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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Flat wounds vs. Round wounds

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I find the gauges frustrating and end up mixing Ernie ball slinkys with D'addario chromes to get 50 on the bottom and ten on the top. Good grief, that's expensive. But I get plain G that way and it's the bend level that I like. I'm not home to floppy bottoms and big tops!

Vince_Ray wrote:

I find the gauges frustrating and end up mixing Ernie ball slinkys with D'addario chromes to get 50 on the bottom and ten on the top. Good grief, that's expensive.

I buy bulk strings (12 strings per pack the same size nickelplated roundwound) in 6 different sizes as I choose so I can get 50 and 9 for the E strings. They are sold by JustStrings and by Guitar Center. Inexpensive too and they sound fine.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Half-rounds for me...best compromise between TONE and finger-squeak.

Vintage JM
11 1st
17 2nd
20 3rd (plain)
30 4th (flat)
40 5th (flat)
50 6th (flat)

Vintage Jag
Thomastik-Infeld 11-47 flats

He who dies with the most tubes... wins

Surf Daddies

I HATE FLATS!!!

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Syndicateofsurf wrote:

I HATE FLATS!!!

I did too, years ago but then I found that some of my guitars instantly sound better or more, vibey with them and now I really enjoy them on a few, particular guitars.

Cheers,
Jeff

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

CrazyAces wrote:

Syndicateofsurf wrote:

I HATE FLATS!!!

I did too, years ago but then I found that some of my guitars instantly sound better or more, vibey with them and now I really enjoy them on a few, particular guitars.

Cheers,
Jeff

Aces, that's CRAZY!
Just the feel of them sliding around under my finger-pads gives me the heepy-jeepys.

Cold...so cold.

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

I'm trying Dadarrio Half Wounds out 11-52. Otherwise, I use Dadarrio Chromes 11-50.

Honestly, I play both. Some guitars have flats, most have rounds. I can honestly say that the only real difference that I've found outside of the feel of the strings is that flats last a LOT long longer between string changes. One Jaguar (63) has flats, the other (64) has rounds. They sound virtually identical to me. For surf, the flats are good, but so are the rounds. For other types of music, not so much for the flats. This is just my opinion after playing both for quite a few years. I think it's all a matter of taste, really.

How many of you remember Tena's interview with Eddie? See it here what he has to say about flats vs. rounds. Smile Look to about the 24 minute mark.
https://surfguitar101.com/forums/topic/20163/?page=1

Matt "tha Kat" Lentz
Skippy and the Skipjacks: 2018-
Skippyandtheskipjacks.net
https://www.facebook.com/skippyandtheskipjacks
Otto and the Ottomans: 2014-2015
The Coconauts surf band: 2009-2014
www.theamazingcoconauts.com
Group Captain and the Mandrakes 2013
http://www.gcmband.com/
The Surfside IV: 2002-2005, 2008-2009
the Del-Vamps: 1992-1999, 2006-2007
http://www.dblcrown.com/delvamps.html

Last edited: May 17, 2017 21:28:27

I like Flats for lead playing, less noise from my fingers, but I like rounds for rhythm playing, less work.

Thanks to Ralf Kilauea I’ve switched to flats (11-50) on my Jazzmaster and what a hell of a difference! It just suits this guitar so much, it had too much high end in my opinion and now it’s perfect. I may know dial more reverb and still be tight and drippy, without excessive ringing.

And I hate these on Stratocaster and went back to round wound there)

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

New Single is out!

https://waikikimakaki.bandcamp.com/album/rhino-blues-full-contact-surf-single

Waikiki Makaki

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin

-

Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 15:18:54

Another in between choice would be pure nickel rounds. They are not as bright as the more common nickel core/steel strings. You can also roll the tone back a bit and get a decent flat wound approximation from nickels.

I use flats on my Hallmarks and pure nickel rounds on my Jazzmaster and Gretsch, all of which I use for surf.

Makai

Last edited: Aug 13, 2022 22:03:11

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