Flat wound or Nickel wound? George Benson?

[jason30]

Does anyone know if George Benson uses Thomastik Infeld flat wound or Nickel wound strings? I love the Thomastik GB flat wound strings, but for certain types of music, hey lack the bite that i need.. so im wondering if GB uses something different?
Thanks

[monk]

A quick search of the Thomastik-Infeld website reveals that they make a George Benson Flatwound set AND a George Benson Roundwound set.

[jason30]

Thanks for the info Monk.
Im still wondering if anyone knows which set he uses??
Thanks
jason30

[mr. beaumont]

I'm going to guess he uses both, depending on the guitar.

[oldane]

The choise is not between flatwound OR nickel. Both flatwounds and roundwounds are made with nickel or stainless steel winding. The TI strings are nickle wound - both the flatwounds and the roundwounds. D'Addario and LaBella has flatwounds with stainless steel winding. Stainless steel wound strings tend to have a brighter and more ringing sound than nickel wound strings - everything else equal. Roundwounds tend to be brighter and more ringing than flatwounds.

[Jazz_175]

Hi Oldane,
do you know why the D'Addario pure nickel strings all have gauges slightly smaller than the more common XL-nickel wound
For example
EJ 21 : 12 16 24w 32 42 52
Epn21: 12 16 23w 31 41 51 but they are still reported on the web site as 12-52!!
D'Addario Strings : XL Pure Nickel Round Wound : EPN21 Pure Nickel, Jazz Light, 12-52

[oldane]

Hi Oldane,
do you know why the D'Addario pure nickel strings all have gauges slightly smaller than the more common XL-nickel wound

Short answer: No.

[Jim Soloway]

Hi Oldane,
do you know why the D'Addario pure nickel strings all have gauges slightly smaller than the more common XL-nickel wound
For example
EJ 21 : 12 16 24w 32 42 52
Epn21: 12 16 23w 31 41 51 but they are still reported on the web site as 12-52!!
D'Addario Strings : XL Pure Nickel Round Wound : EPN21 Pure Nickel, Jazz Light, 12-52

I've always found that pure nickel strings are stiffer than compound strings so if may be to lessen the tension to the equivalent of the compound strings.

[Jazz_175]

Short answer: No.

Thanks!

[Jazz_175]

I've always found that pure nickel strings are stiffer than compound strings so if may be to lessen the tension to the equivalent of the compound strings.

Thanks, that might be reasonable.

Comparing the Tension Chart of EJ21 and EPN21 one can see that the tension exerted by the pure nickel strings is in general higher
http://www.daddario.com/DADProductDe...z_Light__12_52

http://www.daddario.com/DADProductDe...z_Light__12_52

[John Mooy]

Hi Jason......
John Mooy here...... I am George's guitar tech...... We use the George Benson signature flat wounds 12's -- on our touring guitars and George uses the 14's while in the studio........

Thanks for asking! I am writing this to you from the Bahrain airport --- heading home!

Talk soon.......

John Mooy
Guitar tech - Artist relations LR Baggs acoustic

[jorgemg1984]

Better than this just from the man himself!

[John Mooy]

Oops -- sorry ! Jet lagged....... It's the Tomastik nickel flat wounds. I have the round wounds in my work box, but we don't use them.......... Now...... To begin our 30 hour travel day home!

[RSY]

I'd like to know what strings they were back when he was recording with Lou Donaldson in the '60s.

Heck, I'd like to know about his whole rig from those days.

[PTChristopher]

[Jazz 175] >>> Hi Oldane,
do you know why the D'Addario pure nickel strings all have gauges slightly smaller than the more common XL-nickel wound?

[Jim Soloway] >>> I've always found that pure nickel strings are stiffer than compound strings so if may be to lessen the tension to the equivalent of the compound strings.

If I may:

While stainless steel varies in density depending on the formula, on average Nickel is about 19% denser than steel.

So a pure Nickel wound string of a given diameter (gauge) can be considerably heavier and require more tension at a given pitch than a steel wound string.

In other words:

Nickel is heavier than steel by quite a bit. So to get a given string tension will require a narrower diameter pure nickel wound string vs. a steel wound string.

Chris

[HighSpeedSpoon]

... The TI strings are nickle wound - both the flatwounds and the roundwounds. D'Addario and LaBella has flatwounds with stainless steel winding. Stainless steel wound strings tend to have a brighter and more ringing sound than nickel wound strings - everything else equal. Roundwounds tend to be brighter and more ringing than flatwounds.

I definitely notice that the D'Addario Flats (XL Chromes) are brighter than the TI Bensons and Jazz Swings. The TIs used to be more to my tastes, but now I just think they are different.

... While stainless steel varies in density depending on the formula, on average Nickel is about 19% denser than steel. ...

I also think density is the important factor. The mathematically minded may want to examine the formula given by D'Addario in the attached PDF, which used to be available from their website. The formula shows that other things being equal, an increase in density needs to be offset by a decrease in cross sectional area in order to maintain the same "unit weight" - meaning weight in pounds per linear inch. The formula is on the 3rd page, but as often happens in PDFs, the page is labeled "4" at the bottom.