my new SG reissue has arrived - which brand flats are you guys using on yours?

Aussie Mark · September 13, 2009, 04:30:54 PM

This is my first short scale in around 6 years, and my first Gibby since I sold the ex-Dude Ripper last year. It's also the first brand new Gibson I've ever owned. I bought it for a new Rolling Stones tribute show I'm in, and just like every other bass I own, it will be wearing flats.

I have a short scale set of TI Flats on the way from Tom's string shop (the extra BABP forum member discount makes him the cheapest bass string online retailer on the planet), and I really like TI Flats on my Fender-type basses, but not having used the TIs on a short scale bass before I'm wondering how they will suit the SG reissue?

What flats are other people wearing on their SG reissues?

uwe · September 13, 2009, 04:57:13 PM

I have Labella flats on my SG RI and they sound great, but so do the Pyramid flats, Roto Jazz, D'Addario Chromes, GHS flats and TI flats I have on many other vintage Gibson basses. The Labellas don't have huge pull, but offer a more manly feel that TI Flats with a little more ooomph and click.

uwe · September 13, 2009, 05:01:18 PM

PS: I have TI flats on my LP junior shape EB-0 and my slothead EB-3 as well as my EB-OF, they work great on all of these. Bend-o-mania. Perhaps not the greatest choice for root note in eights, but if you are going to be Bill Wyman you won't be playing that a lot anyways.

Hornisse · September 13, 2009, 05:08:35 PM

Quote from: Aussie Mark on September 13, 2009, 04:30:54 PM
(the extra BABP forum member discount makes him the cheapest bass string online retailer on the planet)

I don't qualify for the discount since I was banned from BABP (and FDP back in 2001!), but I do agree with Uwe's assessment of the other flats. I had Rotosound and Labella's on my old '67 EB-3 as well as my Guild JS basses and they sounded great. The TI's are actually 32 inch scale so they may be a little long for the SG reissue where the silks come in contact with the tuners. They work great on the old Guild Starfire basses though.

Aussie Mark · September 13, 2009, 05:18:17 PM

Quote from: Hornisse on September 13, 2009, 05:08:35 PM
I don't qualify for the discount since I was banned from BABP

How did you manage that? I can remember one person who got banned because of the "no dickhead" (and it wasn't you), but that's the only banning I'm aware of.

Aussie Mark · September 13, 2009, 05:20:19 PM

Quote from: uwe on September 13, 2009, 04:57:13 PM
I have Labella flats on my SG RI and they sound great, but so do the Pyramid flats, Roto Jazz, D'Addario Chromes, GHS flats and TI flats I have on many other vintage Gibson basses. The Labellas don't have huge pull, but offer a more manly feel that TI Flats with a little more ooomph and click.

Uwe, which of those brands other than TI make a specific short scale set? I do like Chromes (had them on all my TBirds), but I coudn't see a short scale set in their list.

uwe · September 13, 2009, 06:07:25 PM

Roto, Labella and Pyramid I know for sure (because I own or have owned sets). Höfner makes shortscale strings too. That said, unless your short scale has whimpy pegs (Höfner) or very small holes in the pegs (banjo tuners), long scale strings fit on short scales, especially on one with man size tuners such as the SG RI. If Gibson doesn't bother with short scale roundwounds when stringing them at the factory, why should you with flats? But help is on the way: Send me your postal address and I'll send you a fresh set of Pyramid "Gold" (they're not, just branded that way) nickel flatwounds in shortscale. They're probably hard to get where the 'roos live and I bought more than a couple of them a few years ago. At the rate I change flatwounds, my grandchildren will one day have to throw them away unused wondering why "grandpa hoarded all this stuff". The E on those, btw, is a 100.

copacetic · September 13, 2009, 06:10:57 PM

I use GHS Flatwounds Light Guage Short Scales (set #3020) on my supreme Gibson Supreme and a custom set of short scale flat Labellas on my '60's EB-0. (Rob at Labella said I had to have at least 30 sets made to make it worth while, so I organized a group of maniacs (and friends in Japan) that needed this exact measurement for Gibson EB0 and Gibson Electric Bass('50s) and and perhaps a few Epi Rivolis (not the RI's). This was about 10 years ago now that I did that. Anyhow I like the Labellas as they have slightly higher tension. TI's for me are always too floppy on short scales. The GHS are the only ones that come close for my liking in terms of sound but still just a wee bit loose.

Hornisse · September 13, 2009, 06:32:30 PM

Quote from: Aussie Mark on September 13, 2009, 05:18:17 PM
How did you manage that? I can remember one person who got banned because of the "no dickhead" (and it wasn't you), but that's the only banning I'm aware of.

I posted some gigspam on the site and one of the members was upset because I was "badmouthing" them on the 'Pit. Next thing I know I was banned. Send me your address and I'll ship you a BABP tee shirt free of charge. I think I paid $20 for it and I probably only wore it once or twice. It is XL size.

Aussie Mark · September 13, 2009, 06:43:29 PM

Free strings and tshirts. Thanks for the great welcome back!

OldManC · September 13, 2009, 07:21:40 PM

This place is kinda like lite beer; all the flavor and half (or less) the drama!

Chris P. · September 14, 2009, 12:50:28 AM

I believe the standard strings on SG RIs have a .105 E?

I'm not much of a flatwound guy, but I use, like Gibson, longscale strings on my shortscales. You can order shortscale strings on the internet nowadays, but a couple of years ago I went to all the big music shops in Holland (Amsterdam and so) and no store stocked shortscale strings. I could only order them if I bought a packet of 12 sets...

patman · September 14, 2009, 06:43:20 AM

Short scale chromes do exist...I had them on my Danos for a while...I didn't think the short scale e-string vibrated properly...sounded "odd"...

Even visually the e-string just didn't look right when it was vibrating.

May have been a couple bad strings (or my imagination?).

Patman

uwe · September 14, 2009, 07:05:49 AM

Strings on the way, Mark!

What Patman says: D'Addario chromes are incredibly stiff with a huge pull (eventually they even killed the trussrod of my Fender P!) and while I like the way they feel and sound on long scales, I think they could create issues on a short scale bass because due to their stiffness the part of the string right before the saddle (i.e. on the playing side) might be too stiff to vibrate properly thereby messing up the sound of the string as a whole. While long scale basses have greater tension and therefore a stiff part of the string as long or even longer than on a short scale, it is relative to the long scale size a smaller, less sound-affecting portion than on a short scale. I once read that this is the true reason why quite a few shortscale string sets have E strings with gauge less than a 100. It is to make the E string vibrate more freely.

Now watch Dave repudiate it all ...

Dave W · September 14, 2009, 09:15:13 AM

I won't try to repudiate it. I don't know if that's what's behind the smaller Es but you may be right about the stiffness. The actual tension is lower, the shorter distance may make it feel stiffer and also make it less likely to vibrate properly. Meaning, it may not sound right or intonate well.

Or you could just use rounds.