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Northray

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Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
61
I haven't been on the forums for awhile. I haven't been playing too much bass in the last few years (raising a young family), but I've been starting to get back into it. I have two StingRays from my rockin' country days - a Classic and a standard.

My 11 year old daughter has been learning the fiddle and tin whistle - playing lots of Celtic and North American roots music. I've been going to workshops with her and accompanying her and the other participants on my guitar. I'd like to start doing so on bass as well, but I'm going to have to "tame" my 'Rays somewhat - aside from dialing in the EQ and playing close to the neck, I'm also going to ditch the roundwounds and put some flats on them.

I'd like to put some Ernie Ball flatwounds on them - but I'd have to order them online (I live in the far North). Flats are expensive, so would you guys recommend the Cobalt slinky flats or the Group IIIs? Keep in mind I'd want to stay in the background, but I'd still want enough presence to provide a foundation for several fiddlers and acoustic guitars.

Thanks in advance for the advice.
 

GregP

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Joined
Jun 13, 2017
Messages
191
Unfortunately, I've never had the pleasure of playing the Group III's. However, I currently have the Cobalt flats on my Caprice. They exhibit a strong fundamental with striking clarity. They have none of the mudd that I've come to expect with traditional flats. In additional, they are super flexible and very easy to play. Im sure someone in the community will chime in with Group III experience.

Best of luck,
-Greg
____________________________________________
2017 Caprice Rocking Cobalt Flats (.040-.95)
 
Last edited:

kinopah

Active member
Joined
Apr 18, 2017
Messages
44
Location
nc
The Cobalt Flats are wonderful but still have a lot of brightness to them, especially for the first few months.

I actually have nylon tapewounds on one of my Rays and I've been amazed at how great they've been. Makes it really easy to eq that p bass thing. I do love the cobalts though - just don't expect them to not cut on a SR! I also have not played the group iii, so afraid I'm no help there.
 

Holdsg

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Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
1,320
Location
Alta Loma, CA
Group IIIs are fine strings, flatwounds from the old-school Jamerson/Carol Kaye school of bass playing. They are also a very good value-priced flatwound string.
If you can still find them out there in retail-land, they will provide a more mellow tone than the Cobalt flats.
For what you describe as your tone goals, I think the Group IIIs would be ideal.
Otherwise, can't go wrong with the Cobalts.
If you like to remove zing altogether, then you could also look at the aforementioned black nylon tapewounds from Labella, but that's a whole different ballgame tonewise.
 

Northray

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
61
Group IIIs are fine strings, flatwounds from the old-school Jamerson/Carol Kaye school of bass playing. They are also a very good value-priced flatwound string.
If you can still find them out there in retail-land, they will provide a more mellow tone than the Cobalt flats.
For what you describe as your tone goals, I think the Group IIIs would be ideal.
Otherwise, can't go wrong with the Cobalts.
If you like to remove zing altogether, then you could also look at the aforementioned black nylon tapewounds from Labella, but that's a whole different ballgame tonewise.

Thanks - this is exactly the feedback I needed. I'll give the Group III's a try.
 

Paco Maraca

Active member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Messages
39
Location
Germany
I made good experiences with Fender and Thomastik flats on a classic 1989 2-band Ray and a modern 3-band HS. The Fenders are more old-school, but with a brightness you wouldn't expect. The Thomastiks sound awesome on the classic, but you have to get used to their low tension.

Sent with Tapatalk
 

Lane Johnson

New member
Joined
Jul 28, 2019
Messages
3
The strings are awful and damaged all my tuners on my bass..The set I had needed far MORE tension, not less, The D just up and broke day 2..Total garbage. Never broke a string or Grover tuner in my life.
 

bovinehost

Administrator
Joined
Jan 16, 2003
Messages
18,185
Location
Dall-Ass, TX
The strings are awful and damaged all my tuners on my bass..The set I had needed far MORE tension, not less, The D just up and broke day 2..Total garbage. Never broke a string or Grover tuner in my life.

And I guess it would be illustrative if you would be so kind as to mention what strings you're talking about.
 

danny-79

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Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
2,507
Location
England U.K
The Cobalts would be the most versatile, even when the shine has worn off and they are played in its still possible to get a growl out of them should you wish
 

bovinehost

Administrator
Joined
Jan 16, 2003
Messages
18,185
Location
Dall-Ass, TX
Sorry I was replying to a post on the Cobalt Flatwounds.

I have seven basses with Cobalt Flats on them and have given probably seven or eight sets to friends.

All of my basses function properly and most of the friends are now dedicated to using Cobalt Flats full-time.

Many of the members here are using Cobalt Flats and not one has had their bass destroyed or damaged by strings.

No matter what strings we're talking about, and I've used some seriously heavy flats and rounds in my decades of playing, yours seems to be a unique situation.

I'm betting on some other explanation, but I have to admit that I'm curious. Can you give me the details?
 

Daniel

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Joined
Apr 21, 2016
Messages
2,848
Location
San Luis Obispo
The strings are awful and damaged all my tuners on my bass..The set I had needed far MORE tension, not less, The D just up and broke day 2..Total garbage. Never broke a string or Grover tuner in my life.

Hi Lane,
Sorry to hear that you've had an issue with your Cobalt strings. There is actually only a nominal difference in the string tension between our Cobalts and our Regular Nickel wounds. But, your strings should not have broken right away. Shoot us an email at [email protected] so we can look into this for you.
 

DrMatthewCross

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Joined
May 14, 2019
Messages
130
Location
Peninsula
I've had a bad experience twice with Cobalts, never with classic Slinkies. I bought two different sets of cobalts, during different times and from different sellers. Both sets had at least one string oxidized, but sounded normal. After some time both E and A strings of one set became completely dead, while the other set worked fine for almost a year, then I changed them to try something different. I bought another set of Cobalts a couple of weeks ago, I hope they will not show the same issue.
 

Daniel

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 21, 2016
Messages
2,848
Location
San Luis Obispo
I've had a bad experience twice with Cobalts, never with classic Slinkies. I bought two different sets of cobalts, during different times and from different sellers. Both sets had at least one string oxidized, but sounded normal. After some time both E and A strings of one set became completely dead, while the other set worked fine for almost a year, then I changed them to try something different. I bought another set of Cobalts a couple of weeks ago, I hope they will not show the same issue.

Hi Matthew,
If you ever have any issues with your strings, don't hesitate to hit me up at [email protected] and I'll take care of you.
 
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