half wound strings?

[exarctly]

Can someone link me to a good discussion that may have been had already on what gage of flat wounds is most recommended. Also, has anyone tried using half flat wound strings? I have recently seen them. I am thinking of going with flat wound 11s or 12s on my archtop, but I thought maybe since I want to get a somewhat bright tone that the not completely flat wound set would work? I'd like the guitar to sound a little more like a 335. Still dark, but some brightness. Anyway, if this discussion already exists, please just link it if you don't want to have it again. Thanks

[Bill C]

a search for flatwound will list a few recent discussions on this forum.

I used to use D'Addario halfrounds and now use Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno polished rounds to get a "less dull" tone without the squeak. Not sure if it will make an archtop sound like a 335 though but ymmv ... It will be a brighter livelier tone though.

[tuxtux]

My favorite strings are:from

Thomastik-Infeld
Jazz Swing JS113
.013 - .017 -.021 - .028 - .039 - .053

Regards
Clavan

[23skidoo]

Here's one I started and got some good responses....

http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/guita...ggestions.html

I've been playing the ground wound strings everyday since and they're okay.... The tone is still bright enough to hang in a bluegrass environment, but the finger noise is drastically reduced..... the feel is a little off, but not something you can't get used to.

[Meggy]

I have been using D'Addario 13-56 half-rounds on my laminate archtop for a few months now. I really like the extra brightness and edge to attack compared to flats. For me they have about the ideal combination of warmth and brightness. Depends what you like of course, but I am pretty much sold on this type of string for jazz. There is almost a kind of "breathy" quality to the sound somehow. I will be trying some GHS 12-54 half-rounds shortly to see how they compare. I do agree with the previous poster about the feel under the fingers being a bit "sticky" although I have got used to this and don't find it a problem now.

[Flat]

I like flatwounds (TI, 12-52) on my hollowbody archtops (Heritage 575, Sadowsky Jim Hall, Gibson ES-225) and roundwounds (D'A or Elixir 10s) on my solidbodies (Tokai tele, PRS 24).

So when I got my Heritage 535 (335-clone), I thought, genius me, "Split the difference! Half-rounds!"

But it just didn't work...for me. I just didn't like the way they felt! They just seemed sharp, edgy, weird. I can't really describe it.

The moral: This stuff is just so subjective and unpredictable. You just won't know till you try.

(Always fun and interesting to chat about though!)

[caravan]

I'm using GHS Brite Flats 11's on one of my guitars. They feel similar to flatwound strings, but have a brighter tone. These are ground wound strings so they're not nearly as bright sounding as regular electric strings. You may have to order ground or "half round" strings online, as they're hard to find in the music stores.

[exarctly]

Thanks for the dialogue. It seems like a lot of people will use 12 or 13s, and that i is definitely not considered cool to go as low as 10's. But what about 11's? Still too thin for most of you? The caravan has interested me about the brite flat 11's. I might try those after the set of 12 gage half rounds I have ordered. And if I like neither...maybe 12 gage Brite flat's and then maybe just back to plain old 12 gage flat wounds. So many choices!

[mr. beaumont]

I use .11's or .12's depending on the guitar's scale. I figure no reason to be macho if I can't comfortably play the darn things!

[caravan]

There's a big difference between 11's and 12's. I don't want a heavy "B" string and I definitely want a light wound "G"... like, say 22w. My bottom "E" cannot be any lighter than 54.

Is your scale length 24.75" or 25.5"?