In praise of Thomastik flatwounds

OilCityPickups

Been a lot of years since I tried flatwounds. My cousin was a jazz guitarist and when I was fourteen or fifteen I used to go round to his house and often used to have a go on his old Hofner jazzbox. The strings were brutally heavy and so ancient they had practically grown onto the guitar. In my hands (used to 9-42 strings on my Strat copy) the guitar sounded atrocious ... but passed to him it erupted into swing and gypsy jazz rhythms and sounded glorious. 

Fast forward to my own attempts to convert fully from a rock and electric blues guitarist to a rockabilly, swing and jump blues player. The first stage was acquiring my Gretsch 5420T (I am going to be doing a complete review of that guitar soon) and the second stage ... apart from trying to get my chops right ... was to get my sound bang on. Having read lots of articles about string choice for rockabilly and swing I thought I'd take a punt on flatwounds to replace the D'Addrio 10-46s that came on the guitar. 
I didn't want to go too heavy so I thought I'd try the Thomastik Jazz Swing 10-44. I know most flatwounds start at 11 or even 12, but I didn't want to stray to far from a feel I was used to. Can't believe they made a wound third so thin at .018! 

All I can say is wow ... absolutely nailed the early rockabilly tone ... add a touch of 'hair' on the amp and I have a grin a mile wide. 
Not cheap strings at £13.00 a pack, but if rumours are to believed, they last a long time. 

Any other flatwound players here?    

Philtre

> Any other flatwound players here?   

I put flatwound 11-50s (Fender) on my Epiphone Dot conversion (SD pickups and new harness) and love them for that. You have to work a bit harder but I like what they do to the sound and how they force me to play differently. Next string change (probably in about 3 years ;-) ) will probably be Thomastik.

And I like how they feel - like silky smooth snakeskin.

Toms_Dad

I have Thomastik 12's on my Eastman jazz box which I use to play some chord melody stuff.  Just lovely to be able to move my fingers up and down the fretboard with no squeaking.  Tone is great, and mine have been on at least a year and look new, and I do play it regularly.

Roland

Back in the early 70s I used flatwounds on my Hofner. Can’t remember the make. I used to like the slippery feel and smooth tone.

OilCityPickups

The working a bit harder thing seems to fit with the somewhat retro nature of the guitar ... and the fact that I'm a fairly hard and percussive player anyway. The smoothness of the strings makes those semitone 'whole chord slides' sound more slick and feel more controlled. 

Litterick

I used Pyramids for a while. They were very good, but they did not really suit my guitar, a Gibson L6-S. However, if my search for a semi is successful, I will use them again.

Philtre

Khruangbin's Mark Speer uses flatwounds and changes them "maybe once a tour".

(starts at 5:48)

Sassafras

Haven't played flats for 40 years or so but I remember they sounded flat, dull and lifeless. Maybe they're better suited to jazz but I've never been into much jazz. They do feel more comfortable than round wounds though.

merlin

Has anyone tried half rounds? They're supposed to combine the best of both worlds....

dorisandjess

George Benson 14s for me. They are good value despite the high cost, as I very rarely change strings. 

YellowLedBetterMan

Ive used flats and tapewounds on my basses for just about forever, but never on guitar.

OilCityPickups

merlin said:

Has anyone tried half rounds? They're supposed to combine the best of both worlds....

Back when I started guitar (just after the ice age) I tried Fender half rounds ... for me they were neither one thing or the other: not really the zing of round wounds and not the slick feel of flatwounds ... I may try them again on one of my Teles at some point.

dorisandjess

Actually they are good value full stop. They feel and sound great, given strings are what I actually interface with I don’t see them as a luxury, rather they are the foundation for my discordant din.

thegummy

Philtre said:

Khruangbin's Mark Speer uses flatwounds and changes them "maybe once a tour".

One of my favourite players, such a good band.

thegummy

For flats on a guitar, is it the bottom three that are flat wound and the top three exactly the same as rounds or are they different too?

smigeon

thegummy said:

For flats on a guitar, is it the bottom three that are flat wound and the top three exactly the same as rounds or are they different too?

With the Thomastiks (and I think this is also the case with almost all flatwound sets) it's the bottom *four* that are flat wound, with the B and top E being much like any other roundwound set.

I have found that flats are very dependent on the guitar. I first tried them on my Eastman jazz box, and they sound fantastic on that. So then I was quite excited to try them on my Gibson ES330 - on which they turned out to be a disappointment. I have them on a tele as well and they sound good on that, so (for me) it's not a single coil vs humbucker thing. It's very much suck it and see.

Philtre

I tried 11 FWs on my Jazzmaster once. Couldn't be arsed with it in the end so went back to 10 RWs.

LastMantra

merlin said:

Has anyone tried half rounds? They're supposed to combine the best of both worlds....

I've got some on a jumbo acoustic. It's a very bright and loud guitar so these strings (12s) (can't remember what make) tame the brightness a bit and don't make so much scratchy noises (sometimes a little bit sounds more natural/better imo). I use the guitar mainly for lead stuff on top of my other, much warmer/softer acoustic. Works well I think.

I got them when I was trying a cover of "Oh Me' (Nirvana Unplugged in NY) and couldn't handle all the scratching and didn't really want full flat.

rossi

Way back when at the dawn of the 60's flats were all we used .We got all sorts of sounds from them .

Sassafras

BTW if you want to minimise scratchy string noise, spritz a cloth with a tiny squirt of WD40 and wipe it over the strings. Quietens them right down.

OilCityPickups

With me the flats are more a way into 'that' sound. The thumping bass and driven top strings of jump blues and early Rockabilly ... the feel is a nice but minor consideration. A couple of plus factors are that flats seem to suit a bigsby extra well ... it feels somehow more 'direct'. Another thing is the slightly more harmonically complex chords I'm using seem to sound more 'right'  ... can't put my finger on why.