Members DeepEnd Posted February 28, 2017 Members Share Posted February 28, 2017 Years ago, I heard a guy in a church playing an Ovation acoustic with flats on it. The best way to describe the low notes was ''thud.'' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted February 28, 2017 Moderators Share Posted February 28, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted February 28, 2017 Moderators Share Posted February 28, 2017 see my post #5...'thud' is the word.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted February 28, 2017 Members Share Posted February 28, 2017 When I say ''thud'' I'm thinking in terms of no sustain, no overtones, just a single, short note. You may be describing the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJ6stringsting Posted March 1, 2017 Members Share Posted March 1, 2017 Wow , what a great post !!!!In my 39 years of playing, I never tried flat wounds.Now I'm thinking about getting some flat wounds and using it with a acoustic guitar simulator to get more a more acoustic sound.I just got new belts for my band saw and I'm going to make an Doubled neck 6/12 guitar, with a Floyd Rose route for the six string and I'm thinking of using some flat wounds on the 12 string side .... Thanks for the ideas, great post !!!! 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted March 1, 2017 Members Share Posted March 1, 2017 The first bass I ever had was a Hagstrom like this one... It's a short scale and came with flat wound strings. The bass player I was working with at the time purchased a set of Rotosounds intended for his Precision but picked up a short scale set by mistake. He ended up giving the strings to me. I noticed a huge difference in sound and, even though they chewed the ends off the fingers on my right hand I really liked them and have never put flat wounds on a bass since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members humbuckerstrat Posted March 1, 2017 Members Share Posted March 1, 2017 Yeah! \m/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted March 1, 2017 Members Share Posted March 1, 2017 That's rather how coated strings sound on an electric guitar using a piezo 'acoustic' bridge, although the thud is really just the attack, and there is sustain at much lower volume afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted March 1, 2017 Members Share Posted March 1, 2017 Roto conventional bass strings seem really hard on the fingers compared with some others. The very first bass I owned (Avon EB0 copy) came with flatwounds, and was as flubby as a very flubby thing indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 Roundwounds are definitely harder on the fingers, frets and fretboard than flats are, but that apparently doesn't matter to the majority of players since they outsell flatwound strings by a considerable margin - for both guitar and bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted March 1, 2017 Members Share Posted March 1, 2017 In the late '70s I used to play with a bass player who bore an uncanny musical resemblance to Marcus Miller. He even played a yellow Fender Jazz bass with a maple fingerboard into an Acoustic bass amplifier. It was the first time I heard that aggressive harmonically rich bass tone. When I replaced the flatwound strings with Rotosunds on my bass, it provided me with the potential for that type of sound - I say 'potential' because, to this day, I can't hold a candle to Marcus who is one of my favorite players of all time. [video=youtube_share;UHabNK0_D3Q] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted March 2, 2017 Members Share Posted March 2, 2017 I tried Chromes years ago and hated them instantly. Felt and sounded like playing rubber bands. Flats definitely have a different feel, and whenever I use them it takes a bit of adjustment. Techniques have to be reassessed to - bending on flats isn't normally all that successful or satisfying... I just want everyone to know that would like to give flat wounds a try on there jazz box, give it plenty of time. They are very different and it will take some getting used too. They don't bend like round wounds, they don't sustain like round wounds, but have a unique rubber band like feeling to them, as mentioned. They are much mellower and less cripsy, exactly what you hear on many jazzbox guitars. So don't set them up on your favorite guitar, think you are gonna love them [video=youtube;80FPMis5ltY] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted March 2, 2017 Members Share Posted March 2, 2017 When I first saw the RP2000 sitting on what appears to be a blue office chair, I thought you had R2D2 in the room with you. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 - I can totally see how it seemed like that to you onelife! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alfsboy Posted March 3, 2017 Members Share Posted March 3, 2017 I cant remember wire would back in the 50's -early 60's .We still twanged and rocked though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 3, 2017 Members Share Posted March 3, 2017 I've used them on my Dot before. Definitely makes the guitar sound different. It gives a guitar nice jazz tones but found it fairly limiting for anything else. I do use half rounds and ground wounds on my electric sitar. I get longer string sustains with the buzz bridge it uses and it produces less wear on the bridge which is made of some kind of heavy duty plastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted March 3, 2017 Members Share Posted March 3, 2017 What can I say… ? [video=youtube;dqn3PF_DcSg] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 84Goose Posted March 6, 2017 Members Share Posted March 6, 2017 I use flatwounds on my hollow / semi-hollow body guitars, I've been using Pyramid Gold chrome nickel flatwounds for years. I heard somewhere that Rickenbacker guitars came with them, not sure if it is or once was true but it lead to my trying & liking them... I love the feel of them on certain, but not all, guitars. My Ric 360 has med/heavy (.012, .016, .022, .033, .042, 052) and I tend to use it more for rhythm, leads with bends take a little more effort with the heavier gauge, they also help with the signal level from the toaster pickups. My ES-347 has lights ((.010, .016, .022wound, .033, .042, .052) and gets used for all styles and is my go to for jazz. My Ric 360/12 has light (same as previous paired with .010, .013, .010, .013, .019, .030). I tried flatwounds on my Flying V but didn't like the sound or the feel - that gets used mostly for rock/blues and the DiMarzio PAFs I have in it are dark enough without flatwounds. That guitar has a Kahler trem and it took quite a bit of readjustment between round wound and flat wound, so the tension was pretty different between the two types of strings. I think the gauges were different as well so I'm not sure what the was the biggest factor. I've also got a Strat and a Tele copy, I use round wounds on those. Pyramids are a bit pricier and harder to find than some other FW strings, but I tend to leave them on for 1-2 years, unlike RW strings on my other guitars. To my ears, the RW start brighter but their tone changes a lot more over time. The Rics in particular have a bright sound and I the FW strings match up well with their tone and pickups. And I believe there is a less fret wear with the flat wounds. I've also got a P bass with round wounds and a fretless P bass neck on a jazz bass body that has flat wounds - very different sounds and feel but love both! Onelife, nice post of Wes, I heard a sweet version of him doing Willow Weep For Me last night at a friends. Also, FWIW I got an email today from strings and beyond that Pyramids were on sale in case anybody wants to try 'em - hope I'm not busting a posting rule! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 Did try them on someone else's guitar several decades ago' date=' and never had an interest since. However I do have them on my fretless 5 string, and they work well for that kind of bass playing.[/quote'] They're a lot less likely to chew up your fingerboard on a fretless bass than roundwounds are too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted March 6, 2017 Members Share Posted March 6, 2017 Yup. I really like *that* sound for some stuff, sliding around in a way that roundwounds won't allow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BG76 Posted March 8, 2017 Members Share Posted March 8, 2017 I love flat wounds on certain guitars. I use Pyramids on my '57 Gretsch 6120 and also on my Rickenbacker guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted March 17, 2017 Members Share Posted March 17, 2017 Occasionally, I will throw a set of Chromes on the Beast. I really like the feel and the tone. (Metal, I don't play jazz) I like the slickness for sliding, I do a lot of finger slides. It's very hard to get certain squeals out if them, so that's a cost associated, and why I don't use them all of the time. I could set up one guitar with them, for those songs that have a lot of slides, and the rest with rounds. Hmm..I did notice a difference in bending, but I'm in C# or sometimes lower, so really not that bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Verne Andru Posted March 21, 2017 Members Share Posted March 21, 2017 I use flats on a few guitars - 7-string and 6-string jazz boxes and a short-scale bass. I'm thinking of trying them on my Ric 650. It has a wider fretboard, which I like for fingerstyle, and I'm thinking flats might match the lower output mini's humbuckers. Flats are not for everything, but for a jazz tone you can't beat them. I really like Thomastiks but the set of 7-string D'addario Chromes I using haven't been too shabby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Verne Andru Posted October 28, 2017 Members Share Posted October 28, 2017 What' date=' Are Flat Wound, Guitars???[/quote'] Flat wounds refers to the type of strings, not the guitar itself. The difference between flat wound and round wound is as the names indicate - a flatwound string will be smooth whereas roundwounds are bumpy like this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members doublecross Posted October 28, 2017 Members Share Posted October 28, 2017 I use them on a few guitars, Godin XTsa and that retrorod MIDI thing I made, also on a FACS Delia. Other than that I use a round wound 10/53 on all my other electrics, I find the flat wounds take a bit of the wonkiness out of the MIDI's and the Delia works well with them as a semi, calms her down a bit. She has an attitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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