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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   2116 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 19, 2026

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Any bass players here?

I'm making some progress on a project bass and I'm about to put some new strings on. I've always used Labella Deep Talkin' Flats, but for this bass, I'm going to do a BEAD tuning and the DTF B string is terrible.

I've been looking at some of the more exotic options like TIs or Dunlops, but I'm not sure if I want to drop $100 on an experiment. If anybody has tried them, I'd like to know your opinions.

If your problem is tone or slack feel of the low B string, changing string brand is unlikely to help as any such problems in tone come from basic physics: the combination of string thickness, scale length and tuning.

I think the specific issue is that the DTFs are stiff, hexagonal core strings. It makes it hard to get the intonation right. I'm wondering if the round core flats would help with that, since they tend to be more flexible.

I doubt it has anything to do with "flexibility" unless the strings get physically caught in the bridge / nut slots (in which case the slots may need repair work). Bass strings just don't work all that well if the tension is too low. Have you tried recording a single note and checking the spectrum?

Here is what quick googling returned as one possible cause for issues that might be perceived as intonation problems: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42452-020-2391-2 (string inharmonicity).

See if you can buy a regular cheaper non-hex core bass string and try if that also suffers from intonation issues. That is at least a cheap test and being flatwound vs roundwound should make no difference to that (at least I can’t come up with any physical basis for one).

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