anybody else use flatwounds on their acoustic?

mellowgerman

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Backstory:

Back in fifth grade I started my musical journey on the trombone. The next year I bought a bass guitar and then also started playing upright bass in the school band. It was bass before guitar for me since I was already reading in bass clef... plus John Deacon's bass on Queen tunes like "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Dragon Attack"!! By seventh grade I had fully transitioned to playing bass in the school band, both upright and electric. Since early on, when I found out about flatwound strings for electric bass, I have almost exclusively used them to get closer to that fat, warm upright tone. Roundwound strings always sounded thin, zingy, and clanky to my ears (on bass). When I started guitar, my least favorite thing was those darn coarse strings! A year or two in, a friend's grandfather let me play his old Gibson archtop which was strung with flatwounds! My mind was blown and I knew I had to try them on my electric guitar. Since then, I would dabble with both flats and rounds on my guitars, but for the last 5 years or so I've played mostly flatwound strings on semi-hollow or hollowbody guitars and my playing style has been built on their feel and response. My hands know to hit the wound strings harder (or the or the unwound trebles softer) because of the inherent volume difference. So now when I play an acoustic with phosphor bronze rounds, my touch is off and I miss the thuddy warmth of the bass-side strings. Additionally I only really play guitar for my solo project, so I don't have to worry about competing with other instruments or cutting through a mix. I could see why somebody in a bluegrass quartet would not want to string up with flatwounds.


The point of the post:

My D-40 is strung with T.I. George Benson flatwounds, gauges 12-53 and I absolutely love the way it sounds. Most of my stuff is soft/mellow these days and my voice doesn't project as loudly as a lot of other singers, so it actually works out beautifully and I still get those super warm and thuddy bass notes from the D-40's big resonant body.

Anybody else out there tried or play flats on an acoustic? Love it? Hate it? I know a good number of LTGers like them on their archtops so I wonder if it translates to flat top acoustics for other players too
 
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Rayk

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Never tried them . Guess I need to give it a go
One time :)
 

mellowgerman

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Yeah! Give em a try. The last two acoustics that I particularly like flats on were my Washburn Jumbo and my Breedlove dread. Both have been sold or traded away, but I think my D-40 with the TI Flats has been established as my long-haul setup. Feels good to find THE tone!
 

Westerly Wood

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i have them a try once on the Br, they were real flimsy feeling and sounding. lasted a day.
 

Westerly Wood

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out of curiosity, do you remember the brand and the gauges?

Martin was the brand, would have been light gauge. However, I have heard good things about the D'Addario of the same, I have never tried them.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I've never tried flatwounds on a flat top. I do have 'em on an old Gibson L-50 archtop…Thomastik George Bensons, in fact! :)

-Dave-
 

Nuuska

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When I got my Gibson LG2-3/4 - on first week I tried new set of strings every day to find what I like - one day was flatwounds - not bad at all , but not for me and my style of playing. Suppose I ever get a Starfire - to help me from regretting selling my DE - i would try that with flatwounds.
 

dougdnh

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Back when i started playing in the '60's, flatwounds were much more common on electrics. They do sound great on an archtop, or even a solidbody if you want a jazzy sound. I've never really heard of them being used on a flat top, interesting idea.
 

Bill Ashton

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Some years a go I was looking for Pyramid flatwounds, they were advertised as being "The Beatles'" strings. Never could find
them, US distributor never returned my inquiry...a friend in Europe (maybe Austria) sent me a set of Thostik-Infled flatwounds,
his music store said THIS was what I wanted. They went on my only acoustic at the time, a Gibson J-30. INSTANT Beatle's
rhythm tone. Did have higher tension, so first time I adjusted the neck just a little. Great strings, great sound...but, one trick
pony. Nice "British Invasion" guitar sound but not really usable for much else...maybe for Gabor Szabo?

I have used the same strings on my MIM Fender Jag and Strat, and they are great for surf/west coast stuff. Feel much better than
D'Addario flatwounds, but about three times the cost! Always meant to try LaBella's, used their Criterion strings on my first electric (1967?).
 

mellowgerman

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Some years a go I was looking for Pyramid flatwounds, they were advertised as being "The Beatles'" strings. Never could find
them, US distributor never returned my inquiry...a friend in Europe (maybe Austria) sent me a set of Thostik-Infled flatwounds,
his music store said THIS was what I wanted. They went on my only acoustic at the time, a Gibson J-30. INSTANT Beatle's
rhythm tone. Did have higher tension, so first time I adjusted the neck just a little. Great strings, great sound...but, one trick
pony. Nice "British Invasion" guitar sound but not really usable for much else...maybe for Gabor Szabo?


Gabor Szabo happens to be my ALL-TIME FAVORITE guitarist! :)
I have yet to try Pyramid flats on 6-string guitar. The bass strings were definitely nice, though I'm typically more than happy with a nice heavy and worn-in set of D'Addario Chrome flatwounds on my bass (which are also much cheaper). Ironically, the George Benson flats on my D-40 cost more than the DA Chrome bass strings!
 

adorshki

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Gabor Szabo happens to be my ALL-TIME FAVORITE guitarist! :)
This is the one that got me started:
t10450457-b1353831150_s400.jpg
 
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Both T-I's and Pyamids are available online through various sources. I've used Thomastik-Infelds on my Rickenbacker 12 string and my two Grestches forever. They are THE early Beatles/Byrds sound. And they last forever. I tried Pyramids, but they are a higher tension string. My Rick did not like them. I could not tighten the truss rod enough to straighten the neck. They were very stiff and too "flatwound-y" for my taste (rather dull sounding, even when new). T-I's are cheaper too.
 
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One should play the strings that please, for whatever reason. But since you did ask--I've never found the sound of flatwounds to be at all satisfactory on any acoustic guitar, and even on my electrified (but still acoustic) archtops they sound rather dull. But ears and fingers vary. The Pizzerellis, father and son, are fond of the LaBella tape-wounds, and they both sound pretty good.
 

merlin6666

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Yes, when I started playing guitar and I had finally had my very own (laminate) dreadnought I experimented with strings changing them almost monthly and at some point I ended up with a set of Fender nickel flatwounds that were probably meant for an electric jazz guitar. I left them on for several months and actually quite enjoyed playing them. But with my experiments I also realized that I just love the crisp sound of a fresh set of PBs or 80/20s so I never repeated. These days, I really enjoy the d'Addario NBs on my two Orpheums ... had them on for at least 6 months or even longer now and still no desire for fresh ones.
 

davismanLV

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When i first started playing in some of Joni's open tunings I was less coordinated and the string noise drove me crazy. So i put some flatwounds on the D65S (which is in pristine shape thanks to Tom Jacobs excellent work) and I really liked them. Lost some volume but I didn't care. That guitar sounds good with pretty much any string you throw at it!! As I got more coordinated and learned to move up and down the fretboard more cleanly and carefully I went back to regular acoustic strings (round wounds) but they worked well for me. I think a lot of it depends on the guitar........
 

Bill Ashton

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I think the first TI's I used were "Swing Series," and whenever I buy them, thats what I get. I believe that TI has a "hybrid" roundwound/flatwound set, not sure what they
are called.

I cannot entirely remember which Gabor Szabo LP I had back in the day, but I think it may have been "More Sorcery." Also seem to remember him playing a Gibson J-160,
but all the images I have found show him with a Martin D-41 or 45 with DeArmond p/u... It is interesting that Santana used one of his pieces, "Gypsy Queen," in a medley
of sorts with another piece.
 

mellowgerman

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Thanks for all the great responses guys!

Walrus - that live show was my first exposure to Szabo and actually happens to be my all-time favorite live performance of any musician... potentially even favorite collection of music, studio or live

I really like his guitar contributions on Chico Hamilton's albums too. His playing is just so pretty, melodic, and natural sounding. Can't get enough.

As for Santana's use of Szabo's tune, he has sighted Gabor as one of his top influences on guitar in at least a few interviews. They even ended up spending some time working together in the late 70's if I remember correctly.
 
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