D'Addario ENR71 5 Half Rounds Light 5 String Bass Strings

I bought these to replace the Chromes flatwounds that came with my new Ibanez SRF705 fretless bass. I liked the flatwounds but I wanted a brighter tone without worrying about round wounds cutting into my fretboard. I figured the half rounds might be just the thing. But the tone is DEAD I mean DEAD! If thats the tone you are looking for then these are great, but for me they suck!

Been playing Rotosounds since the 80s, changed to DRs when my small town music store we're out of Rotos. Really like the DRs for rock projects. Started playing more blues, as well as bassist for Rockabilly/Country act. Looked for string less bright; played LaBella flats when I first started in the 70s, so googled best flats. Most folks recommended Chrome Flats...felt great, sound fixable with amp EQ, but JESUS they put a whole bunch of tension on the neck. I just felt my Warwick deserved less torture. Remembered I had used some Half-rounds and liked them in the late 70s and very early 80s. Put some D'Addario Half rounds on it. Best of both worlds. Easier on fingers, very nice tone, way less tension, more fun to play with. They are slightly less bright than the Chrome Flats, which surprised me. But they sound and play great.

I've played on flats for over 2 years and really prefer it to rounds. However, I've been looking for a brighter sound to cut through the mix better but keeping that smooth feel. I decided to try these half rounds as an experiment. After a luthier set up my bass with these strings, I noticed the top 3 strings sounded great, but the bottom 2 strings were completely dead. They are all thump and no tone. Thus... my 3 star rating. This review is hard for me because I loved my D'Addario Chrome flatwound strings. Those are amazing. These half rounds are either bad or I got a bad batch. Either way, I will never buy these ever again. If you are a flatwound bassist who wants to find a brighter string, you can follow me to Ernie Ball slinky cobalt flatwounds.

Smooth strings with nice tone and no finger noise like Round Wounds.

I opted to try some half-wound strings this time around, and chose this set. The price was right, and I've historically had decent experience with this brand. Once my bass was properly strung, I noticed that the A string sounded partially muted. I checked l everything to make sure it wasn't the bass, but all of it checked out. I live with the problem, and it has slowly gotten better with time. If I played any more frequently than I do, I might have made a fuss about it. For the money, it'll work for me, but I'll be wishing that GHS made 5-string half-wound strings next time I buy.

I use this on my Pedulla Pentabuzz bass. You still get the mids and some of the highs that people relate to the fretless but without the wear on the fretboard.