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I've heard some surf guitarists prefer flat wound strings over round.
Just checking what the group thinks. I've been using rounds
for years, but never tried the flats. Is there something that they
offer over the rounds?
thanks!
Dale
> I've heard some surf guitarists prefer flat wound strings over round.
> Just checking what the group thinks. I've been using rounds
> for years, but never tried the flats. Is there something that they
> offer over the rounds?
>
> thanks!
>
> Dale
Hi Dale: No finger squeak is one thing they offer :)
You should try them out at least once. I like the "thump" they provide on
the lower strings. In my experience, I can always lower my action after
changing to flats. The rounds seem to have less tension and thus have a
larger amplitude of vibration requiring a higher action to clear the frets
without buzzing. Your mileage may vary, as several people have told me
(quite rudely) that I am totally wrong on this point. Some people think they
sound more "vintage", and there is a legend that flats were the only strings
widely available in the 60's. But Boulder Bob from the Beloved Invaders has
stated that he used to buy rounds back then, so it may just be a myth. But I
cannot deny the power of the flatwound low E string into a reverb tank and
then into a Showman with 15" speakers. :)
You should also be aware that most flatwound sets are on the heavy side, and
most come with wound G strings. Lots of people seem to make a big deal about
that wound G and often replace it with an unwound one. I dunno, I am not
Ritchie Blackmore, but personally I have never had a problem bending a wound
G (from a 0.012 set on a 24" scale Jaguar). It is a bit harder on a 25.5"
scale Strat though, so I can somewhat see their point.
BN
The Nebulas "alto" string section strictly play flatwounds. In
particular, Gibson "FlatWires" of the .11 gauge.
You will not find our dead bodies scattered near guitar cases containing
guitars with round-wounds.
We're not sponsored by Gibson, but I sure wish we were. I SWEAR by these
strings as they seem to outlast every other type of flatwound by about 4 to
1. Two cool features of these strings are:
1. Gibson actually takes the time to finish off the ball end by winding it
with cloth thread. A nice attention to detail that says a lot about quality
of the strings.
2. That G string is flatwound. Gibson doesn't chintz out by sending you a
roundwound G, unlike the "competition".
If you want that nasty, driving "holy sh!t" surf sound, theres a formula,
and here it is:
Vintage Fender Showman + (Y) x vintage Fender outboard reverb tank
divided by the sum of (X) where Y=Vintage Fender Jaguar, Jazzmaster, or a
Mosrite Ventures model and X=Gibson Flatwires .11 strings. Let the values of
(X) and (Y) be the product of EBE Alienhead "Heavy" picks.
There you go. Any questions?
-Dano
-=The Nebulas=-
>From: "Brian Neal" <>
>Reply-To:
>To: <>
>Subject: RE: [SurfGuitar101] Flats or Rounds?
>Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2004 18:30:50 -0500
>
> > I've heard some surf guitarists prefer flat wound strings over round.
> > Just checking what the group thinks. I've been using rounds
> > for years, but never tried the flats. Is there something that they
> > offer over the rounds?
> >
> > thanks!
> >
> > Dale
>
>Hi Dale: No finger squeak is one thing they offer :)
>
>You should try them out at least once. I like the "thump" they provide on
>the lower strings. In my experience, I can always lower my action after
>changing to flats. The rounds seem to have less tension and thus have a
>larger amplitude of vibration requiring a higher action to clear the frets
>without buzzing. Your mileage may vary, as several people have told me
>(quite rudely) that I am totally wrong on this point. Some people think
>they
>sound more "vintage", and there is a legend that flats were the only
>strings
>widely available in the 60's. But Boulder Bob from the Beloved Invaders has
>stated that he used to buy rounds back then, so it may just be a myth. But
>I
>cannot deny the power of the flatwound low E string into a reverb tank and
>then into a Showman with 15" speakers. :)
>
>You should also be aware that most flatwound sets are on the heavy side,
>and
>most come with wound G strings. Lots of people seem to make a big deal
>about
>that wound G and often replace it with an unwound one. I dunno, I am not
>Ritchie Blackmore, but personally I have never had a problem bending a
>wound
>G (from a 0.012 set on a 24" scale Jaguar). It is a bit harder on a 25.5"
>scale Strat though, so I can somewhat see their point.
>
>BN
>
>
>
>
>.
>Visit for archived messages,
>bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
--- In , "darklsurf" <dcordes@s...>
wrote:
>
> I've heard some surf guitarists prefer flat wound strings over
round.
> Just checking what the group thinks. I've been using rounds
> for years, but never tried the flats. Is there something that they
> offer over the rounds?
>
> thanks!
>
> Dale
Are you familiar with "Coffin Closer" by Slacktone? I always thought
that was one of the most gorgeous guitar tones in the opening bars. I
was fortunate to talk with Sam Bolle and he said Dave is using flats
on that.
I'm a bass player that always swore by rounds but have changed to
flats recently. I think even outside the surf world lots of
guitarists and bassists are starting to rediscover flats.
Scottgun
The Madeira
--- In , "darklsurf" <dcordes@s...>
wrote:
>
> I've heard some surf guitarists prefer flat wound strings over
round.
> Just checking what the group thinks. I've been using rounds for years,
> but never tried the flats. Is there something that they offer over the
> rounds?
>
> thanks!
>
> Dale
Hi Dale,
Indeed, flats are used by most surf guitarists. They have this specific
tone that goes very well with loads of reverb.
Although I do think the "Nickel wound" or "Chrome wound" strings are the
key. (For Flats and rounds)
In the sixties most strings were nickel (flats and rounds) So Gibsons,
Pyramids and Tomastik are all Nickel flat wound strings, while d'Addario
are Chromed nickel flat wound stings. Their cores are steel I believe.
Nickel or chromed nickel has a very different tone when compared to
steel strings. It's a bil melower, yet bright and have nice sustain,
especially when brand new.
I started playing surf with using just plain d'addario round wounds
(XL-series) but for some reoson they just didn't have the tone I was
after. Dano from the Nebulas suggested Gibson Flats, which are superb!
(but too expensive here) So I switched over to d'addario's who sound a
bit different and more bright then the Gibsons. I recently discovered
Pyramids, very simelar to the Gibsons.
The only downside to the Chromes is "fretwear after a while, chromes eat
your frets, while the Gibsons and Pyramids are more fret friendly, due
to their more soft winding.
If you plan on using d'Addario Chromes, you must alter the Tuss rodd a
bit. (The tension of d'Addario Chromes is a lot more then the usual
roundwound, some folks don't like d'addario because of the high string
tension, but IMHO this works great on short scale guitars like the
Jaguar) Gibsons, Pyramids and Tomastik have less string tension when
compared to d'Addario.
-Jerry S.
Hey thanks for the info everyone! This is a great group.
OK, I'm hooked. I'll check out flats next string change. Getting
mediums (11s) because of the added tension, although (guessing here)
that the rounds that are on the Strat, .013 to .056 won't be that big
of a change with the lighter flats??? Ah well, it doesn't matter,
it's all about tone anyway.
Thanks again Brian, Dano, Scottgun and Jerry!
Dale
PS - Going to see Dick Dale for the first time tonight in Kansas
City, so it should be interesting.....earplugs are packed and ready.
> I'm a bass player that always swore by rounds but have changed to
> flats recently. I think even outside the surf world lots of
> guitarists and bassists are starting to rediscover flats.
>
> Scottgun
> The Madeira
Scott: I was curious what kind of bass strings do you use and how often a
bass player typically needs to change strings (is it more or less often than
a guitar player)?
Thanks
BN
PS Great job last weekend!
> Scott: I was curious what kind of bass strings do you use and how
often a
> bass player typically needs to change strings (is it more or less
often than
> a guitar player)?
>
> Thanks
> BN
>
> PS Great job last weekend!
Thanks!
The strings on my MIM Fender are flats but I don't know what they
are. The bass is on loan to me from Ivan P. Sr. and I like the sound
so I haven't changed anything.
Most bass players change much less frequently than guitarists. For
one thing, a set of bass strings is much more expensive than guitars.
They rarely break unlike guitar strings. (Although Sam Bolle broke
two within 30 seconds at Dick Dale in Detroit!)
Bass strings are expensive enough that some guys after six months
will boil the strings to get a few more miles out of them. This is
mostly with roundwounds. With flats many bassists like me have
adopted a "deader is better" attitude. A lot of sustain is lost, but
with a pick it delivers a nice, punchy attack.
Scott
Let me throw in my 2 cents. I've tried Daddario chromes,
Thomastiks, and Pyramids. I swear by my Pyramids, I've had a custom
set of 11s with a plain G on my Jazz for 4 months now, and I've just
put a set of 13s with a wound G on my Jag and I'm planning on
getting at least 6 months out of those. The Pyramids actually sound
better as they get older. It also seems like I can get the action
lower with Pyramids.
We all go on about how to get the surf tone and I really think it
begins with a good set of pure nickel flats.
I have a rockabilly gig comming up on Friday so I restrung my Tele
with d'addario rounds and it sounds terrible.
Bill Aqua
www.freewebs.com/reluctantaquanauts
--- In , "Brian Neal" <bneal@i...>
wrote:
> > I'm a bass player that always swore by rounds but have changed to
> > flats recently. I think even outside the surf world lots of
> > guitarists and bassists are starting to rediscover flats.
> >
> > Scottgun
> > The Madeira
>
> Scott: I was curious what kind of bass strings do you use and how
often a
> bass player typically needs to change strings (is it more or less
often than
> a guitar player)?
>
> Thanks
> BN
>
> PS Great job last weekend!
