treble rolled all the way off still plenty of crisp.
Tape wounds are great. I like the labella and Dāaddario nylon wound. They feel very smooth like flats but still have plenty of brightness.
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Sliding up the neck on roundwounds is a very tactile experience, and you get all the notes on the way. On flatwounds the notes sort of melt together. Yes tapewound are the plastic coated roundwounds, if I bought another set, I would go down in gauge size because the plastic has a significant stiffening effect.
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I came here to ask for opinions or examples about this! Iāve got a Squier Jag and a Gretsch short-scale both with their stock roundwounds on which I desparately want to change, and I want to give one of them flats to cover different as much different tone as I can between them both!
Iāve been umming and aahing about which might work best for me but I have no experience to go on. I see a lot of people talking about flatwounds on short-scales being really popular choices and I think I can see why, but my Gretsch has a really growly punky tone so Iām probably going to be putting flats on my Jag instead.
Anyway! If you could let me know which strings you bought and what your thoughts are once youāve played them for a bit, your opinion would be very much appreciated!
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I think most folk go with Labella deep talking flats, certainly a popular string.
I put DāAddario Chrome Flats on my Jaguar, ECB81, 45-100. I really like them, and was wondering if I should get some more sets and put them on my other basses, at least my Jazz.
There is also a ECB82 50-105
DāAddario Chrome Flats are supposed to brighter than Labella, I donāt have direct experience and people on the interweb will say anything so take that with salt. But I did want the smaller strings for this bass to get a bit more retro sound.
But Labella is a great choice as well and @PamPurrs is just around the corner to explain why
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Iāve never tried those, but Iām sure they sound just fine. The fact that they claim to ābrighterā is a bit of a turn off for me, but I may just give them a try some day.
The only other flats Iāve tried are the Ernie Ball Slinkies, but didnāt much care for them, and came home to my LaBellas.
As far as explaining why I love the LaBellas so much, I have no words. I just like the sound and texture of them.
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If youāre happy with the sound no reason to change. I went DāAddario because I didnāt find the sizes I wanted in Labella. Closest was 43-96.
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Itās all I use for flats.
They were the string (and still are) for the Motown sound (a heavier flat) and they just sound so damn good. Heavy and regular.
And, they are based in my hometown hood of Newburgh, NY, so gotta support them even more so.
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