D’Addario XL Chromes Flat Wound Bass Strings ECB81

Ottima muta ottimo feeling

I bought these as an experiment to see what flats were like for my American Jazz bass. I went with D’Addario, because its what i know and I’ve used them for 35 years for Guitars and basses.
The strings took a little getting used to, and i wasn’t completely sold at first. But then- after about five months, the TONE became AWESOME. Smooth, silky, right there when you need it. And no scratching. Its hard to describe, but you will notice. I use fingers style for almost everything, so I haven’t’ had a need to use a pick. But that being said, I can’t see why it wouldn’t work with a pick.
Also, its hard to go back to rounds now. The scratching just isn’t there for flats. I just bought a new American P bass, and it came with rounds. I just don’t like the round sound anymore, so i ordered another set for the new bass.
Also to note, these 100-45 flats replaced my 105-45 rounds perfectly. They are stiffer, so you will need to adjust the action a tad.
-Good luck!

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 for a long time and I am in a band playing 60’s through 80’s music again. The roundwound strings I had been using just didn’t seem to cut it for music from this period. Upper register notes just didn’t have the authority necessary (strong mids) so I decided to go back to flatwounds. Did a lot of internet research and learned that the flatwound that appeared to me to be most respected by other bassists is the D’Addario XL Chromes. I’m here to say, these are the real deal and I think, through my bass’s active tone controls, they have all the highs and lows I’ll ever need for any kind of music. On one flatwound set I tried before (I won’t mention the name), and on some roundwound sets, the B string was too hot compared to the other strings but with this set the string-to-string balance is excellent and, most importantly, my upper register notes have plenty of mid to cut through the mix and still sound like they came from a bass.

Pictured is my lovely Pedulla Rapture RBJ2-5 with a set of D’Addario XL Chromes ECB81-5, the lightest gauge set of Chromes. And for you fellow Rapture owners, the B string was a tiny bit tight but fit in the bridge without modification. I was a bit worried at first because I like keeping this bass in original condition. I have a very light piece of foam at the bridge to eliminate unwanted harmonics and add a little Jamerson thump, and yes, these strings do harmonics well. Some flatwound sets do not. I am very happy with this set of strings.

Oh, I need to add that my band plays tuned down one-half step. These strings handle that tuning exceptionally well at extremely low string height. The strings are a bit more taught than the roundwounds I previously had on this bass but not so much I cannot bend them easily. After setup (neck adjustment, string height and intonation) there is almost zero fret noise. I like that. These are great strings!

As cordas lisas são demais. Gostosas de tocar e muito bacanas para quem procura um som mais aveludado ou grave. Mas nada justifica a pequena fortuna que estão custando, estes tipos de cordas. Comprei em um preço promocional, o que me custou uma corda nova, mas já com dois pontos de oxidação. Esta não é a primeira vez que isso acontece comigo. Como são cordas caras e que têm pouca saída, vale a pena escolher bem o fornecedor.