D'Addario XL Chromes Flatwound Bass Strings ECB81-5, 45-132, 5-String

I have a through-body Mustang bass. Since I bought it, I always used LaBella Mustang Flats because of the perfect fit... I'm surprised more strings don't market specifically "for Mustang". But these strings, in the medium-scale set, are PERFECT for a through-body Mustang. Also, the sound is excellent. The E string has (at least on a brand-new set) just about the liveliest sound I've ever heard on an E string. Ya know how sometimes playing a note on the A string vs the E strings, even on a brand-new set, sounds way, way different in tonal quality? That problem is really minimized with these strings -- again, at least on a brand-new set. I'll be keeping any eye out for how the E string deadens with time, but as I get a better ear with time, I find that I need to replace my strings about every 3 months anyway, otherwise everything starts sounding dead to me. Too bad Thomastik-Infeld doesn't make their Jazz Flats in a scale for through-body Mustangs, those suckers sound good forever! (hint hint, T.I.!) Anyway, these strings seem to have noticeably better sound than the LaBellas, especially on the E. I really like the gauge too, they just feel right. May have to become a lifelong d'Addario fan! ADDENDUM AFTER GOING THROUGH SEVERAL SETS: Still loving them! I usually get 3 to 4 months on a set, and then the dullness starts to kick in too much. Although even after 4 months, you might really like the sound, they still sound good, they still play well, and they still stay in tune -- they just don't have that lively bright quality like a newer set. They also age very, very nicely, in that each string ages equally, even the E string, which is really surprising since I've found that the E string (with other brands) tends to go duller faster than other strings, and gets to be way-too-dead very quickly. Not these babies!!! The E string, even after four months, sounds comparable in tonal quality to the other strings and still has good sustain... again, just losing that brightness to age at the same rate as the other strings. UPDATE: after many, many sets of these strings, they are still my favorite for a Mustang Bass instrument with through-body strings. They sound good for a long time, getting "deader" very gracefully, including even-balanced aging and tone on the low E. They sound so good aged, that it shocks me when I throw on a new set and hear how bright they are!! I'm like, whoa, sure, they weren't bright after all that time, but man they still sounded sweet!

Been playing bass in a cover band that plays a wide range of mostly danceable music: Pop, Top40, R&B, Funk, anything groovy. I play two Fender Jazz Basses. One is a standard MIM and the other is a Japanese Aerodyne with P/J pickups. I have been playing Rotosound Swing Bass Roundwounds on both. But.... I have been noticing that with this kind of music I was always turning down the tone and bridge pickups to get a deeper sound like on most of these original tunes. Also found myself playing the Aerodyne almost all the time because of the P Bass pickup and it's tone. Went online and researched various options for getting that genuine tone from the 60's and 70's and learned that Flat Wounds are where it's at. Caught some great videos on YouTube about these strings and decided to give them a try. I'm glad I did! They are a huge step in the direction I was trying to go. Put them on the Aerodyne, gonna keep that one as my groovy axe and the MIM Jazz will keep the roundwounds for when I need to rock out and want that great lively tone they produce. The flatwounds feel smooth slick and amazing to play. They are a bit stiffer with more thud than rounds and also have less ring. Which is good for certain kinds of music. I noticed with them I don't have to mute open strings as much and they naturally produce more of a deeper thumpier sound. They have great sustain, so they're not deader, just have less of the higher overtones of rounds. I also noticed that my tone knob is way more responsive with these strings than with rounds. Using the tone knob and blending in the bridge single coil pickup give me a much wider range of tones now than I ever had before. Go figure. I can also crank up the tone and the bridge pickup and get very close to a roundwound sound for certain tunes and not have to change basses. Overall, I am very pleased with these strings and the way they have added more options to my sound. I would recommend them to anyone looking to broaden their pallet of sound or discover for themselves the deep soulful funky tones these strings produce and why they are such a big part of some of the greatest music ever recorded. MORE BASS!!

I have an acoustic bass guitar and I tried D'Addario semi round strings for a 5 string bass. The B string broke just trying to tune it the first time. The E string was DOA. So I bought these strings and will pick up a single B string later. These strings play really nice. Nice and mellow yet louder than the original round wound strings. Would definitely buy again. No loud zipping sound when you run your fingers up the strings. They are probably not for an acoustic bass but I made them work.

I put these on my Ibanez Mikro and I could not be happier with them. They sound incredible and fit great. I like smaller, lighter instruments for writing at my desk, so it's nice to have high quality options for a tiny bass. I initially bought the Mikro because I was experimenting with bass synth, and I thought the shorter strings would be easier to calm down between notes, which would prevent confusion in the processing of the synth effect, and that turned out to be true. With the flatwound chromes, it seems a lot easier for the bass synth to process due to fewer harmonic overtones and more controlled string vibrations.

For me, Chromes are the best flatwounds out there. And I’ve been through them all many, many times. Chromes have the smoothest surface with zero friction, and set up very low without ever having any buzz. They play very fast and work well on P or J. The quality control is extremely consistent and once broken in they sound absolutely amazing. Be sure to give them about a month before you judge them. Soon they become extremely thumpy and warm. I like LaBella too, but have stopped supporting that company because of so many bad D and G strings. The company does not acknowledge a problem yet it’s reported heavily throughout Internet forums for over ten years. The issue is that the strings will buzz no matter the action height.

I’ve always used d’Addario bass strings. Switching to the flat wound has been a game changer. The tone is great. But without all the fret noise from nickel round wound. Very durable. A little pricey, but all flat wounds are about the same price. I wouldn’t go for any other brand

Warning! "Medium scale" doesn't mean normal bass guitars! The windings/tapered portion makes it past the first fret. his is despite a quite long tapered/wrapped region above it. Good strings other than that. Unlike the Ernie Ball ones, these are not "sticky".

When put on my acoustic fretless, it really gave it a double bass-like sound especially in the middle of the neck. I had to slightly ream the B hole in the bridge and shave off some of the sheathing on the B string because it became slightly too fat after I immediately frayed the blue sheathing. Otherwise, these should usually go on well and without issue.

There is something special about chromes

Il prezzo certo non è dei più convenienti, ma per questo tipo di corde ne vale la pena, montate sul mio fender jazz bass manico fretless danno un impronta al suono decisamente migliore, nello stesso tempo non rovinano il manico! Consigliatissimo per chi suona fretless su altri bassi non saprei

tout est dans le titre ! des cordes de qualité superbe pour un jeu extraordinaire, juste dommage je ne trouve pas un jeu de diamètre plus gros, la taille au-dessus et c'était la perfection

Excellent.

Good quality strings, make such a difference to my bass tone.