Flat wound or round wound? Which do you use, and what gauge?

[Hardbopjazz]

These are two questions for all the guitar players here.

Flat wound or round wound? Which do you use, and what gauge?

When I use to play, it was always Guild Flat wound at 13 gauge.

[7/4]

Depends on the guitar.

The G&L fretless, Epi Joe Pass and Gibson L6-S get .010 flatwounds. Everything else get's .010 roundwounds except for a Strat Plus: .009.

I can't handle those really heavy strings, weak hands I guess.

Edit: I think the fretless has .011, an experiment that didn't quite work out. Haven't played it in a while.

Edited July 30, 2006 by 7/4

[Herb]

12 - 56 flatwounds on the two Gibsons and the Gretsch. My Tele and my Carvin get 11 - 52 roundwounds. The Ric 12 gets roundwounds, too.

[ep1str0phy]

Although I despise flatwounds, it's a purely aesthetic decision. There's a level of gloss and sheen to the flats that just doesn't jibe with certain approaches--I need some roughness, man. So much of it is personal feel--the flat-round thing is, in part, a tradeoff between velocity/smoothness and grip/grit. Flatwounds are, indeed, quite smooth (at the outset), but--over time--they develop a sort of overslickness (that's not a word). That's my take, anyway. On the matter of gauges--a customized set of rounds, generally 12-56 (or heavier--I replace the default 3rd string (26) with a 16... allows for easier bends and no breaking, if you know how to control the tension variance, tuning problems, etc.).

Edited August 1, 2006 by ep1str0phy

[Jim R]

Flats (11-50 is what I generally prefer; D'Addario "Chromes" or Gibson brand) on my archtops, rounds on my Strat.

[Joe G]

Depends on the guitar.

The G&L fretless, Epi Joe Pass and Gibson L6-S get .010 flatwounds. Everything else get's .010 roundwounds except for a Strat Plus: .009.

I can't handle those really heavy strings, weak hands I guess.

Edit: I think the fretless has .011, an experiment that didn't quite work out. Haven't played it in a while.

I'm thinking of dropping down to .010s on my Stromberg. The action is a tad higher than it is on my Ibanez, on which .011s always worked well for me. Roundwounds, of course. Gotta cut through the organ/drums din... Also thinking of trying some flatwounds (for the first time ever) on my Hofner. Tomasfeld is what I'm thinking of trying first. Like ep1str0phy said, though, I'm afraid of losing that other thing that you get with roundwounds. I can always switch back, though.

[Jim Alfredson]

I can always switch back, though.

No, you can't!!!

[zizala]

Here's a topic that coaxes me out of lurkdom.....

Can tell already that I'm the oddball of the group....

Most of the time I play acoustic archtops....and use 13-56 round wound phosphor bronze mediums for those.....

When amplified, its an old L-10 with a floating pickup, medium nickel round wound strings, sometimes with heavies on the unwounds.

[AllenLowe]

flat, 10-46 - Dadarrio, they stay in tune and they are easy to play - no sense working harder than I have to -

[Harold_Z]

I'm a bassist (electric), not a guitarist, but my solution to this is to keep one ax strung with flats and another with rounds. Curently the flats are fender 9050s (50-105) and the rounds are ghs boomers (45-105).

Usually I gravitate towards the rounds, but now and then I get a jones to play the flats.