D'Addario XL Half Rounds Bass Guitar Strings - ENR71-5 - 5 String - Long Scale - Regular Light, 45-130

I have been a roundwound player for 90% of my time playing bass. 10% of the time was flatwounds, and while I liked them, for some things they were just too dull or were missing something depending on the song or style of music. I decided to give these a shot, as I've been curious about them for a few years, and I'm not sure why I waited so long to do that!The feel of the strings is very different. When people say these strings have a "sticky" feeling to them, they're not wrong. Its the in-between of having a round and flat that is a bit confusing, since its not totally rigid like a roundwound string is, yet it isn't completely flat like a flatwound. It took me a few days to really get used to the feel, but once I did I found I really liked the feel and vibe of what I'd say is an extremely broken-in and old bass string. The fact that fret noise is largely taken out of the equation is also very nice. There is a slight increase in tension, but again, once you get used to that, it really isn't a problem.I did have to tweak my amp and pedals a tiny bit to accommodate for the slight volume difference, which was mostly due to me changing the way I was playing but also the strings themselves (acoustically) being a tiny bit quieter. They are a pretty mellow string, but don't lose too much with the brightness. To my ear, its a perfect balance. With the band I gig with, we mostly play pop/alternative rock and r&b/rap. For that gig, these are great, but when I'm playing at home I'm either playing sludge/stoner rock or some kind of poppy jazz. These strings are great for all of those, and the sounds that the strings produce work extremely well with overdrive and fuzz. The strings also retain a nice brightness if you are someone who plays with a pick (I tend to go back and forth depending on what I'm playing).They're pricey for sure, but much cheaper than flats, and I think over time as I break them in more these will still sound great. I don't foresee me really going back to playing roundwound strings on bass for any reason.

They're smooth to play with

Great strings has the warm bottom of a flat with the high pop not muffled out as a person who plat fretless , the tonal difference is nice without having to worry about fretboard damage

Bottom Line: These strings truly do have most of the smooth playing feel of a set of flat wound strings, though not completely as smooth. (The outer winding surfaces were made as normal round wounds, then the outer surface was ground down until the surface was flat-ish.) Yet the tone of these strings retain a noticeable amount of the brightness and overtones of round wound strings. The best of both worlds on a bass if you ask me.Very Important!: These medium scale strings fit my Hofner Club bass perfectly. The heavily wound portions of the strings run from below the archtop's floating, rosewood bridge and then, just past the nut of the bass, these strings quickly taper down to where they DO fit into the holes of the guitar tuning pegs Hofner uses on its basses. The E string's taper at the top is just enough that it fits snugly into the E tuner's post hole. The other strings, of course, fit into their tuners with more ease. This bass is a joy to play, and the feel and tone of these strings have increased my enjoyment of playing it.I was given a Hofner Ignition Series Club Bass for Christmas, though I got it early. The Club bass is made in the same manner of hollow body construction as its more famous Hofner Violin or "Beatle" bass brother, only the Club bass uses the same Les Paul-ish shaped, single cutaway body as the Hofner Club guitar. The natural tone of these hollow body basses has a distinct thuddy, woody character resulting in a tone more akin to the tone of a large acoustic double bass than does any Precision or Jazz bass. These Hofner basses are 30 1/4 inch scale (15 1/8 inch from nut to center of twelfth fret) basses for which there are notoriously few choices of string sets because of the extra string length needed from the bridge to the trapeze tailpiece. I have wanted a Hofner Club bass for over twelve years (when I first laid eyes on one of these sunburst beauties being played by Kurt Smith of Tears for Fears) and I finally got one; even if it is the $350.00 Chinese version rather than the $2300.00 German original. (The bass's manufacture, finish, and workmanship are simply amazingly close to perfection! I'm truly impressed with the workmanship.) However, I really liked the sound of this Club bass with the included round wound strings. Sadly, the winding end of the factory strings were coming unwound somehow and the A string broke at the tuner, necessitating this string purchase. On my other bass I have long used a set of D'Addario ENR71 "Half Round" bass strings and love them. If the Hofner Violin and Club bass users on the bass forums are to be believed, the vast majority of new Hofner bass owners immediately on delivery remove the round wound strings installed in the factory and replace them with LaBella or other brands of flat wound strings. I guess the idea is to get as close to Paul McCartney's unique thumpy bass sound as possible. I'm different, and am loving the thumpy AND bright overtones, and feel of these D'Addario ENR71M medium scale strings on my new short scale Hofner Club Bass.

I originally wanted strings that would be less bright and rough on my fingers. D'Addario's Half-Rounds seemed the best way to go. I've played them for years on several different basses and with one or two exceptions (probably bad runs), they performed as advertised. As I mentioned, I had a couple of sets over the years that must've been made wrong, because they sounded very dead. I'd replace them with another set of the same strings and they would sound just fine again.One recent development that puzzles me: what is this recent trend with 4-string long-scale basses coming from the factory with 45-105 gauge strings? I normally use the 45-100 strings, which seem (to me) to be the best balance between thickness and tension, while retaining good intonation throughout.The 105s I've had to deal with so far tend to sound muddy and feel leaden under my fingers. I want to start using flats on a couple of my basses in the near future, so I'm going to experiment with D'Addario's Chromes. However, I'll stick with the 45-100 gauges, since I'm used to them. I've had far more success over the years with D'Addario strings and far too many problems with their competitors' products.