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So Smooth and sounds Great!
Size: Long Scale
Style: Light, 45-100
I'll never use any other string than these! Butter smooth on the fingers - no noise!! Not muddy like flats at all! Perfect sound for both my basses and good compliments from others when I play in church.
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2023 by hobbymaster
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Been using half-rounds for many years
Size: Long Scale
Style: Light, 45-100
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.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2022 by Too many manga
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I LOVE the tone (and feel) of these (ENR71M) half round, medium scale strings on my Hofner Club bass.
Size: Medium Scale
Style: Light, 45-100
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.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2017 by MastersJA
Size: Long Scale
Style: Light, 45-130 (5-String)
Better than expected. Smooth easy to play. Sound great on a short scale bass. Both acoustic and an electric. I assume regular scale will be no different.
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2023 by ron obst
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Consistant quality, longevity, tone/long scale Fender fit...easy on the frets
Size: Long Scale
Style: Light, 45-130 (5-String)
Cost vrs quality. Even tone & easy on the frets. Been buying for years on all my mixed basses.
Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2022 by Ray-dio
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You gotta get past the stickiness of these strings!!!
Size: Long Scale
Style: Medium, 50-105
I've had these strings for a few weeks now and I love them! However, there is an adjustment period and the strings are sticky are horrible to play for a week or two. Not sure why they are so sticky at first but they get much better the more you play them. They are the best of both worlds: you get the
smoothness similar to flatwounds but also the brightness that the roundwounds have. They are not quite as bright as the rounds but they still pretty bright.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2023 by JCricket226
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3/4 great, 1/4 borderline unusable
Size: Long Scale
Style: Light, 45-100
First off, I love the feel of these strings. For the past several years I've been playing flats/tapes, and these feel nice and smooth. The upper strings have a really nice sound and are great for slapping/popping (not a style I play in very often, but when the music calls for it, I do it). The proble
m is the E string. It is absolutely dead. It has a plunky, thuddy sound — which I actually kind of like — but it sounds like I'm palm muting it when I'm not. It has absolutely zero sustain. Playing a tune where I have to hold a low F for several measures, the sound completely dies out after about the length of a half note. What! Worst (utter lack of) sustain I have ever heard on a bass string in my life.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2023 by S. Anderson
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Best Rock and Metal strings
Size: Long Scale
Style: Light, 45-100
I have been using these strings playing Rock and Metal for decades. They give me just the right sound for my playing style. I use my fingers and no pick. Lots of punch when I need it and nice full tone in all octaves.
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2023 by Patrick H.
Size: Long Scale
Style: Medium, 50-105
Did not like the feel or the overall sound quality. Strings had a very tacky feel.
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2023 by Chip Meyers
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Great sound and feel. Gives some highness to cut thru the deep bass tone.
Size: Long Scale
Style: Light, 45-100
I heard that these half wounds are not popular but don't know way. They are cheaper then D'Addario flat wounds. And the reviews for these half wounds are fantastic. I put them on a Squire P bass with Seymore Duncan passive quarter pound pick-ups. Can't sound any better.
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2022 by jon bass
Size: Long Scale
Style: Medium, 50-105
I normally play flatwound strings, so this was a slight change for me. I've been playing bass for 20 years now, and I started out with roundwounds (Blue Steels, etc.). But when I bought my Ibanez bass (which creates a brighter and more active sound than a Fender Jazz, for example), I compensated with
easier-to-play flatwound strings, which I've played with for the last ten years or more. This time I wanted a little more brightness and attack in my sound so that I could have a little more presence on stage, and that's what I got. We play a lot of Rush, Yes, U2, Pink Floyd, etc., so these strings added just what I wanted. The only "problem" was that it took a week or so for my fingers to adjust because they no longer slide as easily as they did on flatwound strings. So this means that the callouses and frets will wear just a little bit more (though certainly not nearly as much as with roundwounds), and my fingers have to move a little extra to compensate for not being able to slide without creating string noise, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Now, I understand that my setup is nothing like what Geddy plays. So I already know, of course, that I'm playing different strings (no Rush pun intended) than he plays. However, the combination of my strings and bass create a sound that is very similar to his, and that's what matters. Overall, I really like the strings. In the end, these halfwounds are just a tweak and an experiment with my sound that happened to turn out well for me.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2010 by Pigpen
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Sticky and very high tension
Size: Long Scale
Style: Medium, 50-105
I bought a set of these to put on my Fender ‘63 Precision reissue. I was looking for something that would have the feel of flats and the sound of rounds, but these strings are not that. Good flats feel slick and easy to glide around on, but these feel very tacky and just kind of ‘dirty’ when you fret
with them. I had to wash my hands after playing to get whatever coating they seem to have on them off. Sound wise, they don’t sound like flats or rounds, just super dull with no fundamentals or power behind the notes. To make matters worse, they are extremely high tension, high enough that tuning up to pitch felt like it was going to snap my bass neck. Overall very disappointed but worth a shot I guess.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2023 by Robert G
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Ok Quality, just not for me
Size: Long Scale
Style: Light, 45-100
Three days with half rounds on my Jazz bass and I ordered a new set of flats today. The idea was to add some brighter tones without sacrificing the feel. Did not like the sound or feel. I prefer flats for my Jazz and rounds on my P bass. At least I now know what I don’t like.
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2023 by Mike
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I really wanted to like these… but didn’t.
Size: Long Scale
Style: Light, 45-100
Ok I’m a noob bass player so take my opinion for what it’s worth. I have a P and J bass and tried a few different types and makes of strings. I like D’Addario strings in fact my favorite set are the DA tapewounds on my P bass. Just awesome! Especially if you like the punchy new wave sound of Graham M
aby (Joe Jackson Band) or Bruce Foxton of the Jam. Both used tapes with a pick for a distinct sound. After getting those strings I ordered the half wounds for my J bass. I immediately noticed a stickiness of sorts on the strings. This is noted in other reviews. Tried micro fiber cloth wipe downs, treatments with fast fret cleaner but that feeling is still there even though they appear clean. There is also a felt friction with the strings which sounds contrary to the concept of these strings but it was there for me. As a result my playing is faster and more consistent on rounds or tapes vs. these half’s. The last issue I had was that the strings weren’t any easier on my fingers than rounds. There are plenty of folks who love these strings but for me I’m switching back to DA NY XL nickel rounds on my J bass. They sound great and are pretty smooth for rounds. Cheers.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2022 by John
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Sound completely dead except for G string
Size: Long Scale
Style: Light, 45-100
I started playing the bass after playing guitar for a few years. I got a used mid 90's G&L SB-2 American that had some older (but lightly used) rounds (45-100, measured with caliper) on it that still sounded pretty good. Even with callouses from guitar, they were ripping up my fingers and were super
noisy due to my untrained technique. Also, they were several years old so I thought that semi rounds would be a great compromise- according to the literature they would retain a lot of brightness but be much easier on the fingers and also faster feeling with less scratchy noises while sliding up and down the neck. They are easier on the fingers, but they sound so dead. Like someone lightly plucking a standup bass. There's no sustain, except for the G-string which sustains longer than the E, A and D strings. The G string actually sounds pretty good. If they all sounded like that, I'd be totally cool with these. I also was not expecting them to feel like they do- they grab at your fingers almost like very very fine sandpaper. I could be experiencing exactly what they are supposed to sound and feel like, but I kinda hate them.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2021 by mike
