Back to Rounds.

[WRGKMC]

I was recording my Hofner Club bass last night and the Flats I had on there for about 6 months were sounding pretty sour. They were special length flats designed specifically for a Hofner bass which is a 30" scale but since it has a tail piece the fat winds are about an inch longer then most short scale strings. The Flats were good for about 3 months and then they started loosing their top end. After 6 months they just turned to mud.

 

I finally pulled them off and replaced them with a set of Hofner strings. They aren't sold in the US. I came across a set on EBay and bought them awhile back. They aren't the same strings the bass came with either. The stock strings had no felt windings on the ends. The new ones have a much finer round wrap on the strings too. The originals were awful in comparison.

 

After stringing up the difference in brightness and sustain was quite amazing. I had some lower fret buzz and tried to loosen the truss but it had no tension. U turned it and additional half turn looser and it seemed to get rid of the buzz. I don't think its a dual action rod but it did seem to get rid of the buzz. After some additional bridge adjustments I had it singing sweetly. The saddles are not really adjustable on a Hofner. The saddles consist of fret wire pressed into slots on the bridge. You have to move the entire bridge to set and tweak intonation.

 

The notes were a bit sharp so I adjusted the first saddle to scale length and squared the bridge from that. The bass with its wood bridge and thin hollow body resonates extremely well. I was able to get overtone chimes that matched the 12th fret by ear after that. The tuner still shows the notes a few cents sharp but that will likely take care of itself when the strings break in. I've learned not to rely too heavily on a tuner for this bass. A Hofner doesn't give you highly accurate intonation The saddles aren't adjustable so the best you can do is set the high and low strings then tweak it by ear to even up any variances between the center and outer strings. You relay on the body resonance to tell you when its right. So long as you don't have any string beating you're good.

 

What a fun bass to play though. I get allot of upright bass tones out of this one. Finger touch/dynamics is very strong too. When I switch to my solid bodies the string tone feels highly compressed in comparison,.

[DeepEnd]

Happy New Strings Day. I have a set lying around that I need to put on my electric guitar. With luck I can do it this week since I'll be playing it Sunday.

[WRGKMC]

I do a minimal of one set a week on guitar strings. I rotate the string changes between a half dozen guitars I play the most. The other 20+ only get changes when I get an interest in playing them again. I may go a couple of months on those without playing them. The strings aren't worn but they aren't new either.

 

I been buying strings in bulk for a long time and have tried nearly every set made in my gauges. I had been doing pretty good with boomers until a couple of months ago. The last couple of batches I got had sour A notes. The intonation comes up flat on them. I don't know why but A strings have been an issue this year with a number of manufacturers so I went and tried a few I hadn't tried in awhile. Slinky's didn't impress me. D'Addarios still have a gauge issue. They intonate and sound good but the tension feels uneven. The B and G strings are flabby as all get out.

 

I tried to find the La bella's I normally use but just strings didn't have them (they come with and extra E and B string for free)

Instead I figured I'd try their budget brand and ordered 2 sets.

 

 

I got some long life and really decent tones out of them. I was getting that complete chord Kerrang Townsend gets without any string beating. The things stayed in tune too. I'm brutal when it comes to string bending and I'm lucky if I can get a single track recorded without retuning. You can tell there's some decent steel under that nickel. One reason I keep coming back to these strings. They been in business before I was born and know how to make decent strings. They cost a little more but they don't skimp buying cheap steel. Consistent quality too. You compare the winds at the ball ends and its obvious how much better they are wound off at the ends.

 

I switched back to Boomers after I used the first two sets I bought and man, I didn't realize how much better the Labella's were till I switched back to the Boomers. I was back to tuning up allot and the tone wasn't as good. The La Bella's do take a bit longer to break in, and it usually takes a set to fin tune your instrument settings to them. After that you can expect the instrument to stay in tune for ling periods of time and sound good even when they start getting old. setup

 

Oh and I do like their Deep Talkin bass string on my long scaled basses. They produce what I categorize rich "American" Bass tones. What that is to some would be hard to describe. A 1950's Precision bass played through an Ampeg would be the closest I suppose. Its the tone and feel that turn you on. I hate having a flabby low E string. They get the core sizes gauged right so you don't have that problem.

[phaeton]

Hold your group together, with RotoSound strings!

 

 

I've actually been curious about flats on my bass. I have an active Fender P/J that's fairly intense and 'modern' sounding. Most of the stuff I listen to is from the 60s and 70s, so i wonder if it'd mellow down a little with flats. I go through phases where I alternate flatwounds and roundwounds on some guitars and like them both ways.

 

Ideally, I'd like to find an inexpensive (older) passive P or passive P/J and put flats on that.

[WRGKMC]

Flats have a very different sound. Allot of your metallic highs and mids disappear leaving you with thumpy deep bass tone with some added plunky sounding highs of an upright bass with finger attack tones in the 800~1Khz range. Because the strings have less metallic highs the flats produce less harmonic overtones and more fundamental root notes, something you hear in allot of Jazz music.

The strings themselves are smooth which makes for quiet sliding on the strings. They are so smooth in fact, they can feel sticky.

 

The first thing I did notice going back to rounds is how they produce louder piano like tones with longer sustain (mainly because rounds are a piano string) The body of the Hollow Body Hofner came alive, like pulling a blanket off it. The tones are much louder too. The flats had a wide dynamic range.

 

When you dug in playing flats, the deep tones got louder but you had to play harder to get consistently strong notes. This really isn't a bad thing, especially for a beginner who is still developing his right hand picking technique. You can use a lighter touch with rounds and still get a consistent volume level but, it can be a handicap to someone who lacks dynamic control.

 

 

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

Hold your group together, with RotoSound strings!

 

 

I've actually been curious about flats on my bass. I have an active Fender P/J that's fairly intense and 'modern' sounding. Most of the stuff I listen to is from the 60s and 70s, so i wonder if it'd mellow down a little with flats. I go through phases where I alternate flatwounds and roundwounds on some guitars and like them both ways.

 

Sounds like you might like the flats. I'd definitely give a pair a try and see what you think.

 

Ideally, I'd like to find an inexpensive (older) passive P or passive P/J and put flats on that.

 

I think that's the way to go if you can swing it. That way, you always have both tonal options available to you.

[phaeton]

 

>>> Ideally, I'd like to find an inexpensive (older) passive P or passive P/J and put flats on that.

 

I think that's the way to go if you can swing it. That way, you always have both tonal options available to you.

 

 

I agree completely Phil, however this is DANGERTALK. "Oh I can just get another one to try out X variation" Is how I got north of 13 guitars at one point.

[isaac42]

I only have 12 guitars.

 

But I also have 14 basses.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I agree completely Phil, however this is DANGERTALK. "Oh I can just get another one to try out X variation" Is how I got north of 13 guitars at one point.

 

You talk as if that's some kind of a problem...