Thomastik JF344 5-stars Reviews

First impression: great strings

To my ears these are lovely and mellow straight off the bat, I look forward to them ageing.

The very best

I?m delighted with these strings,

The beautiful tone and the perfect string to string balance,

The low tension takes getting used to,

Amazing strings.

Bright sound with rich lows and highs

Use:

I put this string on my semi-acoustic bass.

Clarity:

Very nice set. Not to thick and not too thin. The sound is "full spectrum" and long lasting sustain. For tha flatwound this is the best set, i`ve ever using.

Low E string is very solid, with rich high end.

Pros

Medium tension, long life, very bright sound (especially for flats),

this set gives new life for you instrument.

Cons:

Price (maybe better to buy 1 set of this instead 2 of other flats)

smoooooooth

I put these strings on an Epiphone EB3 bass as I found it a tad uncomfortable/tight and boomy/indistinct with a few different roundwound brands. After rewiring the bass to 50s style wiring and still not quite achieving the clarity I was wanting I decided to try these TIs out as I'd read somewhere that Carol Kaye was a user - I thought I'd go for the fundamental and forsake clarity altogether. Really, who can argue with the bottom end of the Wrecking Crew?! These strings are fabulous - just superlative. They feel relatively low tension compared to the rounds I had previously installed, super comfortable and slinky, yet paradoxically the clarity is much improved. There's no metallic clang, just simply sublime string to string and low end frequency balance. Not as idiosyncratic as Pyramids, not the best for growl or zing. Just really, really fantastic flatwound punchy and thumpy musical performance. And they are immaculately wound too - totally flawless. They're aging beautifully, maintaining their string to string clarity yet sweetening/dulling on the top end in just the right way. Superb flats - highly recommended.

Good jazz strings

Been using these for some months both on a fretted Fender Jazz and a fretless Warwick Corvette. Finger style playing mix of P&W, folk, jazz. Consistent mellow sound & good feel. Nice strings!

A must-have for fretless

I bought this for my fretless bass (ebony fretboard), because I wanted to give it a try as it had very good reviews. After several weeks of usage, I can absolutely understand why people like it and why it has the #1 sales rank in its category.

Even though the following is usually mentioned in the reviews, I didn't expect it to be so prominent, but the strings sounded very bright out of the box. Like, really close to the brightness of a roundwound set.

But after around 20-30 hours of playing, the sound changed to a really warm, mellow, jazzy tone - exactly what I wanted to achieve with my fretless.

This is the perfect set for me, and it's quite unlikely that I'm going to change to any other type soon.

Highly recommended product.

Great flatwound strings... if they are your thing!

I rated these strings with the maximum as these are clearly quality strings. However, I personnally did not keep them too long because I realized I am not a fan of the smooth flatwound feel. The sound is great, but there is just something about the feel that doesn't work for me. This is however very subjective so you should try for yourself and make your own opinion.

I found the strings to also lack tension, but that's pretty typical for TI jazz strings. And again, this is very subjective. Great strings, just not the right ones for me!

Great vintage sound

Definitely one of the best flatwound sets available. The playability of these strings is amazing, really nice feel on the hands, no reduction in quality even after years. Sound great on either P or J bass and provide a really warm vintage tone. Highly recommended. They might look a bit pricey but as mentioned above it is a set that lasts for years.

My favorite for P-bass

I've been using this for years on some basses, and it's my first choice on a P-bass to play country music, oldies, etc.

If you're looking for the classic thump, don't want to slap, this might be for you too.

Oldschool vibe.

Wanted an old school vibe, like when electric bass was always called "Fender bass", on my cheap Chinese bass, mostly for recording. I'm more of a guitar player really, but for me that's almost always the ideal bass tone.

I put some sponge under the strings near the bridge, but it was still lacking something. So I got these and bam! that's the sound.

I was required to do a bit of slap playing on a tune recently and thought that they would sound wrong for that, but actually they worked and sounded just fine, at least to my ears and hands.

Nothing bad to say. Feel good, easy to play, sound great. Hopefully I'll never change them! Ever.

Very nice sound and feeling

I use the strings for my fender jazz bass. I have not use flat strings for many years now. They are a little thiner than my previous strings (elixir 45 - 100). I found them very soft and light in feeling. The sound was much better than I expected: warm, clean, not muddy at all, very close to a double bass sound. I am very satisfied with these strings. If their sound lasts for some time, i will buy them again. Recommended.

Ps. After two months the became a little dull. The feeling is still silky.

Vintage Tone

Excellent strings for that vintage tone. Strings make sliding extremely easy and smooth. The length fit the wounds perfectly except for the E string which I had to cut short. I love the tone of these strings and punchy sound. I have them strung to a jazz bass which I use for recording. The red coating on the tips add a nice touch. I won't be changing these strings for a very long time. The higher price is worth it and considering the longevity of these strings it works out that these strings are actually cheaper in the long run then rounds. But of course very different in tonality. If your looking to capture the rock, blues and motown sounds of the 60's and 70's look no further.

Great strings, great price

SOUND: I use TI JF344 on my beloved Fender J Bass. They tend to be a little bright when you mount them. Let's say that in the first 20-30 hours I've experienced quite a roundwound-like sound. As time goes by (playing time of course!) I've seen that the timbre went warmer and warmer. But not like most of strings, which often goes duller and duller. The more you play them, the more it gets interesting and outstanding. Once you've passed the "trial stage" -which often irritates people, who change them way before the time- you'll have fantastic strings, perfect for recording: nice fundamental, cutting the mix as much as you want without too much post-production. Live sound is nice as well. One thing I noticed is that they tend to change (more than other strings) the personality of a bass guitar. TIs are so recognisable. Don't lean too much on "occasional" string reviews: they often show you the sound of brand new TIs which is quite different from the real one. If you want to hear real TI sound, check Carol Kaye or some other real long time endorser.

QUALITY: If you come from "popular" strings, you'd think "now that's luxury". Soft, smooth, silky they don't go out of tune. Last forever. They are pretty loose, if you are a punk rocker you're gonna bend them accidentally all the time and claim nonsensical tuning issues. But if you like tasty bendings (even microtonal ones) or vibrato it's another good feature for you.

OVERALL: Great strings, great price.

Great sound and feel that is (so far) getting better with age

These strings were recommended by a friend, and while the price made me hesitate and do some research before I bought them, I can now only add to the 5-star reviews. They have been on my P-style bass for over two months now, and they sound and feel perfect.

Smooth strings

Loved these on my MIG Warwick Star Bass Bubinga. Sweet to play and very warm sounding.

Musical, Rich, Perfect

As a full time gigging bassist, I strive to have the tones I want on hand. Finding a string that can do 90% of what I play without costing the world, or dying after a few weeks/gigs was becoming impossible! So after lots of recommendations, and reading that Pino Palladino uses these strings, I took the plunge. ABSOLUTE BEST DECISION. The strings have a very rich tone, there's treble, plenty of mids, and plenty of bass in these strings. I've played just about all major genres using these strings! The best way to describe is that they are musical.

Seriously worth the money, I'll never use another flat wound!

Best .100 flats ever played

These strings are simply the best flatwounds for bass guitar which I've ever played. Sounds full deep bottom end with smooth mid and a decent high range. One of the most famous players of that strings is Pino Paladino.

I really like the handling and the string tension is very pleasant.

They are pricey, but I have been using the same set of strings for 2 years. They still sound as good as they did the day I bought the JF344. There are not many flatwound strings of other manufacturers that really sing and have great sustain. I will certainly buy again.

Great strings, good price

I bought these awhile back and have been using them on off on my fender precision. I found i used them alot for jazz gigs as it gives that nice warm round sound. I also had been looking at alot of motown and stax and found these flats were perfect for this sound. I have been changing them between these and round wounds and the strings have stayed in great condition. All round great strings and worth the money

It's Business Time

These strings are the business, now my favourite string, I wished I'd tried them years ago. The tension is very low which suits me just great but I hear many are put of by this. The tension is actually lower than the EB Super Slinkys that came off my Stingray. I find these are very versatile strings and can handle a lot of songs that would think only roundwounds could do. ON the stingray they do make it less barky and more mellow but I really like that sound, and of course these are so nice to play.

Lovely Flatwound

I've been using D'addario flats for many years but decided to give these a try after reading reviews stating that they are easier on the fingers. Flatwounds need time to settle in and improve with age, so these have been on my P Bass for around 2 months before writing. I currently love the tone and feel of these strings, a real old soul sound. They are quite flexible due to the low tension, the truss rod needed a little adjustment, but it's worth the time spent getting the setup right. At the moment I prefer them to the D'addario Chromes but it's a close call.