{"id":403307,"date":"2020-02-25T18:01:11","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T17:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/?p=403307"},"modified":"2020-02-26T11:42:30","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T10:42:30","slug":"flatwound-bass-strings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/gear\/flatwound-bass-strings\/","title":{"rendered":"Flatwound Bass Strings – An underrated classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, flatwound strings<\/strong>, on the bass<\/strong>, that’s cool! Certainly the great film “Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)<\/strong><\/a>” made many musicians try out this special sound. Many viewers probably came to this conclusion: Flatwounds produce a special sound that’s suitable for ’60s soul, old blues<\/strong> or soul music<\/strong>… Anyone who believes this to be exclusively the sound you’ll get is enormously underestimating the flatwound string! Their development<\/strong> and application<\/strong> has evolved<\/strong> tremendously, flats are available today in many flavours<\/strong> and can be used in virtually every genre of music<\/strong>. Some of them are even suitable for slap bass!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A bit of history<\/h3>\n

But let’s make a little detour into history<\/strong> first. Flatwound strings are wrapped with a flat wire<\/strong>, hence the name. Old bassists may still know them as “polished<\/strong> strings<\/strong>“, and outdated name which in not really accurate.<\/p>\n

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Flatwounds are the strings with which the first electric bass<\/strong> series, Fender’s Precision Bass<\/strong>, was strung. This was the only way, because roundwounds<\/strong> were invented a decade later<\/strong> and were brought to the market by Rotosound<\/strong><\/a> with the help of bassists like John Entwistle<\/strong>. The bass solo of “My Generation<\/strong><\/a>” is a historical turning point for the electric bass world. Finally a bassist could step into the foreground<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And here comes the point: Entwistle’s bass solo wouldn’t<\/strong> have sounded much different with flatwounds. The sound is slightly distorted<\/strong>, which generates enough overtones<\/strong>. Maybe John used roundwounds because they are easier to play <\/strong>but this means that he had to put in more power<\/strong> to be heard above the rest of the band. On the other hand, James Jamerson<\/strong>, bassist at Motown Records<\/strong>, achieved a similar result with a P-Bass plugged directly into the board<\/strong> (DI) via a tube compressor <\/strong>and, of course, a set of ultra-hard flatwounds from LaBella<\/strong><\/a>. Sounds poweful but look how calmly<\/strong> and softly <\/b>he plays:<\/p>\n

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Flatwounds vs. Half-roundwounds vs. Roundwounds<\/h3>\n

Yes, let’s admit it: Flatwounds sound softer<\/strong> and warmer<\/strong> than roundwounds, at least most of the time. Some may call the sound “dull<\/strong>“, but that’s not the case<\/strong>. Flatwounds have a healthy amount of high frequencies<\/strong>, but this is not the main focus. In the foreground there is rather a bassy boost<\/strong> for which a roundwound string could only beg for. Half-roundwound strings<\/strong>, as probably you imagine, are the intermediary between the two, borrowing characteristics from both extremes.<\/p>\n

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roundwound, half-roundwound and flatwound strings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Nevertheless, at least the modern flatwounds, such as the D’Addario Chromes<\/strong><\/a> or the Ernie Ball Cobalt<\/strong><\/a>, provide a healthy high-frequency crunch<\/strong> if you play them properly. Meaning, slapping<\/strong> would be no problem at all. It may sound a little different than usual, but the function is fulfilled. But you have to work really hard for it, because flats are, well, a bit more stiff<\/strong> in handling<\/strong>. For this reason, slapping is recommended only as a high-speed technique for the very experienced player. Like this man, Alex Lofoco<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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The really interesting thing, however, is the mid-range<\/strong>, which provides an amazing presence<\/strong>. Is there such thing as intelligent bass strings? Flatwounds seem to act like they are: At the very bottom<\/strong> they deliver a fat, warm foundation<\/strong> on which the other instruments feel confident, at the top<\/strong> they leave enough room<\/strong> for sizzling guitars <\/strong>and shimmering cymbals<\/strong>, and in the middle<\/strong> they look for a hole through which they can slip, so that they can always be heard<\/strong> well<\/strong>, even in a dense arrangement, without being obtrusive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What about those black bass strings?<\/h3>\n

You mean nylon tapewound<\/strong><\/a> (or black nylon<\/strong>) strings? They were invented in 1962<\/strong> by James How <\/strong>because of a demand by double bass players who wanted to play electric bass and couldn’t quite get that double bass sound<\/strong>. They give a very nice deep<\/strong> and warm<\/strong> tone. Check out the video below, Mo Foster<\/strong> demonstrates what the Rotosound Tru Bass 88<\/a> black nylon strings<\/strong> sound like:<\/p>\n

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So flatwounds don’t have any disadvantages?<\/h3>\n

Yes, there are a few disadvantages. First of all, it often sounds uninspiring<\/strong> and a little dull<\/strong> when you play flatwound-equipped basses alone<\/strong>, without a band<\/strong>. They are definitely team players<\/strong> who show their strengths in a band context<\/strong>, especially when playing on stages<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, most flatwounds are often quite “stiff wires” and they often require strength and stamina<\/strong>. Whoever has had a Steve Harris signature<\/strong> set <\/strong><\/a>or the formerly-mentioned James-Jamerson-La-Bellas<\/strong><\/a> under their fingers knows what we mean – these are real “tough guy” strings. But this is definitely not true for all of them. Carol Kaye<\/strong>, studio legend from the USA, also plays flatwounds, but the very easy to play Thomastiks<\/strong><\/a>. But is her sound less potent? Definitely not!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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And finally, flatwounds are noticeably more expensive<\/strong> than roundwounds. But they also last longer<\/strong>. For example Klaus Voormann <\/strong>(Beatles <\/strong>buddy and bassist for Carly Simon<\/strong>, Manfred<\/strong> Mann<\/strong>, John<\/strong> Lennon<\/strong> and others) had an early ’60s Precision Bass. The strings with which it was equipped at that time, and with which Klaus recorded the intro lick<\/strong> to “You’re So Vain<\/strong><\/a>“, are supposedly still on it! Also, ask a double bass player<\/strong>, what the costs<\/strong> for their strings<\/strong><\/a> are. For the price of a set of Fender Flats<\/strong><\/a> s\/he doesn’t even get a reasonable G-string…<\/p>\n

You won’t know till you try<\/h3>\n

We recommend that you give this string type a try. Get a cheap set of Fender Flats<\/strong> for example, put them on, take a few weeks to get to know one another. Then get addicted, just like countless other bass players have. You can thank us later.<\/p>\n

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For an illustrated example check out the video below where Julia\u00a0<\/strong>compares the sounds of different strings<\/strong> on the same bass<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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Flatwound strings? Who plays those anymore, and why? You’d be surprised, and we’re here to explain why… Read on, bassists!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":415761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tblog_post_audio_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1083],"tags":[3837,7010,11478,11482,11603,11494,2083,11484,11490,11492,11605,11488,8447,11486,11480],"class_list":["post-403307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gear","tag-bass-en","tag-electric-bass","tag-flat","tag-flat-wound","tag-flats","tag-flatwound-en","tag-guitar-en","tag-nylon","tag-round","tag-round-wound","tag-rounds","tag-roundwound","tag-strings","tag-tapebound","tag-wound"],"category_colors":{"color_key":"gear","css_classes":{"text":"cat-gear","text_light":"cat-gear-light","bg":"cat-bg-gear","bg_light":"cat-bg-gear-light","border":"cat-border-gear","text_on_bg":"cat-text-on-gear"}},"reading_time":{"minutes":5,"formatted":"5 min"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}