Item # 100142647 | Customer Ratings: 
(Based on 4
reviews)
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Jazz Bass Strings from Thomastik-Infeld offer you extended durability and high output. A highly flexible steel core gives these bass strings a balanced feeling and special character. The overall sound characteristics can be described as very close to the double bass. Nickel flatwound with a round core. 34" scale.
Gauges: .043 - .056 - .070 - .100.
I've always liked the feel of flat-wound strings on my basses and have tried almost every brand that makes them over the past decade. Being a versatile professional player in many different genre, I needed to find a string that would be durable, tonally responsive and accommodate many different hand techniques and playing styles. The JF 344s have exceeded every hope and expectation I could have! Strings are always a meatter of personal preference and it takes a lot of time to select the right ones for your bass and its individual tonal personality. Here's what I found when I began using these strings a few years ago. It is immediately apparent when these strings come out of their envelopes that they are of top quality, materials and construction. Running my fingers along the length of the string, the surface is smooth as silk and the consistency of the windings is unparallelled in comparison to other brands. They almost feel alive in your hands even before being installed on the instrument. Even the red silk wrap on the leader ends is precisely wound and adds an elegance to the aesthetic of the head stock. Once these strings are brought up to tension, it's as though the instrument comes to life. Each string is perfectly balanced with the others in tension and signal response. They are pliable enough to bend up by a minor third and yet remain in perfect tune despite heavy/borderline abusive playing. For more subtle voicings, the clarity of response from the metallurgy lends to a full spectrum response by the pickups and an amazing depth of tonal presentation. After 6 months of heavy play, I decided to try an old trick that players used to do back in the '60s and boil them to clean out the gunk in between the windings. This may have mellowed them out a little bit tonally, but they returned to pitch and have kept going to date for another six months. I have also found that it is easier and perhaps more effective to clean them with rubbing alcohol from time to time. Regardless, they keep going strong and are only showing minimal wear at the contact points with the frets. So far, this is the only noticeable change and does, of course, affect the harmonic (upper partial) overtones to a small degree. They still perform beautifully in a live setting in this condition and have displayed no evidence of "falsing" even through numerous removals, cleanings and retensioning. It is a testament to their quality in materials and workmanship that this is even possible; given my experiences with so many other brands. I use these strings on an '06 Fender Jaguar Bass (reissued now as the Deluxe Jaguar) and have used them on the Jazz Bass as well. They have what appears to be an ideal field response to the Jazz bass-style pickups and they have definitely maximized the different settings that the Jag has to offer. And... they feel like butter!
I have been using TI Jazz Flats for about three years now, and just purchased a couple of fresh sets -- one for a Fender Highway One P-Bass, and for for a Yamaha RBX260F fretless (equivalent to a fretless P-Bass). I play small-group jazz, varying from duos to quintets depending on the setting. These strings are ideal for this kind of music. They play well and sound great. While they are flat-wounds, they have somewhat less string tension than typical flats such as Chromes. They are definitely easier on the fingers, especially when playing a three-hour gig. While offering a reasonable amount of top end, they have a nice, warm, woody sound that gives a P-Bass a tone somewhat closer to an upright bass, which is great for jazz. They also cause far less fretboard wear on a fretless bass than roundwound strings. If reasonably cared for (use a cloth to wipe the perspiration off the strings after each time you play), they last quite well. They also work well with mods such as Gotoh bridges, Bartolini pickups or Tonestyler bass tone controls. These strings have very few drawbacks. They are on the expensive side, but you get what you pay for. They do not produce quite as much volume as strings with greater tension, but that is easy to compensate for using the instrument and amp volume controls. The top string is light enough to stretch a bit, so one usually needs to retune it before each practice or gig. Those are the only faults I can think of -- which after three years of using them, says a lot. In sum, great-sounding strings which are easy on the hands, and ideal for playing jazz on a P-Bass.
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