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Post subject: need flatwound string recommendations
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 8:14 pm
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Roadie
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I seem to be getting pinched and metal slivers in my fingers from the fender flatwounds I am using. Anyone had that happen to them using Fender 9050M's? I need to try a new brand and was wondering which flatwounds you all like.


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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:16 pm
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Rock Star
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Location: Albemarle, NC
I've heard of the sliver issue before. I used the 9050L set with no problem but changed them every month or two before switching to a different longer lasting string. I'm guessing this happens when they get really old and start to break down.

There are lots of good flats available. Fortunately today you can order any set you want online and have them in a few days, unlike the old days when you had to take what the local shops had in stock. Best advice I can give is to find a recording bassist you like best and then find out what strings they are using and try them. There are lots of string threads on this and the other bass forums. Any brand of flat you can name has some dedicated users who exalt them as "the best" when the truth is no one string is perfect for every player, every style and every application.

That being said, some brands to consider include the two flats I currently use. 1. GHS 3050 REGULAR Precision Flatwounds. 2. Thomastik-Infeld EB344 Jazz Flats.

Other great flats I've used besides the Fender 9050L include:
Labella 760M Deep Talkin' (available in many gauges now.)
Rotosound Jazz 77
D'Addario Chromes
Ernie Ball Flats
All these have good points.

Additionally other players I know are using GHS BRITE FLATS and DR Highbeams. I've yet to try them because I'm pretty happy with the two sets I'm using now. Due to the rapidly escalating cost of the Thomastik-Infeld set I may not buy any more after I use up the new sets I have on hand and try the GHS Brites or DR Highbeams then. It isn't that TI is raising prices but since they are made in Austria with US Dollar is faring poorly against the Euro lately they just take more US Dollars to buy. When I first started using the TI JF344's they were $30 a set and now are twice that much.


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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:24 pm
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Roadie
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So there is a sliver issue then. I thought it might just be me. I have had these strings on this bass for several months I think. Can they break down that quickly?

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll check them out.

From my understanding, Fender basses came stock with LaBella's in the late 60's. Is that right? I'd like to try them, but they are so expensive - especially to be changing them every month or so.


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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 10:43 pm
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Rock Star
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john11.2526@gmail.com wrote:
So there is a sliver issue then. I thought it might just be me. I have had these strings on this bass for several months I think. Can they break down that quickly?

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll check them out.

From my understanding, Fender basses came stock with LaBella's in the late 60's. Is that right? I'd like to try them, but they are so expensive - especially to be changing them every month or so.


One other person I know of has reported a similar issue. His strings were pretty old when it happened. I think it is a wear issue. I never left a set of them on much over 1 month.

Labella actually was the earliest known string supplier for Fender's first generation P-Bass. Their 760M set was called the "Original Fender Bass" set prior to being re-named "The Jamerson Set."

Clarence Leo Fender put everything out to bid and was notoriously cost conscious along with being quality conscious. In the late 50's the V.C. Squier Company (a long standing string manufacturer) became low bidder on one lot of guitar strings and by 1963 V.C. Squier Company had become the "OFFICIAL" O.E.M. string manufacturer for the new Fender brand strings. Over the winter of 1964 Mr. Fender initiated negotiations to buy out V.C. Squier Company altogether, and by early 1965 he owned the Battle Creek, Michigan based string maker which had been in business there since 1890. Later in 1965 he'd sell Fender to CBS and that included the V.C. Squier Company. Later they'd take the "Squier" part of the name and use it for a new division to make budget line instruments.

I do not know exactly when Fender switched to using the Fender bass strings from the Battle Creek plant, but it would have surely been not much later than 1963. They would have used up any remaining Labella inventory though. So Labella strings would have been long gone by the late 60's when I bought my first new Fender bass. The first thing most people did was put on Labella 760M's. There were also some pretty popular strings being marketed by Gibson at the time.

You will not need to change them every month or even every 3 months. They are stainless wrapped and last a mighty long time.

Labella bass strings also are not that expensive if you know where to look. Labella 760M's and other gauges of the 760 series are only $29 a set at Elderly Instruments, plus shipping of course. I see them sell for up to $55 or even $60 a set. Retail on them is $70 so that is a pretty good price.

Two cautions about them. 1-The 760M's are not intended for body through stringing and you are guaranteed to break strings with a body through setup. I've broken lots of them that way. It is way more reliable to set them up top-loaded with bridge-through stringing if you have that option. On my first Telecaster bass I didn't have that option. However the 760 set in gauges other than the 760M Jamerson Set are specially reinforced for the necessary bend to do body through stringing safely. 2-These are the highest tension strings I've ever used and if you have a really high setup they will be a booger to play. The extreme tension is also noted for wrecking a few necks, including the one on Mr. Jamerson's own '62 Precision which was so bady bowed that nobody but him could play it. He is said to have claimed that the bow in the neck made the tone better.


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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:32 am
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Hobbyist
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I LOVE my LaBella flatwounds.....they're the best!!!! :D


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Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 11:35 am
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Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 9:37 pm
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Location: Long Beach, California
Try stringing up with a Rotosound 77 Jazz set. Excellent flats.

Not too "muddy," they articulate well and last forever.


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