Grateful Dead Music Forum

I broke a string on my Starfire last gig, so I thought I'd try Pyramid Flatwounds, and might as well write a review.

In short - I don't like them. The A D and G are great but the E is just thumpy and dead. It'd be perfect for Hofner-era McCartney lines, and in fact I think those are the guys who buy Pyramids these days. Phil changed his strings more than Sir Paul, I think and didn't let his E go dead. Or maybe it's just a limitation in the Hofner design... either way, if I could get four equal strings it'd be great but as it is I feel like I'd have to palm-mute the other strings to get them to match the E.

I'll be going back to TI flats asap for my short-scale flatwound needs.

I have them on my Rogue Hofner knock-off. They're prefect for that, really improved the Beatles sound over the stock roundwounds. There are reports that the E is sometimes dead-dead (as in defective)- if it's really bad get a replacement?

They are the perfect Beatles/Hofner strings, no doubt. I'm not sure if they're defective or by design.

It's weird, I hate the dead E at home but live I'm ok with it... it does drop a nice controllable bomb.

Rusty the Scoob wrote:They are the perfect Beatles/Hofner strings, no doubt. I'm not sure if they're defective or by design.

It's weird, I hate the dead E at home but live I'm ok with it... it does drop a nice controllable bomb.

Have you ever tried ModulusStrings?

Phil Lesh101 wrote:

Rusty the Scoob wrote:They are the perfect Beatles/Hofner strings, no doubt. I'm not sure if they're defective or by design.

It's weird, I hate the dead E at home but live I'm ok with it... it does drop a nice controllable bomb.

Have you ever tried ModulusStrings?

I have a set of pyramids on my hofner (icon). It really sounds good and feels a lot better than the crap strings that came on it.

I also did an experiment with the LaBella flats on my fender type modulus. I had used round wound on it for years. the flats really changed the sound for the better. It was an amazing transition. With the Modulus neck and Alembic pick ups the bass was always super bright. The flats instantly gave the bass more depth rolled a lot of that harshness. But I F*ed up and in the experimentation cut the G too short and ended up putting the rounds back on, for now.

I love flats. I'm basically done with roundwounds, my few basses that still have them just don't get played anymore. But I still am not crazy about the dead E on the Pyramids... I should really switch them sometime.

I hate having slide resistance, expecially on Scarlet B. I hit a B on the E string and slide up to the higher b sounds so sick

Slide resistance is a big pain... I've been struggling with it a lot this summer, especially in the sweaty, outdoor shows. I've even had to simplify some things at times. Not sure if flats are the answer, sometimes they seem better and sometimes they seem worse. But the tone is unbeatable!

Ever try FingerEase? Weir has used it for decades. I used it at SPAC and was able to avoid the stickiness.

mk

Rusty the Scoob wrote:Slide resistance is a big pain... I've been struggling with it a lot this summer, especially in the sweaty, outdoor shows. I've even had to simplify some things at times. Not sure if flats are the answer, sometimes they seem better and sometimes they seem worse. But the tone is unbeatable!

Do you ever give you strings a quick polish with some 000 steel wool?

Wouldnt That Grind Them Down?

Rusty the Scoob wrote:I love flats. I'm basically done with roundwounds, my few basses that still have them just don't get played anymore. But I still am not crazy about the dead E on the Pyramids... I should really switch them sometime.

I've gone through that, but I just put some Sunbeams on my Series I and man, what a great sound and feel! I guess seeing Stanley Clarke this spring was kind of an inspiration. Of course, my Starfire will always wear flats.

Is there a Big Difference Between the Pyramid Flatwounds From The Flatwounds?

Flatwounds are a type of bass string, where the winding around the core is flat rather than round, so they're smooth rather than ridged. Pyramids are a brand of string, and most of their strings are flatwounds.

Then there are always D'Addario half-rounds, which is my string of choice for the last 10-12 years. Before that I used DRs mostly, except on the Steinberger I just left the stock strings there for the 8 or 10 years I owned it. Never liked its tone, but the weight was great! Now down to one bass; if it can't do it, it doesn't need to be done!