Flatwound Strings for Acoustic Archtop Guitar?

[Dennis D]

D'Addario Half Rounds........available in 12/52's.....all you have to so is clean them with 0000 steelwool when they're new and then you have 'Chromes' that aren't dead.....and no ' squeak ' !

May have spoken too soon.....I just had my annual set-up and changed my '36 L-7 from Chromes to D'A 1/2 Rounds......did the same set-up to my '52 L-7 and really liked it !!...both guitars are acoustic-only.....

...But - - I did the steelwool trick, broke them in and the first four strings have a 'slap' tone to them, and the E & A are deader than - - -.............sounds like my old Harmony Patrician - which I got rid of.........

...now I'm wondering what happens next time I change out the 1/2's.....is this a bad set or ??..never got an actual bad set of D'Ad's......

.....Damn, I thought I had this string thing straightened out......thanks for any suggestions !!

[Dennis D]

D'Addario Half Rounds........available in 12/52's.....all you have to so is clean them with 0000 steelwool when they're new and then you have 'Chromes' that aren't dead.....and no ' squeak ' !

That's what started me on this trial - -I put these exact same strings on my '36 and the A & E were dead....

......thanks for all the input !

[Jim Soloway]

How do you guys play 13's an 14's? I'm playing 12's on a 24.75" scale length. I have it tuned down to D and I find the tension challenging. I actually had it down to C# but it sounded too muddy so I've taken it up a semi-tone. I can't imagine getting comfortable with 14's in standard pitch.

[oldane]

How do you guys play 13's an 14's? I'm playing 12's on a 24.75" scale length. I have it tuned down to D and I find the tension challenging. I actually had it down to C# but it sounded too muddy so I've taken it up a semi-tone. I can't imagine getting comfortable with 14's in standard pitch.

I may not be one to teach you anything but since you ask, I think the word "comfortable" is the key. What is comfortable is often what one has got used to from years of playing. Provided the guitar is OK, fat strings can usualy be set with a lower action without buzz and thus with a not much higher fretting resistance than the thinner strings. I think you'd be perfectly able to play LaBella 15s from a mere physical strength point of view. But you are not used to it, and they feel different so it's not comfortable to you. I have been playing fat strings for almost 50 years and find it very difficult to play thin strings which are definitely outside my comfort zone. I'm in no way any superman. I am old, fat, quite unfit, have small hands and have a health problems or two but I can play those LaBellas on 25.5" scale guitars without feeling strained.

I'm deliberately keeping a Freddie Green like setup out of this discussion because that's for a quite specialized way of playing. A higher action with 13s or 14s (though far from Green height) works for me but only for rhythm strumming with 2 and 3 note shell chords which are not physically challenging (no wide stretches, no bars etc.).

That said, I see no reason at all why you should switch to heavy strings or long scale necks, given the results you get with the gear you already use. It's more than good as it is.

[WillMbCdn5]

Another just newly minted TI Swing lover. Had been using Chromes on my D'angelico EXL-1 /Shadow AZ 48/ Roland Blues Cube BC60 setup for a bit now I decided to try a string change after becoming comfortable with the base setup I have. The Chromes sounded close to excellent when amplified with a bit of Empress Para EQ but a bit flat overall when used acoustically. The Swings sound amazing when played acoustically, very articulate in the base and midtone range and almost bell like resonance and sustain in the trebles without being harsh or insistant. Amplified I am really taken with the way the tones articulate in a very even singing manner from bass to treble which it didn't do with the Chromes -I could get decent bass tone via the para EQ but I always felt I still had to be careful with the mid and treble tones to avoid harshness and had to really work at getting the sustain I wanted in the trebles. I love the reduced tension versus the Chromes for the same gauge , my old fingers found the Chromes required a bit of effort especially on complex chord voicings the Swings not so much effort required for a clean sound. Ok I really like the Swings on this guitar with this setup

Will

[Epistrophy]

TI swings are no doubt great, I have used them for years in my acoustic arch tops with floating pickups. I like the sound of flat wounds when amplified, especially in carved arch top guitars, but it's a compromise, if you have an acoustic arch top with a floating pickup and you like much the sound of the flats when amplified, the acoustic sound unplugged might sound a bit dull sometimes. That's just my opinion, however. Thinking of changing rounds to my Gibson JS, but I like the TI flats in it, when playing amplified. D'addario 12 nickel roundwounds would probably be just fine, or Roto purples. Now I am aiming to get a cheap acoustic nylon string guitar with a cutaway, because I think it very much improves my technique when I play amplified. I have noticed the improvement in my picking technique when I practise my D hole maccaferri guitar that I like and that has a loud acoustic tone, but the action is higher and overall heavier than in my archtops. It's like practising with a grand piano instead of a synth.

My former teacher used to never practise with his Gibson L4CES at home, he has a nylon string guitar that he plays unplugged almost all the time when at home, and I think it's not a bad thing to do to practise with guitars like that.

[RudolfR]

I tend to use a variety of strings on my '38 Super 400.

BRONZE:

BOSSET 80/20: I've been impressed with the Bosset 80/20 13s that forum member MacKillop endorsed (at least at some point). They tend to generate great harmonics particularly in the highs. For the 400 I found that the bass strings could improve as the guitar should sound 'more grand'.

D'ANGELICO Prohibition Bronze: For a great balanced and loud sound, I use the D'Angelico Prohibition Bronze 13-56. They are relatively new on the market and use a different alloy, namely 85/15 (vs standard 80/20). The structure of the bass strings is more course than that of the Bosset strings, but the result is a powerful harmonious, big sound. I really love them but they take some skill to avoid squeeking. I do have to say that what you gain in grandeur, you lose a bit in the high harmonics compared to the Bosset strings. Except for playing some very delicate pieces, I think overall, I prefer the D'Angelico's over the Bosset's mainly due to its bass output and power.

FLATWOUNDS:

DOGAL 80/20: I believe the original question was whether to put flat wounds on an acoustic archtop. Generally I'm not much of a fan because you lose some of the guitar's 'personality'. Tried the Thomastic Infeld's but wasn't too impressed. I use them on my S400 CES and that's where they belong IMHO.

Then I discovered the Italian Dogal V77 14-48 Acoustic Flatwound, bloody expensive but worth a try. I've only had them for a couple of weeks now and they seem to grow on me. They have a slightly higher tension than the TI GB14s and I think they are more balanced. There's a very smooth sonic transition between the wound and non-wound strings and overall they sound grand, loud, well-balanced and maintain the attack one is used to with bronze strings. Great bass without sounding dull.

[dhd]

FLATWOUNDS:

DOGAL 80/20: I believe the original question was whether to put flat wounds on an acoustic archtop. Generally I'm not much of a fan because you lose some of the guitar's 'personality'. Tried the Thomastic Infeld's but wasn't too impressed. I use them on my S400 CES and that's where they belong IMHO.

Then I discovered the Italian Dogal V77 14-48 Acoustic Flatwound, bloody expensive but worth a try. I've only had them for a couple of weeks now and they seem to grow on me. They have a slightly higher tension than the TI GB14s and I think they are more balanced. There's a very smooth sonic transition between the wound and non-wound strings and overall they sound grand, loud, well-balanced and maintain the attack one is used to with bronze strings. Great bass without sounding dull.

I no longer own an archtop but use flatwound strings on all my my flattop acoustic guitars.
My two best flat top acoustic guitars have Dogal Nightclub V25 80/20 Bronze Flatwounds
.011-.014-.016w-.022-.030-.042
These Dogal strings are the best strings I've found for my flat top acoustics so far.
The Dogal V25s are little less expensive than the Dogal V77 but they are still much more than I normally pay for guitar string.

[s11141827]

You can use Flatwound Electric Strings on both Acoustic & Electric Guitars. If you put Flatwounds on an Acoustic Archtop Guitar, you'll get a nice percussive strumming sound:

& they're great recording strings. They're Stainless Steel so they'll not corrode like Bronze strings