Aren'y flatwounds supposed to last longer?

[musicfiend]

I was playing my yamaha with fender flats along with the song hysteria on the muse website figuring out the song anf my a string broke. I'm a little confused, these are heavy gauge flatwound and I have almost never slapped on them. Maybe I am confused about this myth that flats last longer thatn rounds. But if so how does mishell Ndegecello (I am so sorry for butchering her name so badly) have the same flats on her jazz for 10 years. How does jeff amment have the same flats on a p bass for 15 years. How does Tarus Prudnik (sorry again) keep his on). Why do hutch hutchinson's string on three hofners last 40 years. Somebody fill me in please.

[Tom Capasso]

Yes, strings should last a while. People leave flats on for years because they don't care if the strings "lose their zing".

 

If you broke a string (and didn't abuse it by popping it like a bow and arrow), there are two common causes. One is that the string may have been defective. I haven't heard this much, but it is possible. More common is that there is a sharp edge, or burr, in the bridge. Any sharp edge (nut or bridge) is a risk.

 

And while you say that you didn't abuse the string, remember that if you bang a string, close the case cover on it, etc., you may have damaged a string. May have...

 

Tom

[musicfiend]

Well, I rarely play the bass and i don't even take it out of the house since it's not neccesary. It pretty much sits on a stand for me to practice on. I doubt there are sharp edges because they did last through 2 months. And I prety much played fingerstyle and a smidgen of pickstyle on it. The sharp edge could be valid, but i tend to break strings all over the neck, not just that (a) string....so i really don't know.

[pimpernelsmith]

I've been playing bass for 35 years. So many strings sound great at first but have short lives. Over the years, I've settled on Pyramid flats for my Hofner Cavern bass, and Thomastic-Infeld Jazz flats for my Jack Casady bass. Both of these strings are very finely finished and have excellent quality. Tune up very accurately, and have great sound and playability.

Both of these instruments are hollow bodied. I like a deep upright bass tone with no finger noise.

These strings, I find, last a very long time while giving me the kind of tone that I want for the kinds of music I play. They're both a bit pricey at first, but since they last so long, they become a very good value. But, if you don't like the tone of your strings, longevity doesn't matter, does it? To me it's all about the tone, so they're worth the money.

[Fred TBP]

Idle thoughts: my best guess is that the strings only last as long as you keep them from rusting, in the physical sense. Electrically they lose their magnetic property over time so that they don't produce as much of a signal as they age. For that matter, so do passive pickup magnets. But a lot of players prefer this "aged" sound, so they tend to leave their old strings on and don't fret about it.

 

I've done this with most of my active-pickup basses because the signal loss of an aged string can be compensated with a simple adjustment. In general, when there's too much rust or too many dents (fret contact) on a string, I tend to change it before it breaks on me.