I love the feel of flatwound strings and the deep punchy tone they give, however on my Epiphone vintage pro Thunderbird basses I wanted to use strings with a brighter tone than the flatwounds I normally use.
After trying a few different sets I have settled on Ernie Ball Extra Slinkly Cobalt flatwounds (40 60 70 95).
These are the lightest set in the range, but six different sets are available including a five string set:
- extra slinky (40 60 70 95)
- super slinky (45 65 80 100)
- regular slinky (50 70 85 105)
- power slinky (55 75 90 110)
- hybrid slinky (45 65 85 105) &
- five string regular slinky (45 65 80 100 130)
All sets are standard long (34″) scale. These Cobalt flatwound strings are very smooth and the extra slinky sets I have feel more flexible than other flatwounds, and give a tone with more treble and high mids. I would describe the tone as being similar to that of slightly played-in roundwounds.
Like other flatwounds they are very long lasting, and surprisingly the sets I have on my basses have kept their bright tone for nearly a year so far.