The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    I also heard good things about d’aquisto flatwound, but they’re out of production.

    Ghs Pat martino, mmm... I have to try again better before review them.
    I found those strings not perfectly tuned.

    other flats brands:
    Sit, essex uk, galli, d’orazio, sadowsky, optima swing, dr legend, olympia, ghs stainless flats, curt manghan, foehn, aria proll, roberts flats, darco, puccini flats,melofonic, black diamond..
    If anyone could review those please do it!

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    the individual thom pure nickel round core flats are all exactly the same!...only difference is benson is packaged with different gauges than jazz swings...otherwise identical per string...i.e. for example a .53 in jazzzswing is exact same string as used in benson set

    cheers

    ps- been using thom flats since 90's when i met the good fellows of usa distributors connolly of li, ny at ny guitar shows...classic strings...
    I would not be so sure they are exactly the same, and the only difference is the packaging gauge.
    Bensons are wrapped with red textile swing is blue. Yes I know, then one still say they are same except the textile wrapping and the packaging... but I feel difference in sound too, especially D, A, E spongy character what I like is stronger using the Bensons.

    Regarding the OP,

    I was there too a few years ago, asked in many forums, no workaround found. You must play them for 2 weeks to get what you want. Regarding Thomastik price: They can last practically forever.

  4. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by oldane
    They do - in the US. In Europe the price difference is not that big.



    Sendt fra min SM-T810 med Tapatalk
    So I have heard. But you pay more for Gibson archtops, so it all evens out in the end.

  5. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
    I can sell you my year old used TI flats, I was about to take them off and put the new ones anyway. I can repackage them, and voila! Deader then dead. Maybe I should start my own business like that.
    Quote Originally Posted by Greco
    Can I please order a set of 1/2 deader than dead TI Flats ? I can pay a bit more. Thanks.
    11s or 12s would be great.
    Quote Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
    Of course my man! Will start shipping soon, with the certificate of authenticity, only Deader Than Dead are dead enough!
    Crap, just when I was about to monetize your idea you beat me to the punch. COA is a nice touch.

  6. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by buduranus2
    Crap, just when I was about to monetize your idea you beat me to the punch. COA is a nice touch.
    You all are late in this business, I started to develop my string aging machine three years ago

  7. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by Gabor
    Regarding the OP,

    I was there too a few years ago, asked in many forums, no workaround found. You must play them for 2 weeks to get what you want. Regarding Thomastik price: They can last practically forever.
    They're getting better but have a somewhat cold "glassiness" to me. Also, they hurt my fingers, so nickel would be better in that regard.

  8. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gabor
    Bensons are wrapped with red textile swing is blue.
    Did someone mislabel your strings? You’ve got it backwards.

  9. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
    Did someone mislabel your strings? You’ve got it backwards.
    I had 50% chance , I risked it not to look in the guitar room. Anyway the point was they are not identical as stated.

  10. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by Gabor
    I had 50% chance , I risked it not to look in the guitar room. Anyway the point was they are not identical as stated.
    Blue wrap sounds better. That's why Bensons cost more.

  11. #35

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    These came in the case of the 62 year old Gibson I just acquired. I bet they sound pretty dead. You want em?

    Looking for flatwound strings that sound dead right out of the package-646c9f27-b7e5-49c0-8fbb-e03d17519bb7-jpg

  12. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by buduranus2
    Blue wrap sounds better. That's why Bensons cost more.
    Buy both and try them out. To my ear the red sound thuddier. If you hear the blue as thuddier keep the blue. The point is even in this thread you have people who disagree on the psychoacoustics, so you should do your personal test. Relying on the price to indicate quality is good for Thomastik, but not a strong strategy as a consumer.

  13. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Rock guitarist = I want my guitar to sing! Sustain for days!

    Jazz guitarist = I want my guitar to emit a dull thud
    Not always! I want my laminate single p90 guitars to thud. But if there’s a floating dearmond I want a long ringy Johnny Smith thing with the close voiced 6 chords. Those chords are hard to get into, and I want the moment to last to justify the effort.

  14. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
    These came in the case of the 62 year old Gibson I just acquired. I bet they sound pretty dead. You want em?

    Looking for flatwound strings that sound dead right out of the package-646c9f27-b7e5-49c0-8fbb-e03d17519bb7-jpg
    Hmm. Tempting. Maybe throw in the guitar?

    Quote Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
    Buy both and try them out. To my ear the red sound thuddier. If you hear the blue as thuddier keep the blue. The point is even in this thread you have people who disagree on the psychoacoustics, so you should do your personal test. Relying on the price to indicate quality is good for Thomastik, but not a strong strategy as a consumer.
    Once again proving that guitar players listen with their eyes.

  15. #39

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    Just to be clear, I’m not insisting that the color red is thuddier than the color blue.

    Anyway good luck and I hope the strings bring out the Tal Farlow in your playing.

  16. #40

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    If you want a fairly dry clipped tone, try Pyramid Gold Medium Heavy (12-52). Nickel tape wound, they seem to emulate the early tape wound strings with a fairly high internal damping so they don't have the initial zing.

    Arthur

  17. #41

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    Quote Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
    These came in the case of the 62 year old Gibson I just acquired. I bet they sound pretty dead. You want em?

    Looking for flatwound strings that sound dead right out of the package-646c9f27-b7e5-49c0-8fbb-e03d17519bb7-jpg
    I Want them! hi fi flatwound ?

  18. #42

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    Quote Originally Posted by buduranus2
    I've got D'Addario Chromes 12s and they just won't go dead. Maybe the high tension? Looking for more of a Tal Farlow sound. TI's? LaBellas? Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.
    I had similar questions about sound and string aging a few years ago, then I let it go, and live with the approx one month ageing period.
    I asked about this on many forums, here is a reference of my original question and some useful answer from stackoverflow:

    The conclusions are two fold: The OP can make conclusions how to fast age new strings, but in case anyone interesting in the reverse process (meaning: renew old srtings) here are my experiences. Disclamer: Please do not raise your expectations: the final conclusion neither is possible.

    jazz - How to "age" guitar strings? - Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange

    My original question what may related to the OP was the following

    "...All the advertisements related to guitar strings talk about how to slow down guitar string aging and how to prevent the loss of brightness of the new strings. Coating is about to prevent aging (oxidation) and some manufacturers vacuum or oxigen free sealed packaging are all about this.

    However here is the thing:


    For me, the bright, and very "steely" sound of the new strings do not sound so good. Actually more than 1 year old Thomastik GB flatwound now sounds awesome. In the other hand on my other guitar I've just changed to a new string set (to the very same Thomastik) , and its bright new, and steel like sounds are very disturbing for me.

    Is there any way not to wait months to get the sound I like?"

    Here are some quotes of my conclusions written also there, you may read other comments and answer, to fully understand the context
    Deep clean was: soaking in naphtha then clean with wipe.)

    "After spending ten days to prove or confute theories I have only partial results, so here are my conclusions:

    Theory #1: Oxidation

    Confuted (imho). These confuting experiences was included in my original question but for have it in an organized answer I list here:
    I had a one and half year old, accidentally opened (originally vacuum packed) D'Addario Chromes (flatwound), and I stringed my guitar with them ten days ago. The strings sounded the most typical new string like. (still no significant changes after ten days). So its not the oxidation, because the opened and same age strings were oxidated almost identically, but sounded way different.

    Theory #2: Visco elastic dirt

    Confuted in two ways.
    a) Reverse confuting: I've tried to clean (I mean deep cleeaan) my old strings. (See details of the process in my comment on user2790167's answer.). No hearable changes at all. Maybe the clean was not "deep" enough, as user2790167 answered: we did not reach the core... Still I would expect some sound changes, but there was not any.
    b) I've tried to artificially speed up aging the new strings by dirting them with a chapstick. It is kinda gluey fat so it's a candidate replacing nose grease with the benefit it is available in limitless amount... (nose grease credits goes to user2790167)
    I even extra strengthen the strings during the process to dilate the ways to the "core". No changes. I thought it takes some time while the dirty travels to the core so waited five days before concluding the result in this answer: Still no changes.

    Theory #3: My own

    Note: This is not proven at all. This is only a theory what based on that neither Theory #1 and Theory #2 seems to be not provable. (although both sound reasonable). So... That's a fact, that new strings sound are well noticable changing in the first 1-3 month after applying them. If it is not the oxidation and not the dirt, then what else? The only thing what comes in my mind is the "usage". The steel's attribute must change somehow, my bet is its flexibility. This could be because of the micro dilatation, or some microscopic changes in the matter itself. The steel gets tired and tired."


  19. #43
    You can try boiling old strings in water to "renew" them. Seems I may have done this a long time ago on some bass strings to good effect.

  20. #44

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    Quote Originally Posted by archtopdream63
    TI benson are smoother and acoustically louder then Swing series.
    They are not the same strings.
    stubborn, stubborn..they are the exact same string!...the louder acoustic sound is because benson are heavier gauge...but the actual strings are the same...pure nickel double wrapped on a round steel core...try ordering a thoms single flat string..there is only one!!

    as i writ ^ , i knew the usa distributors decades ago

    they cost more because benson gets a cut..and they are a specialty type string...which thomastik usually doesn't do!!!

    cheers

  21. #45

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    Quote Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
    These came in the case of the 62 year old Gibson I just acquired. I bet they sound pretty dead. You want em?

    Looking for flatwound strings that sound dead right out of the package-646c9f27-b7e5-49c0-8fbb-e03d17519bb7-jpg
    i used to go to silver & horland when they were on 48th st guitar row...(what a block!! all guitar shops) silver horland was more a brass shop...sax and wind instruments...

    sure those strings (flats) are just vanity branding..most likely made by labella...

    cheers

  22. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    stubborn, stubborn..they are the exact same string!...the louder acoustic sound is because benson are heavier gauge...but the actual strings are the same...pure nickel double wrapped on a round steel core...try ordering a thoms single flat string..there is only one!!

    as i writ ^ , i knew the usa distributors decades ago

    they cost more because benson gets a cut..and they are a specialty type string...which thomastik usually doesn't do!!!

    cheers
    I got a deal on a set of Bensons and here are my initial impressions in comparison to the Chromes:

    The Chromes are quite a bit louder, but colder. The Bensons are much less loud, but warmer, more nuanced and "jazzier." The Chromes were very high tension by comparison. Other forum members have said that Chromes play like TIs one gauge up. I installed a .012 set of Bensons, and they're much lower tension. I can even kind of bend the G string, which I like to have available here and there. That said, the Benson low E is much clearer, focused and detailed than the Chromes E, which sounded like mud by comparison. I have to say, though, that the Chromes are much smoother to the touch than the Bensons, which surprised me. The Bensons don't squeak, but are far from silky smooth as I had hoped. At this moment, I almost have a preference for the Chromes unwound B and E. The Bensons have a coating on them that imparts a little darker sound than I'm used to. I think I can dial some of that out with pickup, amp and guitar controls. Or maybe the coating will wear off over time. Right now the Bensons are a little bright, but not in a bad way. More like what we'd expect from new strings. I'm intrigued to hear them a month from now. The bottom line is that the Bensons are warmer, clearer, more focused, more detailed and more comfortable. Definitely worth the money as far as I'm concerned. Thanks to each and every forum member who contributed to this thread!

  23. #47

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    thoms js & b flats offer 2 different choices of hi b & e strings...brass coated or tin coated...

    if you dont like the ones you got, next time try the other


    otherwise basically all unwound strings are the same...solid steel...with a thin outer coating...usually tin

    plain strings are virtually interchangeable between all quality brands...so don't be afraid to replace

    you can also adjust pickup height for any perceived differences in tone and volume...caused by the change from chromes (stainless steel) to thoms pure nickel double wrapped

    cheers

  24. #48

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    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    stubborn, stubborn..they are the exact same string!...the louder acoustic sound is because benson are heavier gauge...but the actual strings are the same...pure nickel double wrapped on a round steel core...try ordering a thoms single flat string..there is only one!!

    as i writ ^ , i knew the usa distributors decades ago

    they cost more because benson gets a cut..and they are a specialty type string...which thomastik usually doesn't do!!!

    cheers
    There is a quote regarding distributors and in general sales person/process:

    "Excessive knowledge of the product is an obtacle to sales"

    I mean I would not have so high expectation regarding what a sales person said. Secondly I also would not expect so much from a person who does not respect the manufacturer he distributes. Not a good sign of personality.

  25. #49

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    ????^ sorry, but... ok the .53 pure nickel on round core flatwound string in the jazz swing package is completely different from the .53 pure nickel on round core flatwound string in the george benson package!


    believe what you want...hah...

    cheers

  26. #50

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    I don’t care