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Does any one here have experience with Rotosound Jazz RS77 flatwounds? I'm a long-time flats player, but I'd never tried Rotosound before. I bought the Steve Harris edition a few months back because I usually like heavy gauge strings (they are 50-110), but the string tension is just too high and I've got to get rid of them. I do like the sound though. So does anyone know if the lower gauge RS77s have less tension?

I ask because I know string gauge isn't always the cause of high tension and I don't want to buy lighter set of the same strings if they're going to be so tight anyway. Yes, my bass was set up when I put the Harris strings on, so that's not the issue.

Thanks in advance!

YES, Rotosound makes the same flats in lighter gauges now. I have a set on one of my basses, and there's a lot less pull on the neck. I also have been playing the standard gauge 'Jazz Bass' sets on occasion, since the early 70's! By today's standards, they are incredibly stiff strings- but if you play upright, like I do- they're o.k., and sound amazing. The other advantage is you can set the bass up with fairly low action with stiffer strings. I have one old heavy gauge set that has been on several different basses, and STILL ring like some round wound sets after all that use. The lighter Rotosound Jazz Bass sets feel like the 45-100 D'Addario Chromes or Fender 9050 ML sets I use. I hope this helps. P.S., the NEW Fender 9050 ML flat set is KILLER. A bit different from the previous issues. I have them on two of my Fender basses. A VERY nice set of strings.

Yup.

Although I use the 9050L sets (45, 65, 80, 100), I couldn't agree more.

I am admittedly NOT a "flats guy" but I just absolutely LOVE the sound of flats on a P bass and spent HUNDREDS of dollars on them... seriously, I think I bought 6 or 8 different sets... Thomastik-Infeld, LaBella, Rotosound, GHS, Sadowsky, D'Addario, etc... and I hated all of them until I found the Fenders, which I got for FREE from Fender because they fucked up my ADE order.

IME, there is a VERY delicate balance between tone and playability with flats. They either seem to sound fantastic but feel like high tension power lines under your fingers, or they feel great and have no tone, no punchy thud, and are just lifeless. This is especially true across strings... you might have a killer E and A string, but the D and G will suck.

Here's a video I did last year... it's the live version of Bruno Mars' "Treasure" from The Voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OureQdvrf9w

Anyway, I know the audio isn't the best, but you can get a good idea of the eveness in response across all strings, and I think the tone is killer... even for a shitty cell phone video.

Hope this helps...

That's a fantastic performance of a really groovy bass part Addison, thanks for sharing!!

I've used flats almost exclusively for the past 15 years on various basses and agree that they do walk a fine line between performance and feel.

I tried a few brands before setting on Lakland Osbournes and then Sadowsky Flats, which I bought for years. Forcing myself to finally try other types. The Rotosound Harris strings sound great (so far, they've only been on 2 months so don't know how long they stay sweet), but the tension is just not working for me and I really tried to make it work. Just wasn't sure if that was caused the gauge or just how Rotosound makes their strings.