D'AddarioXL Chromes Flat Wound Bass Guitar Strings - ECB81M - Medium Scale - Regular Light, 45 - 100

Really nice light gauge, smooth, flexible flat wound bass strings. Put them on my 63 P Bass to reduce the tension on its ageing neck- they work a treat with no noticeable difference to the tone compared with heavier gauge flats.

Good ballenced tension from string to string. Even tone from string to string. Good sastain (for flats). No intonation issues (common to many 'old school' flats). Very bright (for flats) when new; real ringing bell like quality to the tone. Slightly scooped, great bottom end. Once they've broken in, they get really smooth, they retain their bottom end, sastain and keep a high mid presence which meens they stay brighter than most flats. They retain their tone longer than any other string I've tried (good if you want their fresh tone, bad if you like their broken in tone). If you want super 'old school' thump, these probably aren't the flat for you. If you want a brighter 'modern' flat then these are the string. They have an odd sticky texture, but they polish up relatively quickly. Good thick blue silks.

When I first put them on my bass I didn’t like them at all, they felt so totally different to the round wound strings I had used previously. But over time I’ve grown to really love them – mellow but punchy tone and so smooth to play. No more squeaking of fingers up and down the strings. Highly recommended!

D'Addario XL Chromes Flat Wound Bass Guitar Strings - ECB81S - Short ScaleFitted to my Ibanez TMB30 Talman Bass without issues.Fantastic product - reduces finger noise to near zero and great tone too.

After having fitted this set, I find that the blue silk wrapping on the ball end of the A string is double the length of that on the D and G strings and extends at least 18mm beyond the top of the bridge saddle, effectively damping the string (see photographs attached). The E string wrapping was also slightly affected, but I've managed to roll that one back far enough to seat the string on the saddle. The error on the "A" is so glaring and so obviously wrong that I suspected these may be counterfeit strings, and therefore checked this online with the Players Circle tool, but found (to my surprise) that they are in fact genuine. I am now stuck with a situation where I believe I should ask for a replacement "A" string, failing which I will have to try to rectify the problem with a razor blade and super glue (which doesn't seem to be a satisfactory way to try to resolve a problem with a very expensive set of strings.)FOLLOW UP REVIEW:I have changed my rating on this review to 5 stars due to the tremendous response received from Amazon and D'Addario after I reported the faulty ''A'' string and requested a replacement. A complete replacement set was despatched immediately and arrived with me the following day. I have now fitted the replacements and am happy to report that they are absolutely perfect in every way, and have confirmed my faith in a company whose products I have used exclusively on all of my instruments for over 25 years

Item as described.

Great strings smooth as silk and a pleasure to play, nice deep tones without any annoying finger noise, these along with the D'Addario Tapewound Nylon covered strings are the only strings I use.Ok they look expensive but outlast cheaper strings many times over and no ridges or grooves to collect to collect gunk that deadens the sound.Just one point before you buy them, the ECB81M is for a medium scale bass (32" scale length) and are not suitable for either a 30" or 34" scale, on a 30" the silk winding will almost touch the first fret and on a 34" they will be to short, not really a problem as D'Addario make them in three sizes :ECB81S 30~30.5" scale bass.ECB81M 32" scale bass.ECB81 Long scale 34" scale bass.They really are worth the extra.

What I like was the strings sound great once fitted. But I had a lot of trouble fitting the B string to my Fender USA Jazz bass ultra. I couldn’t pull the B string completely through the hole in the bridge of my bass, it got stuck near the end of string which is wound slightly thicker than the rest of the string. Because I had already fitted the G,D,A and E strings to my bass I didn’t think I could return the set been as I had to cut some of the strings to size. In the end I was left with 2 choices, one remove the bridge off the bass guitar then drill out the hole to make it larger or two remove some of the rapping material at the end of the B string in order to make the string fit. I of coarse when for option two. Please note I’ve never had this problem before when I have used other brands of Strings