For those of you who are just beginning, Roto roundwounds can be a little tough on the fingers but I grown to love the feel and sound you can get out of them. Both have Rotosound roundwounds (and BadAss bridges and Duncan Pickups and do they growl particularly when I turn up J pickup on the P/J. Gary (above) said pick + roundwounds = rock but the amount of treble and bass and no mids is really more appropriate for prog (Dream Theater) or metal (listen to Roger Glover and Glenn Hughes and Geddy Lee over the past decades) I currently have a Standard Fender Precision and my new love the Fender P/J with a Jazz Neck.
I learned my first bass lines on a shitty acoustic guitar but for the past 45 years it’s been Roto roundwounds on a series of Fender p-Basses and I always use a pick. I was about to call out you guys on Phil Lynott’s sound but took a while to find the June 2012 Bass Player which states he used Rotosound Flatwounds, and I’ve known for years Bass God Steve Harris uses the same. Wow I have left comments on pickups and necks but I must compliment you all on the knowledge of strings. They even have sets for the Fender/Squier VI in a wide variety of gauges, a huge improvement over the stock sets. They’ve got every gauge you could imagine and the thicker sizes are all taper core. They sound great, they understand “balanced tension” so they feel great, and they last a long time. I was shocked since I love their stainless steel round wounds.īTW, if you like round wound, you owe it to yourself to try Kalium strings. I tried the Ken Smith Slick Wound and they were the deadest strings I have ever played.
My current favorite flats are LaBella, the same “light” set used in this demo. I usually get “light” strings but I really have to adjust my attack when I play these. The Thomastiks sound great but the tension is ridiculously light. I used the Roto-Sound flats in a more reasonable gauge for many years but it became hard to find a consistent set, there always seemed to be one string that was much duller than the others. They’re slightly rough, like they could be ground-wound and they’ve got a more lively tone than traditional flats. Never thought you’d hear “Roto-Sound” and “flatwound” in the same sentence, did you? They call them Jazz Bass 77, and his signature set is a pretty heavy gauge, similar to the LaBella Jamerson set. Why? It decreases setup time significantly and it’s also obviously easier to just pick up the bass with the string type you feel like playing whenever you want with no waiting. The way flats sit on string saddles is also different compared to round, so it is also most likely true all of your saddles will need to be adjusted if you switch string types.įor bassists who switch between rounds and flats routinely, having two basses with one set up for roundwound and the other for flatwound is the best solution. The tension of a roundwound set is different compared to flatwound, so it is most likely true you will need to perform a truss rod adjustment if switching from round to flat or vice versa. Is it normal to have a bass “set for round” and another “set for flats”? You can get a very nice vintage style tone by purposely selecting the front (as in the neck) pickup, rolling down the tone by half and using a flappy pick of whatever material is most comfortable for you to use.ĥ.
It is very easy to forget you have a tone knob on your bass. While true there are flatwound strings that have a bright response to them, a fresh set of roundwounds – even the cheap kind – have that “sounds like a piano wire” tone to them that cuts through a mix easily. If the idea of that immediately turns you off (and we wouldn’t blame you), consider the Low Tension Flexible Flats or Half Rounds instead. You can use that string if you wish, but you do need a strong fret hand to hold those strings down because they are both tight and heavy. There is some argument that the only proper flatwound string to use is the 52-110 La Bella “1954” set because that’s what James Jamerson used. “Real” flatwound strings do feel like bridge cables That is the string to use for smooth Motown soul and the big thump of many vintage rock hits.Ģ. When going for a Carol Kaye, James Jamerson or pretty much any vintage tone from the ’50s, ’60s or even early ’70s, the flatwound is the string to use. Which is the best? You can listen to a video below to hear the differences between flat and around both with pick and fingers to decide that for yourself, but before you do, here are a few universal truths to know. Some will use nothing but roundwound while others use nothing but flatwound.
There are many bass players who go “all in” when it comes to string type.