Frustrated jazz guitar beginner

[Meggy]

Originally Posted by guitar freek

Anyone heard of ROBERTS STRINGS?

Originally Posted by guitar freek

Fitted Rotosound flatwound 11,s

I bought a couple of sets of the Roberts Strings from their shop on Ebay (UK) a while back - they seemed so cheap it had to be worth a shot! The finish is not as smooth as the Rotosounds or other flatwounds I've seen such as the D'Addario Chromes. In the end I never got round to trying them on my archtop, as I decided to go up a gauge to 13's and got some Newtones (double roundwounds) which I now like very much. So I put the Roberts onto a cheap-ish flat-top acoustic I have to make a knockabout jazz practice guitar. Actually they don't seem at all bad, although hard to judge exactly how they would behave on a proper jazz guitar.

I have also tried the Rotosounds - they seemed a little too mellow for me - i.e. rather dull sounding and lifeless, but these things can vary for different players. For flatwounds I much preferred the D'Addario Chromes, and I also hear a lot of people raving about the Thomas Infeld flats (though these are quite pricey). Just a few thoughts in case it's any use though!

[bruceshannon]

If you play with a pick, maybe try different angles hitting against the string. Same thing goes for right hand fingers. If you pick with the full face of the pick against the string this can sound quite bright / brash. Also try picking closer to the neck with a softer attack. Yes... and you can also roll of vol / tone on your guitar and amp.

[bass2man]

Take your guitar to a good luthier/guitar tech...I have some nice guitars ( 1977 ES-175, 1999 ES-336, G400 Synchromatic) and the first thing I did after I bought them was take them to get a set up..a good tech will set up teh guitar to theway YOU play....

[Gramps]

Most guitar amps, especially Fenders were never designed to provide flat responce. If you want flat responce use a good PA or find an amp that is designed to not color the sound of the input source.