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Put flatwounds on my Bongo and...

Deaj

Deaj

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 18, 2004
Messages
161
Location
Kingston, WA
...WOW! It sounds great! I've owned a few basses that I liked flatwounds on but none this much. I chose D'Addario Chromes (not knowing much about flatwounds) and I'm really pleased with the resulting tone.

I like! :cool:
 
The first thing I did when my Bongo arrived, even before plugging it in, was to put a set of Chromes on it. For active basses, Chromes are an ideal match. I prefer TI Flats on passive basses.
 
What kind of music do you guys play that sounds good with flats? I've always used stainless roundwound with rock music. Thanks!
 
Bassplyr said:
What kind of music do you guys play that sounds good with flats? I've always used stainless roundwound with rock music. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I've used flats exclusively on all my basses for the past 10 years. During that time I've played rock (classic, alternative, progressive), pop, blues, and folk gigs.

Using flats and good quality bass rigs I can dial in any tone I like, plus I can play flats for hours at a time without my fingers complaining, and my frets and fingerboard are my friends for life.
 
I put TI Flats on my Bongo and ... eh. I prefer my "dead" (IMO in their prime) EB Super Slinkies, thank you. :p
 
midopa said:
I put TI Flats on my Bongo and ... eh. I prefer my "dead" (IMO in their prime) EB Super Slinkies, thank you. :p
Click to expand...

Like I said, TI Flats are a good option for passive basses (and fretless), but D'Addario Chromes are a great match for active basses and rock music.
 
I play blues, rock, pop, folk, prog, etc. I can't say as flats work for everything. I keep my Roscoe strung with stainless roundwounds. I didn't care for flatwounds as much on the Roscoe but they seem work very well on the Bongo. Only time will tell if they'll stay on. The flats do widen the variety of tones available to me - this is one of the two reasons I keep two basses. The other, of course, is that one should never be without a backup.
 
I'm putting black tapewounds on my Black Sapphire Bongo when I home today. I tried it before, and they sounded great, but they shorted out the piezos in the bridge. I've now figured out a way around that problem, so I'm going back to the tapes. :cool:

Right now, I've got TI Superalloys on both fretted, and fretless, and the fretted simply isn't getting played since the tone is so similar to the fretless. I figure black tapes will certainly change up the tone. The last time, I got this great early 70s Michael Henderson tone with the Bongo. I can't wait to dial in some piezos, too!

LaBella Deep Talkin' Flats are also great, but I like 'em with the nylon wrap.
 
Why did tapewounds short out your bridge? What is the trick to prevent it from happening again? Just curioius becuase I have a piezo bridge on my CAR bongo and I would hate to cause something like that.

Andrew
 
MingusBASS said:
Why did tapewounds short out your bridge? What is the trick to prevent it from happening again? Just curioius becuase I have a piezo bridge on my CAR bongo and I would hate to cause something like that.

Andrew
Click to expand...

Well, it didn't do any damage to them. It's just that the piezos use the strings to complete ground. So, since the strings are covered in Nylon (not known for its conductive qualities ;) ), they die.

All I'm going to do is wrap some copper tape around the part of the string that goes over the saddle to complete ground. I'll be sure to post pics and sound samples tonight if all goes as planned.
 
Hey! I use a very rare brand of roundwounds



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remember the other day your post a thread ..

"guess we are opening for who??"

:)
how's the gig the other day? as an opening band .. ?
 
The gig is Dec 1. So a couple of weeks yet. I'll let you know how it went. Maybe with some pics! Thanks for asking!!
 
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