Flatwound Strings for Acoustic Flat Top Guitar?

**campusfive** · 05-12-2015, 10:28 AM

Originally Posted by fauves

Yeah its not a bad thing to put nickel flats on there. I do it all the time with my flat tops. they didn't even make bronze strings until what the early 70's?

No, bronze strings were introduced in the mid 1930's, in addition to the Monel (aka Gibson branded-"Mona Steel") that was most common at the time.

You're thinking of "phosphor bronze" which was added in the 70's.

**nopedals** · 05-12-2015, 04:46 PM

I play TI flats on everything. LaBella tape wounds work OK, too. For me, the feel of TIs when I play them trumps everything, and I am not necessarily looking for much high end; just note separation for complex chords.

**Coca-Cola Cowboy** · 05-12-2015, 07:54 PM

Well, I put the flat wounds on my acoustic a few hours ago. I’d have to say I really like the sound. Mine doesn't sound dead at all. It makes me want that Jazz Box all the more. I say give them a try…

**Coca-Cola Cowboy** · 05-13-2015, 05:38 AM

By the way, I've used elixirs, but not on a Jazz guitar. I'd also like to try that. Which elixirs would you guys recommend for i.e. Ibanez AFJ95 ? Thanks

**entresz** · 05-13-2015, 09:11 PM

I've used the 12-54 elixir strings, but I wasn't a fan. They seemed to give me a huge amount of string buzz that I never had before on that guitar. They did feel nice under the fingers, but they were extremely bright sounding.

**Longways to Go** · 05-13-2015, 11:11 PM

Roundwound fan here. I've got flats on a couple of guitars, but I'm moving more & more toward rounds these days. TI bebops, elixir nanos, also D'addario EXP's. I play fingerstyle all the time -- string noise isn't much of an issue once I've gotten used to a particular guitar. I think rounds give clearer bass.

**ChrisDowning** · 12-10-2015, 03:30 AM

Don't forget though - a piezo pick up works on vibration and not magnetic field - so its going to pick up what's going on inside the guitar bridge. So don't discount using ordinary electric guitar flats like 'Chromes' which come in three weights if you are primarily going to be using your acoustic as an electric for jazz. Personally I think using a piezo pick up for jazz raises some issues similar to whether to use a Stratocaster for jazz - you need to be pretty radical with the EQ on the amp / guitar. (Someone out there with a frequency analyser could probably tell us what's going on with all this tone shaping -perhaps I should get out my old Open University Course work on The Technology of Music and do it for myself?)

The flat wounds will kill a lot of the highs you get from bronze round wounds - but so would an EQ pedal or rack. However I have not come across the thread about using sound shaping with an EQ rack/pedal yet.

**Fidelcaster** · 12-10-2015, 04:26 AM

Thanks! As I wrote, I ended up using the Galli bronze flatwound acoustic strings, that were a pretty good match for the silent guitar. They indeed gave it a much mellower sound. Electric flatwounds were too thick for the guitar bridge holes and imho don't sound good at all when picked up by a piezo transducer.

**ChrisDowning** · 12-10-2015, 04:37 AM

I think here the issue is usually about getting that 'mellow jazz tone' which is difficult with a piezo pu. So one option is to go to flat wounds that gives you that knackered round wound string sound that often passes for the listener as a 'jazz tone'.

**EnterQuery** · 08-31-2016, 02:26 PM

This thread pointed me exactly to what I needed. I've been doing some fingerstyle recordings on a dreadnought Martin and the noise from the attack by my nail/flesh is just not acceptable. Currently, I'm using Dragon Skins 12-54 and I'm pretty happy with the overall endurance and sound, except for the 'ssshh' that just pops out. Tried minimizing it in Reaper, but my tone suffers way too much.

After some further research, I've decided to try out Daddario EFT16. After that I might try the Elixir Polyweb or Nanoweb. Has anybody else done a side by side of these different sets?

**Jabberwocky** · 08-31-2016, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by EnterQuery

This thread pointed me exactly to what I needed. I've been doing some fingerstyle recordings on a dreadnought Martin and the noise from the attack by my nail/flesh is just not acceptable...

You should try Newtone Double-wound strings. Being double-wound they have much less finger-squeak for recording.

https://www.stringsbymail.com/acoust...ble-wound-820/

**EnterQuery** · 09-05-2016, 05:45 AM

Originally Posted by Jabberwocky

You should try Newtone Double-wound strings. Being double-wound they have much less finger-squeak for recording.

https://www.stringsbymail.com/acoust...ble-wound-820/

Will do! thanks for the suggestion

**s11141827** · 05-03-2022, 12:44 PM

I have an idea why not just put D'addario Chromes on an Acoustic Guitar. The ECG23 Set is basically a Stainless Steel Flatwound version of an Extra Light Gauge Acoustic Guitar String set, but these have a Slightly Thicker Core wire to really drive the top, & they have a Slightly Lower tension to make them easier to play. Those Strings will not scratch your frets.

**s11141827** · 05-03-2022, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by Meggy

I have a dreadnought style flat-top guitar (nothing special, although it has a good action) which I want to put flat-wounds on (I hate the finger scrapes with round-wounds).

I was never really into folk or anything so I won't mind at all if the sound changes a bit to the mellow side of things.

BUT I can hardly find any flatwounds specifically for acoustic guitars, either archtop or flat-top.

I have come across some by Galli (French) which have only a .47 low E which is a bit low tension for me, and also Thomastik Plectrum strings but these have a roundwound low E which I don't want.

Is their anything else out there?
Or would I be OK just putting Chromes or similar on the guitar?

Actually the .047 Gauge Low E isn't as loose as you think because the Flat Winding increases the tension slightly. These strings are designed to make playing the Guitar easier so maybe they're a good fit.

Galli 80/20 Bronze Flatwounds come in 3 Gauges, 10-47, 11-50, & 12-52.

Dogal actually makes these Nightclub 80/20 Bronze Flatwound Acoustic Guitar Strings:Nightclub Extraflat & they have a Slightly Lower Tension for optimal playability. Thomastik KF110 (and KR116) Flatwound Strings are also going to work too. Since Flatwound Strings have more tension than Roundwound Strings, they recommend tuning the Guitar down a Half Step to Eb Standard (maybe a Whole Step to D Standard) so that it's easier to play. Jazz Guys use D Standard tuning so that they can compete w/ the Horns pitched in Bb & Eb (on a D Standard Tuned Guitar it can be played as C & F).

**RJVB** · 05-03-2022, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by nopedals

LaBella tape wounds work OK, too.

On a flattop? I've tried the Pyramid version on my jumbo and while the tension was OK (except for the low E) and the sound exactly as I hoped, they required so much more compensation to intonate correctly that I could leave them on.

Originally Posted by s11141827

Thomastik KF110 (and KR116) Flatwound Strings are also going to work too.

Unless I'm mistaken those are steel strings for classical guitar. Putting those on a "nothing special" dreadnought that is (thus) presumably overbuilt will work, but you'll be working very hard to get an aenemic sound of the box (I've tried the nylon tape-wound version on my jumbo).