shake_n_stomp
Joined: Jan 09, 2014
Posts: 600
Vancouver BC
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Posted on Apr 04 2020 12:18 PM
If you have a Strat, this may be something you'd consider...
I recently put a set of TI flats (11) on my Strat leading up to a show that didn't happen, obviously. Prior to this, I had great success with TI flats on my Jaguar and Jazzmaster. I have 2 Strats so I kept one as roundwound and will now have one with flatwounds. For shows, I alternate between my Jag and Strat and I think having flats on both will be fantastic.
Flats change my approach and I am far less given to playing bluesy bends due to the feel of the strings and the wound G. With having a "neck pickup on" toggle switch, I would say now that the Strat sits even better into the surf sound (as I hear it) that I decided to use my Strat for the entire set. Before, my Jag was my Jag and the Strat was a completely different family. Now they are like siblings.
I never had much success with the D'Addario Chromes and I cannot recommend them although I keep a couple of packs around as spares. TI flats are so balanced in feel and sound across the 6 strings. They are spendy, but to me absolutely worth every penny.
— Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada
Last edited: Apr 05, 2020 13:08:10
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BillAqua
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 1054
Chicago IL.
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Posted on Apr 09 2020 06:03 PM
Jimmie Vaughan is one of my non-surf Strat heroes. He swears by flats on his Strats today. I've been contemplating putting a set of TI on one of my Strats for sometime now.
— "as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there"
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MadScientist
Joined: Jan 17, 2008
Posts: 2188
Atlanta, GA
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Posted on Apr 10 2020 08:26 AM
I'm team never for flats on a Strat (which is my #1 guitar). I'm a big fan of flats on offsets, though. They just seem to be a perfect fit for those, but I feel like flats really rob a Strat of its soul and sparkle. My $.02, anyway.
Like anything, it's all up to the player what works best. Glad you're digging it!
—
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BillAqua
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 1054
Chicago IL.
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Posted on Apr 10 2020 08:50 AM
MadScientist wrote:
I'm team never for flats on a Strat (which is my #1 guitar). I'm a big fan of flats on offsets, though. They just seem to be a perfect fit for those, but I feel like flats really rob a Strat of its soul and sparkle. My $.02, anyway.
Like anything, it's all up to the player what works best. Glad you're digging it!
Why not Strats but Fender offsets?
— "as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there"
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https://www.facebook.com/TheDragstripVipers/
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MadScientist
Joined: Jan 17, 2008
Posts: 2188
Atlanta, GA
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Posted on Apr 10 2020 09:16 AM
Pickups I guess? I'm sure the placement of the hardware is also a factor in how it all resonates and behaves as a unit. A Strat is very bright and what I like to call "sparkly" by nature. Adding the raspiness of rounds just lets that guitar sing. A Jazzmaster, for example, is a rounder and a bit darker sounding by nature and the flats just pronounce that roundness and complements the nature of the instrument more by focusing it. I tend to find Jags a little thin by nature, but adding a heavy flatwound set of strings beefs it up and really pulls out the soul of that guitar. Again... that's my take.
—
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BillAqua
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 1054
Chicago IL.
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Posted on Apr 10 2020 10:59 AM
MadScientist wrote:
Pickups I guess? I'm sure the placement of the hardware is also a factor in how it all resonates and behaves as a unit. A Strat is very bright and what I like to call "sparkly" by nature. Adding the raspiness of rounds just lets that guitar sing. A Jazzmaster, for example, is a rounder and a bit darker sounding by nature and the flats just pronounce that roundness and complements the nature of the instrument more by focusing it. I tend to find Jags a little thin by nature, but adding a heavy flatwound set of strings beefs it up and really pulls out the soul of that guitar. Again... that's my take.
I get it on a hardware standpoint or design concept. I used to use heavy flats on my Jaguars mostly because of the scale length and inherent issues with the bridge design. When I started playing surf again a few years ago I picked up another Jag and used roundwounds and it was essentially the same thing due mostly to my rig. Bandmaster and Fender Reverb Tank.
This is all my opinion tho and I haven't really tried flats on a Strat in years. But I feel like through a big Fender amp and a reverb tank. In the grand scheme of rigs/guitars/amps, etc. A Strat, Jazzmaster, and Jaguar are pretty similar on the tone palate. Understandably this is a gross over estimation in our world of surf guitar, but I'd through a Telecaster in there too. Tele's might be considered even brighter than Strats? But my main argument is the tone knob, amp settings, and hands of an individual player can make more of a difference than the actual guitar.
This reminds me of my initial journey in surf guitar tone. Eddie Bertrand and his use of the Jaguar/Strat. I'd say his tone was more so defined by the Bandmaster with 1x15 and the Reverb tank.
I guess I'm too pro Stratocaster these days. I firmly believe you can make a Strat sound like any other guitar in the world with approach of hands/pick, tone settings, and volume control.
Sorry that's a lot of rambling. This lockdown stay at home thing has got me way too bored!
— "as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there"
https://www.facebook.com/reluctantaquanauts/
https://www.facebook.com/TheDragstripVipers/
Last edited: Apr 10, 2020 11:02:05
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stratdancer
Joined: Dec 11, 2013
Posts: 2532
Akron, Ohio
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Posted on Apr 10 2020 11:01 AM
MadScientist wrote:
I'm team never for flats on a Strat (which is my #1 guitar). I'm a big fan of flats on offsets, though. They just seem to be a perfect fit for those, but I feel like flats really rob a Strat of its soul and sparkle. My $.02, anyway.
Like anything, it's all up to the player what works best. Glad you're digging it!
I agree whole heartedly. Tried them once on a strat and hated them. Tone killing and dull.
— The Kahuna Kings
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447
https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases
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shake_n_stomp
Joined: Jan 09, 2014
Posts: 600
Vancouver BC
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Posted on Apr 10 2020 11:19 AM
I wasn't trying to convince anyone that Strats+flats=better Strat, rather I was asserting that Strats+flats=something different that may lead to the tones of a Strat that are rooted more in first wave surf. Like I said, I have 2 similar-spec Strats and one is with flats, one with rounds. Each of them are equally enjoyable to play and hear but they serve different camps now.
I have usually had more than 1 Strat at any given point over the past 5 years...had I tried flats on one of those 2 Strats rather than going down the Jazzmaster rabbit hole (I bailed after owning 2), I might have realized earlier that I wasn't going to need all 3 of the Jag/Strat/Jazzmaster holy Fender trinity.
Where some of us on this thread affirm that flats on a Strat "take away" something from the Strat or "kills the tone", I assert that it gives it something. As Joe Gore has stated in his love for flats, while it takes some of the sizzle off the high end, it projects more fundamentals. Using strings like TIs, there is a richness and balance in the tone that I enjoy.
Imagine setting your stereo EQ to the 'smiley' curve, listening to it for a couple of days, then setting it more towards a flat setting...your ears are going to complain that it sounds dull. In my 50s-voiced Strat pickups there is no shortage of sparkle but I do find that the bridge seems less harsh and I don't have to roll off the tone knob to get a rounder sound (I wire my Strats so Tone knob #2 affects the bridge).
— Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada
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BillAqua
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 1054
Chicago IL.
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Posted on Apr 10 2020 11:27 AM
I gotta order a set of flats for one of my Strats now!
— "as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there"
https://www.facebook.com/reluctantaquanauts/
https://www.facebook.com/TheDragstripVipers/
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stratdancer
Joined: Dec 11, 2013
Posts: 2532
Akron, Ohio
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Posted on Apr 10 2020 07:57 PM
Didn't mean to demean Shake! In fact as many strats as I have and with blenders on several I could try it again.
— The Kahuna Kings
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447
https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases
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shake_n_stomp
Joined: Jan 09, 2014
Posts: 600
Vancouver BC
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Posted on Apr 10 2020 08:36 PM
Hey StratDancer...it's all good! We are all sharing opinions here. I am clearly the one in the minority with my opinion. I think it's awesome to discover something like flats on a Strat after playing guitar for 34 yrs.
I recall conversations with 2 different studios engineers. One was cool with flats while the other told me that flats sound like crap and really was opposed to me using them for recording.
— Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada
Last edited: Apr 10, 2020 20:36:51
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DannySnyder
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 11010
Berkeley, CA
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Posted on Apr 10 2020 10:23 PM
To each their own guys. Rumor has it that there was once a guitarist who played lead on an offset rhythm circuit 
— Danny Snyder
Latest project - Now That's What I Call SURF
_
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo
I'm back playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta
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kentano2000
Joined: Aug 26, 2012
Posts: 25
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Posted on Apr 14 2020 11:48 AM
I dig flats on my Strats! TI 11s on this one...
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BillAqua
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 1054
Chicago IL.
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Posted on May 14 2020 10:04 AM
I got a set of Pyramid flats this week and sacrificed one of my Strats to now be "flatwounded."
It sounds great. I think there's a recipe somewhere in the chain of tone that makes up the blackface Bandmaster and outboard reverb tank paired with flats on a single coil Fender.
That said I will not be doing this with my other Strats.
— "as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there"
https://www.facebook.com/reluctantaquanauts/
https://www.facebook.com/TheDragstripVipers/
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GuitarMuk
Joined: Jun 10, 2015
Posts: 172
Cleveland, Ohio
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Posted on May 14 2020 12:29 PM
@shake n stomp--what did you not like about Chromes? I've had them on several guitars, Jag, Jazzmaster, Strat and liked them on everything. Never tried TIs or other brand flats though. Just wondering.... 
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shake_n_stomp
Joined: Jan 09, 2014
Posts: 600
Vancouver BC
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Posted on May 14 2020 12:49 PM
GuitarMuk wrote:
@shake n stomp--what did you not like about Chromes? I've had them on several guitars, Jag, Jazzmaster, Strat and liked them on everything. Never tried TIs or other brand flats though. Just wondering....
I am a long time user of D'Addarrio strings and continue to use them to this day, primarily NYXL, however, the tension across the strings of the Chrome Flats seemed very unbalanced from string to string. On the other hand, TI strings feel considerably more balanced in sound and tension as one moves from string to string.
— Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada
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GuitarMuk
Joined: Jun 10, 2015
Posts: 172
Cleveland, Ohio
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Posted on May 15 2020 11:05 AM
shake_n_stomp wrote:
I am a long time user of D'Addarrio strings and continue to use them to this day, primarily NYXL, however, the tension across the strings of the Chrome Flats seemed very unbalanced from string to string. On the other hand, TI strings feel considerably more balanced in sound and tension as one moves from string to string.
Interesting, thanks. Never tried TIs or other flats. Haven't really noticed inconsistency in Chromes. I'll have to shell out for the TIs at some time.
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shake_n_stomp
Joined: Jan 09, 2014
Posts: 600
Vancouver BC
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Posted on May 15 2020 12:14 PM
A few years ago, I tabulated the tensions in lbs per string of various D'Addario and various TI sets. I took my personal observations, compared it to the individual and overall tension and it generally matched to my observations. For example, I use a floating bridge on my Strats...from those tension charts, one can easily see why the "pull" on the bridge using one set of 11-49 is different to another brand's 11-49. Same gauge, same tuning yet different tension in lbs. Tension references can be found on the brand websites.
— Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada
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