Gibson Flatwound Strings

[SkipBurz]

I was poking around on the Gibson website and saw these nickel flatwounds: Gibson | Flatwound Electric Guitar Strings

Has anyone out there tried them? I would love to hear from someone who has actually played them.

[Cunamara]

I have not, but the webpage is rather peculiar. The packaging states nickel wound but the text states stainless steel wound.

[SkipBurz]

Yeah, that is confusing. I assume they mean stainless steel core. Otherwise, where is the nickel, if not on the outer wrap?

[TOMMO]

Nickel plated stainless steel I guess....

[vinnyv1k]

Can’t say about these new ones but the flats they sold long ago were fantastic. Same price as TI’s. I will stick with TI’s. I don’t like SS strings but glad to see Gibson offering them again. Next bring back the 175.

[neatomic]

no major usa string maker makes a pure nickel flatwound string...they are all stainless steel wrap...

i doubt gibson is making their own strings..so if its d'addario or ghs or labella..they all use stainless steel...

in europe thomastik, pyramid and 1 or two others make pure nickel flats...but they are pricey...but great!

i have never seen nor heard of a nickel plated steel flat

looks like gibson got their packaging wrong!! imagine that

cheers

[Gitfiddler]

Can’t say about these new ones but the flats they sold long ago were fantastic. Same price as TI’s. I will stick with TI’s. I don’t like SS strings but glad to see Gibson offering them again. Next bring back the 175.

Vinny, your priorities are obviously way out of sink with Gibson's.

[SkipBurz]

Vinny, your priorities are obviously way out of sink with Gibson's.

That made me laugh! By all of the publicity material coming from Gibson these days, you wouldn't know they even make (or made) hollowbodies. Producing flatwound strings sort of tips their hat at the jazz guitar world...but only sort of. It does, however, make my teeth hurt to read in the description, "....best set of strings to achieve a smooth jazz sound." ...."Smooth jazz sound"....really?!

[Flat]

I used to play Gibson Flat Wires back when, but I thought they stopped making them maybe 10 years ago. I kept one set for nostalgia. Maybe those are the ones vinny remembers too. They were really great, and cheaper than Thomastiks at the time. The packaging looked like this:



The strings in Skip's link could be entirely different though.

[zephyrregent]

Has anyone had experience with these strings? I just ordered a set of 12s. How do they compare to the 040 set that I remember from the 60's and 70's? I think they stopped making them in the early 1980's. They were made in Germany. I've been using Thomastik Swing 12s since Gibson stopped making the 040 set. I've tried LaBella flats and they are possibly more similar to the Gibsons than the Thomastiks, it's hard to remember.

[zephyrregent]

The Gibson 040 set had a different feel from Thomastiks. La Bella flatwound strings have more of a "pre-Thomastik" feel (pre-1980's). I probably won't recognize if the new Gibson flatwounds are similar to the 040 set as it's been so long. but their advertising says they are made to vintage specs. However, they also say they are the strings they put on all the archtops made in the Custom Shop (maybe time to update their advertising?).

[oldane]

Back in the 1970s I bought a whole box of Gibson "Hi-Fi" Flatwound strings that had been sitting idle on a shelf in a music store in Copenhagen for years. Those days all guitarists seemed to go for ultra slinky strings, so I got them for next to nothing. They ran from 14 to 58 - so quite heavy. Wes was said to use those strings. I remember them being somewhat inconsistent, especially the wound strings, and I didn't like them much. Instead at that time I preferred a 12-52 flatwound set bearing the Gretsch name.

[JazzNote]

Back in the 1970s I bought a whole box of Gibson "Hi-Fi" Flatwound strings that had been sitting idle on a shelf in a music store in Copenhagen for years. Those days all guitarists seemed to go for ultra slinky strings, so I got them for next to nothing. They ran from 14 to 58 - so quite heavy. Wes was said to use those strings. I remember them being somewhat inconsistent, especially the wound strings, and I didn't like them much. Instead at that time I preferred a 12-52 flatwound set bearing the Gretsch name.

I still have a couple of these sets from the eighties. Yes, 14 - 58 and they called them medium gauge, i just wonder how a heavy set looked like. I also remember some inconsistencies with the wound strings, had one set on for a couple of days and then took it down.

[spencer096]

i have a set waiting to go on my 335 at home...but havent put em on yet.

not a fan of hex cores, so doubt they'll be sticking around. fun to try tho.