Flat wound strings. Who uses them?

markj

Got a Epiphone Sheraton coming to me this week, was going to try a set of flat wound strings on it to give me a more mellow jazzier  tone. Never used them before or had any experience of them. Any advice more than welcome.

skaguitar

I put a set of flat wounds on my collings i35 semi hollow.... string noise is less on flatwounds and they are definitely mellower...if you mostly play jazz type of music they'll be great...but...I found they made my guitar sound dead and too mellow and the tone wasn't for me...also bends didn't sound as sharp to me and I found bends more difficult to do and get to the pitch in the bend I normally would so I took them back off after a few days. They also put a bit more tension on the neck so action may need tweaking.

notanon

Agree with @skaguitar and obviously a slinky feel. I wanted to bend the G a whole tone almost impossible for me. I shelled out for the Thomastik flat 10s with a plain non wound G - damned expensive. I finally went for a hybrid string set of flats for low string set and more regular brand for bottom GBE strings. I don't see any problem with this for the neck etc. I know Hendrix did similar.

ESchap

I use them on my hollow arch tops.  Usually Thomastic swing jazz 12's.  I like the slightly lower tension and feel of those strings.  However, la Bella and pyramid are good.  D'addarios are ok but a little bright to my ears when new, though they do mellow down. 

They definitely give you that mellowness and also the "thud" on the lower strings.  The wound third does limit your bending options.   The wound strings also last for ever, bit like bass strings.  I buy spare high e's and b's and swap them out when they start to go dull.  

I've tried them on semi hollows but never really liked the tone, a bit dead to my ears.  

JD50

I have been using flatwounds for a couple years now. My favourites are by picato. They are cheap and in my experience better than the D'addarios which used to unwind on the e&b strings. I have them on my Jaguar and Mustang.

Gassage

Who uses them?

Lindsey Buckingham, that's who.

fretmeister

Steve Harris

guitars4you

try D'addario 1/2 wound - I use them on a PRS Hollowbody - good 1/2 way house - less 'dead' than flatwound - http://www.daddario.com/DADProductFamily.Page?ActiveID=3768&familyid=2&sid=3a1897cd-1267-4abe-bf1f-6fe4a4191297 - various gauges to choose from

Dominic

I like the tone but you lose a lot of sustain
they are great on a bright guitar and will still do great rock tones - not just for Jazz 

Voxman

Tried them a couple of years back - hated them, lack of feel & response, a more muffled tone, harder to bend, and no good for blues & classic rock.  Gassage said:

Who uses them?

Lindsey Buckingham, that's who.

I don't know where you got that from but according to various sites and youtube gig rundowns he plays Ernie Ball regular slinkies 10-46 and D'addarios (normal sets, not flatwound, 10-46, 10-54, and 12-54).  He has a Baby Taylor on which he plays gut strings. On other acoustics he uses nylon strings and baritones too.

Interestingly, he has different guitar strap lengths depending on the song difficulty.  

I tried flatwounds about 3-4 years back, and didn't like them at all for all the reasons already said.  

markj

I don't think I'll bother with them. I'll stick to my 10-46 D'addarios.

DannyP

I have D'addario Chrome XL 11s on the Gretsch. They're the first and only flatwounds I've tried, but I really like them. They seem to a suit the guitar and bring out a bit of woodiness in the tone. I use the Gretsch in a Beatles tribute, so it's not a traditional Jazz usage. It's been mentioned that the D'addarios are a bit bright, but I still need a bit of snap for what I use them for, so they're fine for me.

Gassage

Voxman said:

Tried them a couple of years back - hated them, lack of feel & response, a more muffled tone, harder to bend, and no good for blues & classic rock.  Gassage said:

Who uses them?

Lindsey Buckingham, that's who.

I don't know where you got that from but according to various sites and youtube gig rundowns he plays Ernie Ball regular slinkies 10-46 and D'addarios (normal sets, not flatwound, 10-46, 10-54, and 12-54).  He has a Baby Taylor on which he plays gut strings. On other acoustics he uses nylon strings and baritones too.

Interestingly, he has different guitar strap lengths depending on the song difficulty.  

I tried flatwounds about 3-4 years back, and didn't like them at all for all the reasons already said.  

Read here: http://www.fleetwoodmac-uk.com/articles/FMart77.htm

grungebob

I used them on my firebird tuned down in my old grunge band, gave great low end thump and worked great with fuzz.

Voxman

Gassage said:

Voxman said:

Tried them a couple of years back - hated them, lack of feel & response, a more muffled tone, harder to bend, and no good for blues & classic rock.  Gassage said:

Who uses them?

Lindsey Buckingham, that's who.

I don't know where you got that from but according to various sites and youtube gig rundowns he plays Ernie Ball regular slinkies 10-46 and D'addarios (normal sets, not flatwound, 10-46, 10-54, and 12-54).  He has a Baby Taylor on which he plays gut strings. On other acoustics he uses nylon strings and baritones too.

Interestingly, he has different guitar strap lengths depending on the song difficulty.  

I tried flatwounds about 3-4 years back, and didn't like them at all for all the reasons already said.  

Read here: http://www.fleetwoodmac-uk.com/articles/FMart77.htm

Way out of date - that was 1981 - he doesn't use flat wounds now and uses Ernie Ball & D'Addarios 'normal' strings as above.  See gear vid here at 1 minute:

57Deluxe

dem Country pickers like a flat wound....

olafgarten

Lindsay Buckingham did use Flatwounds on one of his Turners when I saw Fleetwood Mac in London. I think it was during Go Your Own Way. I had good seats right on his side of the stage and got a pretty good look at all his gear. 

Bridgehouse

57Deluxe said:

dem Country pickers like a flat wound....

And us four string fools too..

HPhillipsmusic

I use the thomastiks on my Strat and Tele - absolutely love them. It took me a few weeks of persevering but now they have become a part of my tone. I do have a 335 which people think would make more sense to use flat wounds on but its warm and mellow enough already, I like how the flatwounds take off some top end from the fenders. Also great for slide as they deaden the extra noise. My strat is in D standard too which opened it up so much, now it sounds like a totally unique guitar to me.