In praise of Thomastik flatwounds

Wonky

My earliest guitar related memories is my Grandfathers Hofner Jazz box with flat wounds on and his AC30 amp.  They made amazing noises in his hands too.
So fast forward to now and my modified ArtStar Ibanez Jazzbox has flatwounds on it.  Sound's great for trad Jazz stuff for sure.  Currently has D'addario Chromes on it, but I totally love Thomastik's too.  
I use Thomastik power brights on a different guitar and they are absolutely amazing on that guitar, but didn't work on other things I tried them on.  Not flats, I know, but same company.
At the moment I don't actually play my archtop very much at all.  I'm finding that I'm playing all types of everything trad Jazz on my Jon Case J1 (Neck pickup with the tone on 3) and that's got NYXL's on, which are way too bright and also fully round (noisey), which is not ideal for the Jazz, but I'm still loving it right now for some reason.  I'm seriously thinking of selling my Ibanez and ordering one of Jons archtop's for this purpose and that would then get some Thomastik's on it.

Marihino

OilCityPickups said:

(...) more harmonically complex chords I'm using seem to sound more 'right'  ... can't put my finger on why. 

Probably because the note fundamental is stronger and upper harmonics attenuated, compared to rounds. Just a guess based on bass playing. 

jdgm

I've had a set of T-I flatwounds on one of my archtops for 3 or 4 years now.

Still sound fine to me.

DB1

I've just put a set of D'Addario Chromes (11's) on my ES-275, and they sound and feel great. I've persevered with half rounds, but can't quite like them.

TheMarlin

I don’t like flatwounds with Filtertrons, or any humbuckers. With Dynasonics or hilotrons, they’re great.  

I hated them on my Jazzmaster, now got ground-wounds on,  a cross between the two, with the feel of flats. That works for me!

susbemol

I've been using Thomastik flatwounds 13s on various archtop jazz guitars for many years. They're my favourite by far for many reasons.

Jalapeno

Another punter happily paying over the odds for great strings,  I use a set of TI Swing 12s on my archtops and change them every year whether they need it or not !

OilCityPickups

Jalapeno said:

Another punter happily paying over the odds for great strings,  I use a set of TI Swing 12s on my archtops and change them every year whether they need it or not !

I should buy an R8 and put flatwounds on that ... then I can have an over priced guitar with matching strings ... then I only have to find a Dumble amp .... and everything matches ;-)

DavidRees

I have used these https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/strings-c1/string-sets-c865/electric-guitar-c189/thomastik-js110-jazz-swing-flatwound-10-44-electric-guitar-strings-p2836 on Yamaha MSG and JJ Retro for the last few years and I love 'em. They last for ages, sound great and alter the way you play, in my opinion, in a good way. The E and B strings are brass plated and that does make them different somehow and the gauging means that bends are not so extreme [particularly on the wound third] but everything seems to hold in tune better - again maybe that is the influence on how you play with them. I have a heavier set on my guitar set up for slide only and they make the BKP Manhattans fitted sing like slide playing should. I even have their acoustic flat wound 11s on my APX and they make a very comfortable and bright acoustic sound with the added value of no string noise. I am a big fan and although they are expensive you don't have to change them anywhere near as often - they truly make me sound much better than I really am ...

JezWynd

DavidRees said:

I have used these https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/strings-c1/string-sets-c865/electric-guitar-c189/thomastik-js110-jazz-swing-flatwound-10-44-electric-guitar-strings-p2836 on Yamaha MSG and JJ Retro for the last few years and I love 'em. They last for ages, sound great and alter the way you play, in my opinion, in a good way. The E and B strings are brass plated and that does make them different somehow and the gauging means that bends are not so extreme [particularly on the wound third] but everything seems to hold in tune better - again maybe that is the influence on how you play with them. I have a heavier set on my guitar set up for slide only and they make the BKP Manhattans fitted sing like slide playing should. I even have their acoustic flat wound 11s on my APX and they make a very comfortable and bright acoustic sound with the added value of no string noise. I am a big fan and although they are expensive you don't have to change them anywhere near as often - they truly make me sound much better than I really am ...

They look interesting, I didn't know you could get a wound 3rd on such a light set.

I switched to flats when I got a hollow-body after years of using 9-41's on a Tele and now I'm completely sold on them. Changing up to a heavier gauge (11-52) has been a revelation, I find it much easier to play with a heavier string, esp finger picking, though I down tune to D standard to make bends easier. I still have light roundwounds on a Fender Bullet but I'm thinking of changing to heavier semi-flats.

DavidRees

I have found that I don't do the bluesy full tone bends on the 3rd string anymore but don't miss them - you can still do the double stop 2nd and 3rd string semitone[ish] thing and the the trade off is a more stable string set when playing rhythm - I also find myself doing slides and hammers more - an altogether more percussive way of playing to my way of thinking Jez ...

OilCityPickups

DavidRees said:

I have found that I don't do the bluesy full tone bends on the 3rd string anymore but don't miss them - you can still do the double stop 2nd and 3rd string semitone[ish] thing and the the trade off is a more stable string set when playing rhythm - I also find myself doing slides and hammers more - an altogether more percussive way of playing to my way of thinking Jez ...

Just what I've found ... that .018 wound third string goes up so far, and then point blank refuses to go any further. As you say, you kinda work around it as slides are so much easier and more fluid. It makes you think more as you play and get more creative. I find I'm moving around the fingerboard more, simply because it takes less effort.