Flat wounds...

[DaveG]

Some here may recall my posting about a big cache of older strings my brother and I picked up for next to nothing at a local music store. Lots of different stuff, mostly from the 70s. Still pretty fresh too...

So, in that collection there were a bunch of different flatwounds and half-rounds. There are a bunch of sets of D'Merle Extra Light Gauge Flat Wounds - .008-.038 with a wound .014 G string. Not sure who even makes a set like this anymore, so it might have to be "assembled" from various sets.

I couldn't remember the last time I put flat wounds on my Tele, probably back near when I bought it in '67. But there are so many strings in the box I bought I thought I would do a little experimenting and try a set of these out. What the heck, I could always just throw them away! But...

They are awesome! Just the most twang ever, and very bright, not like a lot of flatwounds of today. I'm using a light touch and a light pick of course. It's Luther Perkins and Don Rich on Brent Mason steroids!

I highly recommend trying this out if our haven't lately. I'm know some of you guys have more than one Tele, so you could dedicate one to flat-wounds for a while.

[6x47]

Close are the D'Addario 1/2 rounds .008 to .039.

Lightest flat wounds I've found are D'Addario Extra Light Chromes;
.010, .014, .020, .028, .038, .048

I don't mind the 1/2 rounds or I'd toss the .048 and add a .008.

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by 6x47

Lightest flat wounds I've found are D'Addario Extra Light Chromes;
.010, .014, .020, .028, .038, .048

I use those and I love them. I have them on my main guitar that I play clos to 3 hours a day and they hold up great.

0,08 woudl be a bit light for me, but it sure sounds cool, you'd bend for for miles I suppose.

[CatfishStudios]

Your flatwounds are twangy? I use em on my Jazz Box..Epi Emperor..and they refuse too twang. They don't seem conducive to bending either.

[jazztele]

alright, another flatwounds convert!

it's a different kind of twang, less pete anderson and more duane eddy...

i'm a flats-playin jazz guy as my handle implies, but i love the sound when i flip to my bridge pickup with the flats...a low, rumbly kind of twang...

[kp8]

I hate Flatwounds. Never ever again.

[jhundt]

I love flatwounds.

[BroadMaster]

I just restrung the CIJ/nocasters and 4way with stainless, .11-50 ribbon flat wounds from Gibson, on Friday. (I know...sacrilege, to put anything gibson on a tele; but they do make the best ribbon flats, IMO).

We(The JukeKings) played the Paris Blues Society Summer Bash, Saturday night. It was a great gig and the CIJ never sounded better. I was enjoying the Junior Watson tone and low side soloing was thick, rich TWANG. Bridge setting was too fine with the treble rolled off slightly. I'll probably hang with these for awhile. Pretty cool tone at any setting. Gotta love the feel of ribbon flats. I seem to remember that they don't die as quickly as roundwound, either. It's been 4-5 years since I last used flats. Sometimes it's good to visit an old friend.

[alexpigment]

Originally Posted by kp8

I hate Flatwounds. Never ever again.

hehe, while i don't hate them (the only strings i've felt that way were a set of bargain bin peavey strings about 10 years ago), i second your "never again" :)

[blacklove]

I've tried flats on my Casino a couple of times. I can't really tell that much of a difference between round and flat wound once the sound comes out of my amp. Maybe a little less ringy? At any rate, with the kind of playing I do, it doesn't make a lot of difference.

But they feel totally different, yes.

I've never tried them on a Tele, though. That might be kind of fun.

[bowman]

I use flats on my Ric 330 - tried 'em once and never went back to rounds. I don't use them on any other guitar, however, I don't know why. I've been using Pyramids, they last forever on the Ric.

[gtech]

I love flats too.

They twang "a la Gretsch", less nasal than the Tele.

[6x47]

Can't bend with flats???

For most people, isn't most of the bending done with the unwound strings?

So what does it matter what the wound strings are?

Just for the record I can bend the wound strings without regard for the wrapping.

I like flat as they cut down on the noise when moving my hand.

[dangerine49]

I use nothing but flats, always with a wound G, and have no trouble bending.

[kp8]

I use dirty old strings that i leave out in the rain for weeks. Then I pound the strings square with a hammer. I use gauge 16 with a wound B and i take my low E from a set of bass strings and tune up a major third for tone. Then i take my tiny vintage frets and file them down till they are thinner than a pubic hair... and roll my tone all the way off, I can bend like crazy, & twang for dayz... oh yeah.. My tele came over on the Mayflower and my amp was made in 1850 with NOS tubes from Benjamin Franklin and i ride a horse to my gigs.

[BroadMaster]

Originally Posted by kp8

I use dirty old strings that i leave out in the rain for weeks. Then I pound the strings square with a hammer. I use gauge 16 with a wound B and i take my low E from a set of bass strings and tune up a major third for tone. Then i take my tiny vintage frets and file them down till they are thinner than a pubic hair... and roll my tone all the way off, I can bend like crazy, & twang for dayz... oh yeah.. My tele came over on the Mayflower and my amp was made in 1850 with NOS tubes from Benjamin Franklin and i ride a horse to my gigs.

[evol04gt]

should someone change the guage they preffer when trying flats? im a 9-42 on everything kinda guy.... id love to put these on my aria 335 and compare them to my sheration.....

[Roli]

Originally Posted by kp8

I use dirty old strings that i leave out in the rain for weeks. Then I pound the strings square with a hammer. I use gauge 16 with a wound B and i take my low E from a set of bass strings and tune up a major third for tone. Then i take my tiny vintage frets and file them down till they are thinner than a pubic hair... and roll my tone all the way off, I can bend like crazy, & twang for dayz... oh yeah.. My tele came over on the Mayflower and my amp was made in 1850 with NOS tubes from Benjamin Franklin and i ride a horse to my gigs.

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA

[beep.click]

Originally Posted by kp8

I use dirty old strings that i leave out in the rain for weeks. Then I pound the strings square with a hammer. I use gauge 16 with a wound B and i take my low E from a set of bass strings and tune up a major third for tone. Then i take my tiny vintage frets and file them down till they are thinner than a pubic hair... and roll my tone all the way off, I can bend like crazy, & twang for dayz... oh yeah.. My tele came over on the Mayflower and my amp was made in 1850 with NOS tubes from Benjamin Franklin and i ride a horse to my gigs.

No way... you too???

[EddieN]

Originally Posted by evol04gt

should someone change the guage they preffer when trying flats? im a 9-42 on everything kinda guy.... id love to put these on my aria 335 and compare them to my sheration.....

You could get a set of 12-52 Chromes, discard the low E, use the A string as the low E, D as the A, etc & put a spare 9 as the high E. Did that make a lick of sense?

[jazztele]

pretty sure you can get chromes as light as a .10 set

[telel6s]

Originally Posted by kp8

I use dirty old strings that i leave out in the rain for weeks. Then I pound the strings square with a hammer. I use gauge 16 with a wound B and i take my low E from a set of bass strings and tune up a major third for tone. Then i take my tiny vintage frets and file them down till they are thinner than a pubic hair... and roll my tone all the way off, I can bend like crazy, & twang for dayz... oh yeah.. My tele came over on the Mayflower and my amp was made in 1850 with NOS tubes from Benjamin Franklin and i ride a horse to my gigs.

What kind of hammer you been using? I've got my grampa's that he found stuck in engine of a 1923 Farmall tractor that has a lightly reliced (used but not abused) nitro finish. The end of the light ash handle has the initials "T.D." on it.

[EddieN]

Originally Posted by jazztele

pretty sure you can get chromes as light as a .10 set

Yep. I offered the suggestion only if he was insistent on 9-42.

[kp8]

hehe... glad folks have a sense of humor...

When i was a wee lad, flatwounds were still pretty common and the school guitbox had them and i occasionally had them on my guitar if my mom bought them by mistake or something. But getting those nasty things off my guitar and getting a fresh set of bright clear twangy roundwounds was always a sonic revelation for me. I supposed if i played jazz maybe, and i guess they are easier on your frets... For the life of me i can't imagine why anyone would like the sound of them (thunk thunk thunk), but whatever floats your boat.

[BroadMaster]

Originally Posted by kp8

hehe... glad folks have a sense of humor...

When i was a wee lad, flatwounds were still pretty common and the school guitbox had them and i occasionally had them on my guitar if my mom bought them by mistake or something. But getting those nasty things off my guitar and getting a fresh set of bright clear twangy roundwounds was always a sonic revelation for me. I supposed if i played jazz maybe, and i guess they are easier on your frets... For the life of me i can't imagine why anyone would like the sound of them (thunk thunk thunk), but whatever floats your boat.

Yep, flats do require rethinking and resetting your eq levels on the amp. Not for everyone, but an interesting alternative sound.

[beatcomber]

I use flats on my Ric 330 - tried 'em once and never went back to rounds. I don't use them on any other guitar, however, I don't know why. I've been using Pyramids, they last forever on the Ric.

I also love flats on my Ricky 330 (and Gretsch Tennessean).

Try using Thomastik Infeld Jazz Swing Series flats. They sound like and last as long as Pyramids, but are waaaay slinkier and easier to bend.

I've tried the D'Addario Chromes and think they really stink compared to the TIs. Stiff as bridge cables and the tone is nowhere near as good.

[EuropaChris]

Originally Posted by beatcomber

I also love flats on my Ricky 330 (and Gretsch Tennessean).

Try using Thomastik Infeld Jazz Swing Series flats. They sound like and last as long as Pyramids, but are waaaay slinkier and easier to bend.

I've tried the D'Addario Chromes and think they really stink compared to the TIs. Stiff as bridge cables and the tone is nowhere near as good.

I went from Chromes to TI strings on my Cort Joe Beck archtop. BIG difference. I've had the same set of TI on there for 3 years! Well, that's because I barely picked up the guitar for 2-1/2 of those years, but I'm back to playing again and they still sound great. I've got a few sets of Chromes to use up, but I'm a big TI fan. Expensive, but worth it.

Chris

[dangerine49]

Interesting article about flat wounds:

http://www.ggjaguar.com/quest2.htm

[Silverface]

I've tried the TI's thinking I might prefer them to the stainless Brite Flats. I honestly didn't find any significant different other than the price tag. Generally I use nickel-wound, but will toss on Brite Flats periodically just for fun. But having both bought and been comp'd several sets of TI's of different types, they just didn't do much for me.

[JKjr]

Anybody got a G&L? I have a swamp ash ASAT with 3 MFDs, maple neck and a Bigsby that loves Pyramid flats. Throw in a bit of VOX, and it's Nowhere Man all day...go figure.

[OutlawSteph1975]

I'm using these to learn some jazz:

http://www.juststrings.com/dan-fw-ul.html

I put them on my "other" guitar and might convert one Tele. I really like them. I was going for a Charlie Christian/Junior Barnard tone and through my Fender Champion 600, it's there as close as possible without going and buying a hollow body.

[surfoverb]

Originally Posted by kp8

For the life of me i can't imagine why anyone would like the sound of them (thunk thunk thunk), but whatever floats your boat.

I use flats for surf on my Jag, I don't like them on a Tele though.

[Roli]

Yeah, I can see that with loads of reverb it will sound pretty much the same regardless of string type. The "thunk thunk" is spot on, a tad worse like old roundwound strings, lots of bass, no sparkle. An interesting thing, many guys play Gretsches and their strings of choice are flawounds to get the sound. Now Chet Atkins - The Gretsch man - hated them: http://www.misterguitar.com/cbimg/Pa...tml#Flatwounds



.

[weelie]

http://www.ggjaguar.com/quest2.htm :
Up until the late 1960s (the changeover started around 1966), most electric guitars were fitted with flatwound strings.

Not having lived at that time, I always wondered if this really was true. I know people played thick strings, but did they actually play flatwounds?

So... did Chet, Scotty Moore, Grady Martin, Merle Travis, Pat Hare, T-Bone Walker, Troggs, Kinks, The Shadows, Mickey Baker, Charlie Christian, Cropper, etc etc ... really play with flatwounds? If you listed the blues, country and rock guys of that era, how many would actually use flatwounds?

I do understand that Ventures, Eddy, Beatles, Jimmy Bryant, many jazz guys, Gallup, most likely played flats... but that's just a small fraction of the important players of the times before 1966!

[Roli]

Originally Posted by weelie

Not having lived at that time, I always wondered if this really was true. I know people played thick strings, but did they actually play flatwounds?

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/bad-dog-c...gs-50%B4s.html


.

[weelie]

Originally Posted by Roli

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/bad-dog-c...gs-50%B4s.html


.

Reading that thread, my conclusion is that people played Black Diamonds and they were not flatwound. But, I am still not 100% sure. :D

[dangerine49]

I remember Black Diamonds from the old days, but I never used their flats if they had them. I used to use Guild Sidewinder (or Sidebender) flatwounds. I'm pretty sure that my '65 Mustang came stock with flats, but it's been a while. ;)

[ryokan]

"Try using Thomastik Infeld Jazz Swing Series flats. They sound like and last as long as Pyramids, but are waaaay slinkier and easier to bend.

I've tried the D'Addario Chromes and think they really stink compared to the TIs. Stiff as bridge cables and the tone is nowhere near as good."


Agreed -- TI's are FAR better than the Chromes.

[davidge1]

Originally Posted by weelie

Not having lived at that time, I always wondered if this really was true. I know people played thick strings, but did they actually play flatwounds?

So... did Chet, Scotty Moore, Grady Martin, Merle Travis, Pat Hare, T-Bone Walker, Troggs, Kinks, The Shadows, Mickey Baker, Charlie Christian, Cropper, etc etc ... really play with flatwounds? If you listed the blues, country and rock guys of that era, how many would actually use flatwounds?

I do understand that Ventures, Eddy, Beatles, Jimmy Bryant, many jazz guys, Gallup, most likely played flats... but that's just a small fraction of the important players of the times before 1966!

Fender guitars came stock with flatwound strings in the 50s and 60s, but that doesnt mean its what everyone used. It's kind of funny... I hear a lot guys in rockabilly bands using flatwound strings...that's kind of the trend now for "authentic" rockabilly. But a lot of rockabilly players in the 50s used roundwond strings. Some used flatwounds, like Cliff Gallup. But I'm pretty sure James Burton, Larry Collins, Joe Maphis, Merle Travis and Paul Burlison used roundwound strings. Larry Collins said that he and Joe Maphis used 9s back in the 50s!. James Burton used 8s. I read somewhere that Scotty Moore used flatwounds, but it doesnt really sound like it to me. Maybe he used half-rounds?

The Ventures used flatwound strings until Nokie Edwards became the lead guitarist and played Mosrites with very light roundwound strings. then again, I know a lot of bands in the 60s were still using flatwounds strings. When you hear that early fuzztone with no sustain, a lot of the reason was flatwound strings. I read somewhere that Roger McGuin always used flatwounds on his 12-string Rickenbacher.

[Guitar1959]

I use Chrome 10s on both my teles and 11s on my 335, and I love'm. Fatter sound, they bend just fine, and no finger noise. (I also use Flattops on my acoustic, so whether you agree with me or not, at least I'm consistent :>)