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I love flats. Been using thomastiks for a while. GB 12. They have a great tone, but does anyone find them kinda too rubbery feeling, making the the attack not as crisp, especially acoustically. I find myself playing harder because of it.
Anyone have any suggestions strings or setup to resolve this problem?
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11-04-2019 07:58 PM
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this has been common thomastik complaint for years...too low tension!...but that's exactly what construction of thom strings went after...they use a true vintage thin round inner core with a double wrap of soft pure nickel...all the hallmarks of a low tenison string..its generally considered if you use a 12 set of common usa made steel/chrome flats, you could move up to 13's for thomastiks..they are unique and wonderful
if you use them with a magnetic pup, you can raise the pup slightly to make up for reduced pure nickel string magnetic output
a correctly set up guitar with thoms is a beautiful thing..pursue it..
cheers
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Were vintage flatwounds of the 60’s I.e. Gibson brand that wes used, actually round core?
Originally Posted by neatomic
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Probably. Hex cores came along in the 1970s, IIRC. If I understand the various claims correctly, these were invented by D'Addario.
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Ah, yeah, for sure they are not as crisp acoustically. Flats generally sound lousy acoustically at anything higher than very very low acoustic volumes. A thicker pick will get a bigger sound out of an instrument acoustically but will probably give you the opposite of more crispness. Originally Posted by Jazzer04
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Yeah. Some guys make it work well tho. George Benson does, Russell Malone does. There’s an acoustic quality that comes through. Originally Posted by coolvinny
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There is a T-I tension chart that you may download. The soft feel of the thin round core T-I jazz strings is one of their appeals to players. Move up to GB114 gauge or try the GR112 or Bebop BB113 round core roundwound strings.
Martin Taylor gets a great acoustic tone out of the Elixir Nanoweb 12-52 gauge. You may want to try them.
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Ok but now you're talking about having acoustic quality come through, not playing "acoustically". Big difference. Originally Posted by Jazzer04
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Chromes are stiffer.
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Move up to the 0.13 set, you'll have adjusted to the bigger strings in a couple of days. If that's still not crisp enough my suggestion is the 0.13 set of HALDROUNDS by D'Addario.
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Thanks Vinny, yes this is what I mean. Thomastiks can sound kinda rubbery and too electric to me after a little while. They kinda loose their snap. Originally Posted by coolvinny
I’m looking for a better acoustic guitar quality and acoustic response but through the amp. But I also practice acoustically a lot. I’m an electric player though.
Jim Hall got this this kinda sound a lot. I feel like comping sounds better when it has that sort of percussive acoustic tone that comes through the amp. Did he always use 11’s throughout his career?:
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The GB114 set should work for you. Otherwise, if you want a more acoustic sound, try the 13-gauge BeBop set, as was mentioned above. They are an excellent set. I use them on my 17" carved-body guitar.
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I use the Swing 13's, occasionally putting a 0.14 high E on there depending on the guitar. I find the Bebop's work well on some guitars but on others I prefer simple D'Addario EJ21 which with the tone control rolled back can sound very similar but better for acoustic playing.
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I have two Eastman AR503CE guitars here now with TI JS112 flats on one and GHS 900 Precision Flats on the other. The GHS strings certainly do feel more even when it comes to perceived tension when playing.
I thought I would quickly come to prefer one string set over the other but that has not yet happened. I have not had the same string set on both guitars yet, so I am not sure if the differences are totally related to the different string set or whether there is substantial difference in the two guitars.
That old commercial comes back to me. "Sometimes you fell like a nut, sometimes you don't".
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On all my guitars, the Chromes are not as vibrant and stiffer than TIs of the same gauge. They cost half as much, so they are a good bargain and play reasonably well.
I just put a new set of TI JS111 on my Epi Regent, and for the first 3 days they were incredible. Like all new strings, they sound great at first and eventually the volume and overtones are not as loud. But one has to keep in mind that they are designed primarily for electric playing. Flat wound strings are always more muted than round wound strings, especially when played acoustically. Plugged into an amp however, they sound great for a very long time.
If I was after more acoustic volume, then of course, bigger gauges like 12s or 13s would help. One thing that I always battle with is the trade-off between the smooth play-ability and sound of TI flats and the volume and tone that PB round wounds deliver.
To deal with this issue, I have one of my archtops, a 1954 L-50 that is purely acoustic, strung up with Martin Marquis PB .012s and my Epi Regent with TI JS111 flats. My ES-175 has TI JS112 flats. I prefer the smaller gauge strings on the 25.5 scale because they have less tension which compensates for the higher tension of a long scale. I play larger gauge on 24.75 scale and that way, the tension is about the same between all my guitars....I know, I'm weird, but there is no accounting for taste as they say.
As you noted, the differences between your two "identical" guitars will be noticeable as no two guitars, even if they are the same model, ever sound the same.
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